Cancelling new ISA - want to switch to better rate now advertised on MSE!

jungleboy123

Hi,

We've opened 3 separate Cash ISAs with Shawbrook (1 me, 2 for individual parents). Tomorrow is the 14 day cut off (where i think it can be cancelled), but now I've seen Santander are doing a better deal.

I don't want to make mistake. How do i go about closing this and switching to Santander? Is there even time to do this b4 the 6 April deadline?

The difference in interest is minimal between the products, but we bank with Santander (and have already completed the transferred isas to Shawbrook from Santander) already so would be easier to see/manage accounts.

Thanks.

eskbanker

The cancellation method is at clause 14.1 of Shawbrook's Ts & Cs:

If You change Your mind and wish to cancel Your application to open an account, depending on Your account You may do so at any time within the 14 calendar days from the opening date of Your account or receiving Your contractual terms (whichever is later). Please write to Us by post or Secure Message to confirm Your request or call Us on 0345 266 6611. Please note, however, that this cancellation right does not apply to any account with a fixed interest rate for a fixed period unless the account is a Cash ISA in which case the cancellation right does apply.

https://www.shawbrook.co.uk/media/2149/sb_sv_personalsavingsaccounttermsandconditions_20181123_14.pdf

However, beware of 14.4!

Where you cancel Your account, We will return all Available Funds to You within 30 calendar days from the day You notify Us of Your intention to cancel.

grumbler

If you haven't deposited any money yet then, I think, you can just open another ISA and deposit your money there. Then you can close the empty one if you wish. If you deposited money, then you can transfer the ISA.

jungleboy123

Thanks. Seems like a nightmare effort for a few bob... We've deposited £1 into each accounts, some of the transfers from Santander have already been done. Not sure if that affects things.

refluxer

grumbler said:

If you deposited money, then you can transfer the ISA.

They'd only want to do that if these are easy access ISAs though - I was presuming from their post that these are fixed rate ISAs, in which case doing that would incur a big (120 day) interest penalty.

@jungleboy123 - it would be worth clarifying what type of ISAs you've opened plus, when you say you've "already completed the transferred isas to Shawbrook from Santander", were these Shawbrook ISAs that you've opened transfers from Santander ISAs and now you're wanting to essentially change your mind, cancel and transfer back ? If so, you'd need to tread very carefully and confirm with Shawbrook that the money wouldn't simply be paid out to you and therefore lose the ISA wrapper (judging by the info Eskbanker posted above), instead of being returned to Santander... if that's even possible ?

refluxer

jungleboy123 said:

Thanks. Seems like a nightmare effort for a few bob... We've deposited £1 into each accounts, some of the transfers from Santander have already been done. Not sure if that affects things.

Are the Shawbrook ISAs the only cash ISAs you've each paid into during the current tax year ? So you've only made use of £1 from your 2022-2023 ISA allowance ?

jungleboy123

refluxer said:

jungleboy123 said:

Thanks. Seems like a nightmare effort for a few bob... We've deposited £1 into each accounts, some of the transfers from Santander have already been done. Not sure if that affects things.

Are the Shawbrook ISAs the only cash ISAs you've each paid into during the current tax year ? So you've only made use of £1 from your 2022-2023 ISA allowance ?

yep just the £1 test deposit. everything else is from an isa transfer request from older tax years.

refluxer

jungleboy123 said:

refluxer said:

jungleboy123 said:

Thanks. Seems like a nightmare effort for a few bob... We've deposited £1 into each accounts, some of the transfers from Santander have already been done. Not sure if that affects things.

Are the Shawbrook ISAs the only cash ISAs you've each paid into during the current tax year ? So you've only made use of £1 from your 2022-2023 ISA allowance ?

yep just the £1 test deposit. everything else is from an isa transfer request from older tax years.

OK, great - it was just worth checking you were still within the ISA rules. Sounds like it's a shame you paid that pound in, otherwise you could have opened the Santander ISAs with this years allowance.

If you're set on cancelling the Shawbrook ISAs, then obviously the £1 will be returned to you but you would definitely need to check what happens with the transfers that have already been processed, as presumably the originating Santander ISAs will have been closed so things could get very awkward.

jungleboy123

refluxer said:

jungleboy123 said:

refluxer said:

jungleboy123 said:

Thanks. Seems like a nightmare effort for a few bob... We've deposited £1 into each accounts, some of the transfers from Santander have already been done. Not sure if that affects things.

Are the Shawbrook ISAs the only cash ISAs you've each paid into during the current tax year ? So you've only made use of £1 from your 2022-2023 ISA allowance ?

yep just the £1 test deposit. everything else is from an isa transfer request from older tax years.

OK, great - it was just worth checking you were still within the ISA rules. Sounds like it's a shame you paid that pound in, otherwise you could have opened the Santander ISAs with this years allowance.

If you're set on cancelling the Shawbrook ISAs, then obviously the £1 will be returned to you but you would definitely need to check what happens with the transfers that have already been processed, as presumably the originating Santander ISAs will have been closed so things could get very awkward.

yep. its going to be complex. Tomorrow's the 14 day cut off.

refluxer

jungleboy123 said:

refluxer said:

If you're set on cancelling the Shawbrook ISAs, then obviously the £1 will be returned to you but you would definitely need to check what happens with the transfers that have already been processed, as presumably the originating Santander ISAs will have been closed so things could get very awkward.

yep. its going to be complex. Tomorrow's the 14 day cut off.

I would have thought the chances of you getting everything clarified by tomorrow so you know exactly where you stand are fairly slim, in which case it might not be worth the risk of losing the ISA wrapper from the transferred funds ?

If the Santander ISAs are still around on 6th April, you'd be able to fund one with next year's ISA allowance. It may even be possible to open one sooner than that and fund it on 6th April, if their funding window and T&Cs allow it (sometimes you have to fund with a minimum of £1 or request a transfer at the time of application, in which case that wouldn't be possible)

There's also a small rate rise predicted for tomorrow's BoE meeting, in which case rates could continue to rise as they have been doing steadily recently, following the peak at the end of last year and subsequent drop at the start of this year.

jungleboy123

refluxer said:

jungleboy123 said:

refluxer said:

If you're set on cancelling the Shawbrook ISAs, then obviously the £1 will be returned to you but you would definitely need to check what happens with the transfers that have already been processed, as presumably the originating Santander ISAs will have been closed so things could get very awkward.

yep. its going to be complex. Tomorrow's the 14 day cut off.

I would have thought the chances of you getting everything clarified by tomorrow so you know exactly where you stand are fairly slim, in which case it might not be worth the risk of losing the ISA wrapper from the transferred funds ?

If the Santander ISAs are still around on 6th April, you'd be able to fund one with next year's ISA allowance. It may even be possible to open one sooner than that and fund it on 6th April, if their funding window and T&Cs allow it (sometimes you have to fund with a minimum of £1 or request a transfer at the time of application, in which case that wouldn't be possible)

There's also a small rate rise predicted for tomorrow's BoE meeting, in which case rates could continue to rise as they have been doing steadily recently, following the peak at the end of last year and subsequent drop at the start of this year.

I tried to call Shawbrook earlier, but i think i confused myself more than the customer service advisor explaining what i wanted to do lol.

I think based on MSE site, Santander deals tend to be quick and not stick around long. Annoyingly, if we had waited could have just did an in-transfer via Santander and have the higher rate and not end up in this mess. Around August 2022 i missed Santander's 4% fix ISA deal then, and that went pretty quickly. 

Both easy access and fixes have been lower than or equal to the BoE rate. I'm not even sure why they are so low, as the non-isa cash savings accounts are slightly higher  - maybe someone knows.

I guess as you've said being close to the ISA year means if the deal is still here after 6 April i can just open a new one and start depositing, but end up with less allowance within that year.