ISA

pjran

I started to open an isa but have not put funds in yet. Rates are increasing so my question is DO I HAVE TO STICK WITH THE ACCOUNT I OPENED OR CAN I APPLY TO ANOTHER PROVIDER.

Please help.

Frogletina

You can open as many ISAs as you want until you decide which you want to put money into.

I have several open ISAs which are still empty as better ones have come along since.

pjran

Frogletina said:

You can open as many ISAs as you want until you decide which you want to put money into.

I have several open ISAs which are still empty as better one have come along since.

I read you can only open one each new tax year.

MACKEM99

pjran said:

Frogletina said:

You can open as many ISAs as you want until you decide which you want to put money into.

I have several open ISAs which are still empty as better one have come along since.

I read you can only open one each new tax year.

You can only fund one new one each year tax year with new money.  You can move existing ones around as much as you like.

Albermarle

pjran said:

Frogletina said:

You can open as many ISAs as you want until you decide which you want to put money into.

I have several open ISAs which are still empty as better one have come along since.

I read you can only open one each new tax year.

There is a sub forum for ISA's. So worth reading through that as your question and similar ones are asked several times every week.
ISAs & tax-free savings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

pjran

MACKEM99 said:

pjran said:

Frogletina said:

You can open as many ISAs as you want until you decide which you want to put money into.

I have several open ISAs which are still empty as better one have come along since.

I read you can only open one each new tax year.

You can only fund one new one each year tax year with new money.  You can move existing ones around as much as you like.

Albermarle said:

pjran said:

Frogletina said:

You can open as many ISAs as you want until you decide which you want to put money into.

I have several open ISAs which are still empty as better one have come along since.

I read you can only open one each new tax year.

There is a sub forum for ISA's. So worth reading through that as your question and similar ones are asked several times every week.
ISAs & tax-free savings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Thank you, the wording doesn’t say fund but open. So I don’t want to do the wrong thing.

Cardboardleaf

You're not alone - I'm confused by the exact same thing.


Trying to open a cash ISA right now and the wording on the form is 

• I have not subscribed and will not subscribe to another cash ISA in the same tax year that I subscribe to this cash ISA;

At the top of the form, it says I am applying to "subscribe". The key facts document says "A subscription is any deposit (or payment) made by you into an ISA."

What I want to do it open this (instant access/non-fixed) cash ISA, transfer a maturing fixed rate ISA into it, wait a few months until there are some higher interest fixed rates about, and then open a new, higher interest cash ISA.

So I'm worried about ticking a box saying I will not subscribe to another one this year, as I fully intend to make two payments, first into this one (from my maturing fixed rate ISA) and then another one (from this one into another one) this year.

Oh - or is a transfer different to a subscription?! (even though a transfer is surely a payment made by me??)

Is this why moving them around is ok within those terms and conditions? (Would my life be better if I didn't read the small print?! )

Oasis1

I'm confused by this too. It feels more like banks setting their own rules to try to prevent competition, rather than it being illegal to open multiple ISAs? Question is, would a bank know if you had other ISAs (if keeping within the £20k annual limit)?

msallen

Oasis1 said:

I'm confused by this too. It feels more like banks setting their own rules to try to prevent competition, rather than it being illegal to open multiple ISAs? Question is, would a bank know if you had other ISAs (if keeping within the £20k annual limit)?

No but HMRC would.

Its really quite simple. You can only pay new money (from outside an ISA) into one cash ISA per tax year. You can open as many as you want if you don't pay into them or only transfer previous tax years' ISAs into them.

Oasis1

msallen said:

Oasis1 said:

I'm confused by this too. It feels more like banks setting their own rules to try to prevent competition, rather than it being illegal to open multiple ISAs? Question is, would a bank know if you had other ISAs (if keeping within the £20k annual limit)?

No but HMRC would.

Its really quite simple. You can only pay new money (from outside an ISA) into one cash ISA per tax year. You can open as many as you want if you don't pay into them or only transfer previous tax years' ISAs into them.

But this is the point - banks *are* asking people to agree not to open as many as they like, regardless of paying into them, as a condition of opening one with them. So essentially, there's no legal basis for this and they won't know if you do?

Example: I want to open an ISA with bank X but won't decide to put any new money into it until a few weeks time when my Zopa fixed pot becomes accessable. Within that time, another ISA with a better rate at bank Z may be on the market which I might want to open and deposit into instead, leaving the other ISA untouched. But bank X is asking me to agree not to do this.

Oasis1

Ah wait.

I declare that

• I have not subscribed, and will not subscribe, to another cash ISA provider in the same tax year that I subscribe to this cash ISA
  

The term subscribe means contribute funds, rather than open? So opening multiple ISAs is fine?