Transferring ISAs - Why is it so complicated?

marcusjm

I have been trying to transfer existing ISAs between providers to take account of competitive rates (maturing at 1% and transferring to 3%+).

Both the issuing and receiving provider do not make this process easy. I appreciate there are security concerns when moving money, but I'm referring to the general information requested. My current provider (Kent Reliance) have not issued me with a sort code and account number (just an ISA number) and so the new provider cannot action. 

I have also asked my other provider (Virgin Money) to transfer between ISA all held with them. It has been nearly 3 months and they keep giving me the run-around. It would appear Virgin Money is actually a brand of multiple financial services companies. They are requesting me to send forms as they need to transfer between companies. However, they won't release the necessary account details to complete the form.

I hate to sound like a cynic, but it would appear this is a clever trick to deter savers from transferring etc. 

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Thanks. 

refluxer

The majority of ISA transfers I've carried out have been relatively straight-forward, taking as little as 3 days (when carried out electronically) up to a few months (due to paper forms being required and the sedate pace that the NS&I work at !)

I think your issues probably just relate to your unfortunate choice of providers. There is a long thread about the incompetence of Virgin Money when it comes to ISA transfers here and some dubious experiences of Kent Reliance here. 

It's actually fairly common for an ISA provider to have their own sort-code and account number and just issue you with an account number (that is often not the standard 8 digits) - whenever I come across this during an ISA transfer, I just leave the sort code and account number fields blank and include any non-standard account numbers in the 'role number' or reference field. This hasn't failed me yet

isasmurf

marcusjm said:

Both the issuing and receiving provider do not make this process easy. I appreciate there are security concerns when moving money, but I'm referring to the general information requested. My current provider (Kent Reliance) have not issued me with a sort code and account number (just an ISA number) and so the new provider cannot action. 

The new provider should not be rejecting a transfer if a reference number is given without a sort code and account number. They should be sending the transfer authority form to KR and it is for KR to determine if sufficient account details are provided to identify your account and accept the transfer request. The reference number only is usually sufficient to identify the account for organisations that use a third party bank for settlement, as KR does. 

xylophone

When I  recently successfully transferred from YBS to Virgin, I  quoted the YBS Roll Number (having learned my lesson when a transfer from YBS to Coventry BS failed because I had quoted the YBS sort code and account number).

md258

I gave up trying to do an ISA transfer from Kent Reliance to Lloyds- after 3 months Lloyds were saying they had requested it correctly and heard nothing back, Kent Reliance said they hadn't received anything.

A complaint went nowhere (they said the same thing) and in the end I withdrew a chunk of the money myself as I needed the money and keeping my ISA allowance wasn't worth the hours I'd spent on the phone trying to sort it out.

I had completed 2 versions of the form, one filling in the sort code and account number (as I think it said on KRs website) and one just with the reference when Lloyds suggested that a new form might sort it out (it didn't)

dunstonh

Both the issuing and receiving provider do not make this process easy. I appreciate there are security concerns when moving money, but I'm referring to the general information requested. My current provider (Kent Reliance) have not issued me with a sort code and account number (just an ISA number) and so the new provider cannot action.

The new provider is being a pain there.  Not the existing.  Most ISAs don't have a sort code.

I have also asked my other provider (Virgin Money) to transfer between ISA all held with them. It has been nearly 3 months and they keep giving me the run-around. It would appear Virgin Money is actually a brand of multiple financial services companies. They are requesting me to send forms as they need to transfer between companies. However, they won't release the necessary account details to complete the form.

The Virgin brand is used across different sub companies at different locations.  You need to ensure you use the details for the right one.

The receiving scheme is the one that controls the administration.  Not the ceding scheme.

I hate to sound like a cynic, but it would appear this is a clever trick to deter savers from transferring etc. 

It not a trick and they are not doing it for that reason.   It can sometimes be complicated to find out the right address to use with an ISA provider.   However, apart from that, I have never really had any problems and have arranged thousands of ISA transfers over the years.

Ocelot

I must have been lucky. I transferred 4 ISAs last month:

Coventry to Virgin, took 2 days

Coventry to Yorkshire BS took 2 days

Furness to Yorkshire BS, took 5 days

Secure Trust to Yorkshire BS, took 6 days.

All online.

Reed_Richards

I may be wrong but I think at the time of my last transfer it was mentioned that there is an electronic and rapid transfer method that not all ISA providers subscribe to.  It's likely to be the providers that don't subscribe that take the time.

xylophone

I was speaking to a relative this morning about his ISA transfer (YBS to Paragon) requested on Monday.

It completed today.

jak22

When requesting an ISA transfer the name of your current provider and account reference ought to be sufficient to set up a transfer. Details of the sort code and number thats used to transfer the funds ought to be sorted out in the communication between the providers as they process the application. There seems to be different communication methods in use depending on whether its a bank or investment provider etc

The easiest way is an electronic form rather than a form by post at the moment - so its annoying if they insist on filling in a sort code and number instead of just whatever reference number you have available.

But for a cash ISA it should be possible to find them somewhere as you have to be able to fund it yourself by bank transfer - for KR it's in the introductory email - but there wont be one for a stocks and shares ISA. Also for YBS the roll number seems to be the real account number

Theatregoer2

Sometimes the new ISA provider doesn’t actually tell you if their transfer request was rejected and even after the 15 (working) day limit may just say that limit is only a guide and it could take longer so please just wait. Meanwhile the old ISA provider has not even started to sell down your funds.

I found Vanguard very poor, and because they want you to do everything electronically, they don’t even give you a phone number to call them on to discuss what’s going on.

Customer service needs to be taken into account as well as headline expected return rates when considering moving your savings.