Principality - internal ISA transfer help please

Harry227

I wanted to transfer part of my Online ISA (currently 4.2%)  to a 3 year fixed ISA 5.4% .  But have been told I can't do a part transfer (£50,000), only all of it (£90,000+)!

They wrote...

"We are unable to transfer part of your ISA from one Principality account to another Principality account without it counting towards your 2023/2024 ISA allowance which would need to be within the £20,000.00 ISA allowance. As you have already funded your Online ISA during this tax year the above would not be an option as you can only fund 1 ISA per tax year. We are only able to move the full balance over if you wish.."

Earlier this year I paid in 'new' money (just £50) to 'wake' the Online ISA which had been inactive for a couple of years.

So my 'new' money ISA allowance for this year, or as I understood it, had £19,950 remaining.

So does shifting money already in an ISA wrapper, from one ISA or another ISA, counts towards your annual ISA allowance now?

If so, is there some legitimate way around this, by which I can split the Online ISA?

Thanks in advance for advice.

35har1old

Harry227 said:

I wanted to transfer part of my Online ISA (currently 4.2%)  to a 3 year fixed ISA 5.4% .  But have been told I can't do a part transfer (£50,000), only all of it (£90,000+)!

They wrote...

"We are unable to transfer part of your ISA from one Principality account to another Principality account without it counting towards your 2023/2024 ISA allowance which would need to be within the £20,000.00 ISA allowance. As you have already funded your Online ISA during this tax year the above would not be an option as you can only fund 1 ISA per tax year. We are only able to move the full balance over if you wish.."

Earlier this year I paid in 'new' money (just £50) to 'wake' the Online ISA which had been inactive for a couple of years.

So my 'new' money ISA allowance for this year, or as I understood it, had £19,950 remaining.

So does shifting money already in an ISA wrapper, from one ISA or another ISA, counts towards your annual ISA allowance now?

If so, is there some legitimate way around this, by which I can split the Online ISA?

Thanks in advance for advice.

There own terms state you can transfer ISAs from previous years and they don't count towards this years allowance.
They also state you can make partial transfer.
It would appear you have been unlucky in getting a reply from a agent who doesn't no the correct terms
As you have a excess above the FSCS limit of £85000 you would be bitter of transferring some to another provider

Albermarle

So does shifting money already in an ISA wrapper, from one ISA or another ISA, counts towards your annual ISA allowance now?
No, not at all.
However if there is new money in the ISA ( ie added this year) it has to be transferred over.
I think maybe the providers systems can only be sure that your £50 is transferred if you transfer the whole lot.

So what you propose is perfectly within the rules, but maybe the provider is not able to manage a part transfer as you have added some new money to the current ISA. Just a guess.

Probably best ( as suggested above ) to try a part transfer to a new provider, although you may hit the same problem.

Harry227

Have an update on the Principality issue.  Apparently, their policy is: "Unfortunately we cannot do partial internal ISA transfers. We can only do full internal ISA transfers"!

Is this unusual for a building society?  I've certainly made partial internal transfers with other societies. 

drphila

Harry227 said:

Have an update on the Principality issue.  Apparently, their policy is: "Unfortunately we cannot do partial internal ISA transfers. We can only do full internal ISA transfers"!

Is this unusual for a building society?  I've certainly made partial internal transfers with other societies. 

I'd check to see if this is in the original T&Cs you signed up to

Harry227

This is proving to be less simple than I imagined.

So I've just checked with the Newcastle Building Society who have a 2 yr ISA at 5.55%. I already have an old ISA account for them so applying is quite straightforward.  But, reading the terms and conditions I'm asked to confirm if I've already subscribed to an ISA in this tax year.  I have, as I invested £50 in an already existing Principality ISA to 'wake' it up as no contributions had been made to it for a number of years.

Does this mean I can't open a new Newcastle BS ISA and transfer in 'old' (already in an ISA wrapper for x years) money into this Newcastle ISA?

I have the feeling that I've now trapped (by making that £50 investment) all of my Principality ISA investments within the Principality BS, for this tax year at least.

Doctor_Who

Does this mean I can't open a new Newcastle BS ISA and transfer in 'old' (already in an ISA wrapper for x years) money into this Newcastle ISA?

You can open as many cash ISAs as you like for the purpose of transferring previous years' ISA subscriptions, just don't add any new money to these ISAs. Your current subscription is with Principality due to the £50 you added this tax year, if you want to transfer this you have to transfer all of this year's subscription.

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/transferring-your-isa