Can I open 2 cash ISAs in a year?

optoutDB

Dealing with my mothers finances. She had 107k cash in her S&S ISA earning 0%. There was a button to create a Cash ISA (HSBC) so I hit that and then moved 7k across into it.  I noticed the 20k limit reduced to 13k (which I was not expecting, thinking it was a ISA transfer). Then I topped the CASH ISA up to 20k from her saving account (2%).  And I was then blocked form moving 2k across from the S&S ISA.

Plan A was to get on the phone tomorrow and see what the deal is ( hoping that they can transfer the 100k across) 

But now I've decided I'd rather transfer the 100k out to eg Virgin 1yr Cash ISA at 5.7%.  My brother thinks he has read that you can only open 1 Cash ISA a year ????

I guess Virgin will know the answer, but thought I'd ask here first as there will probably be more info people want to add



 

optoutDB

oops. A thread answering my question has just bubbled to the top when I returned to the forum.

I admit it - I didn't read through this forum first.   

Delete my thread if you like.

eskbanker

You can only pay new money into one cash ISA in any tax year, but if the money you're referring to was all from prior years then it can be spread around as many cash ISAs as she wants, providing that the receiving provider's ISA transfer process is used.

optoutDB said:

There was a button to create a Cash ISA (HSBC) so I hit that and then moved 7k across into it.  I noticed the 20k limit reduced to 13k (which I was not expecting, thinking it was a ISA transfer). Then I topped the CASH ISA up to 20k from her saving account (2%).  And I was then blocked form moving 2k across from the S&S ISA.

I don't know exactly how you were 'moving' money from the S&S ISA to the cash one, but it doesn't sound like it was processed as a transfer, so those amounts will have contributed to her current year allowance, which has now been used up.

However, this doesn't prevent £100K of prior year money being transferred from the S&S ISA into a cash one, either with HSBC or anyone else, as long as the correct process is followed, as long as the cash ISA allows transfers in (not all do).