Best Cash ISA

Miranda25

Hi Guys,
1. I have a nice chunk of money with Nationwide but need to transfer to another provider. I already made 1 transfer in into ISA a/c in April (tax year 20/21). Not sure about ISAs rules: am I allowed to move money to another provider and top up as many times as I wish during the tax year? Or I cannot top up anymore because I did 1 transfer in into Nationwide ISA in April?
2. Would it be a good option to move money to Ford Money at 1.25% fixed rate? Is it secured (Ford Money exists from 2017)? Cannot understand the point "You can make an unlimited number of deposits and transfers in, within 14 days from the date we receive your application. After this deposit window no additional deposits are permitted."
What does it mean? I cannot do transfers in during the year? 
3. I have another a/c Help to Buy ISA with Nationwide and rate is going to be 1% from May. Where are better rates please? Would you recommend to transfer HTB ISA to another provider or something here what I should take into consideration? 
Many thanks for your help:-))

Neil_Jones

1) If you transfer an ISA you must transfer all of this tax year's to it, and then whatever you want from previous years.  You can only pay £20k into an ISA (of any type) per tax year.

2) Means what it says.  You can pay in for 14 days after opening and then you can't pay anymore in.  It's a fixed rate package. You will not be able to withdraw it until the account matures in x months time, so make sure you don't need access to that money in the meantime.

3) I presume the payment you made in point 1 wasn't into a cash ISA?  A Help To Buy ISA is a Cash ISA.

Options for H2B are here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/help-to-buy-ISA/

Miranda25

Thank you Neil.
Point 1 is also cash ISA. Why people say that you are only allowed to do transfers into ONE cash ISA? For example, I had with Nationwide two cash ISA- Help To Buy and another cash ISA.

Speedbird676

All of your contributions of each ISA type must be in the same ISA. It is ok to have a Help to Buy ISA and a Cash ISA, but you can't split your contributions for this tax year between two Cash ISAs as an example.

colsten

If you transfer an ISA you must transfer all of this tax year's to it, and then whatever you want from previous yearsNot quite.

You can choose to only transfer money ftom previous years.

It’s only if you choose to transfer any of the current year’s subscription (deposit) that you then have to transfer all of that year’s subscription

Miranda25

Contributions in HTB + contributions in Cash ISA= £20,000 - maximum amount I can contribute during the year tax free?
Or I can put £20,000 into cash ISA and HTB should not count? 

colsten

Your total annual  contribution across all ISA types must not exceed £20,000.

grumiofoundation

Miranda25 said:

Thank you Neil.
Point 1 is also cash ISA. Why people say that you are only allowed to do transfers into ONE cash ISA? For example, I had with Nationwide two cash ISA- Help To Buy and another cash ISA.

You can only pay into one cash ISA (new money) each year. Some providers allow split cash ISAs, for instance nationwide will allow you to pay into both HTB and 'normal' cash ISA within same year.  Is what you mean? 

Have you paid into both HTB and 'normal' cash isa in this tax year?

grumiofoundation

Neil_Jones said:

2) Means what it says.  You can pay in for 14 days after opening and then you can't pay anymore in.  It's a fixed rate package. You will not be able to withdraw it until the account matures in x months time, so make sure you don't need access to that money in the meantime.

With an ISA they have to give you access to your money even though it is fixed rate. You will have to pay a breakage fee (e. g. 90 days interest). 

Miranda25

To grumiofoundation:
yes I paid into both cash ISA in tax year 19/20.

Guys, I am confused again. Let's say I transfer my current ISA a/c into Ford Money fixed cash ISA which does not allow contributions. Then I would still need to open another a/c to do contributions during the year? Can I have 3 cash ISAs:
-Help to Buy with Nationwide
-Ford Money fixed cash ISA
-another cash ISA for contributions

Albermarle

Firstly you asked if Ford Money is OK . Yes they are , they are fully covered for £85K compensation and their systems/customer service is good in my experience. Like all fixed rate accounts , you can only add to it/transfer into it for a short fixed period after you open it ( in fact a few do not even allow this). The fixed rate on offer may be changed at any time , but they will honour the rate when you open it . For example if today it is 1.25% and you open an ISA with them today . Then by Monday the offer drops to say 1.1% , you still get the 1.25% for the fixed period. Taking a fixed rate is a sort of ( mild ) gamble that interest rates will drop during the period of the fix.
One important point to note that the account has a minimum deposit of £500. It is not 100% clear looking at their website if this can be covered just by transferring in more than £500 OR you have to deposit £500 of new money as a minimum .
This has been mentioned on other ISA threads on the forum and the consensus seemed to be that for most providers , the transfer would be enough and no need to add new money if you did not want to with MOST providers. Personally I would check directly with Ford.