Fixed isa ending and won’t transfer in time

refluxer

Which Principality ISA have you gone with, out of interest ? I only ask because UBL's fixed rates are either higher or similar for all durations. Or have you gone for Principality's Online Bonus ISA because you're thinking you might need access to the money ? 

If I was in your position, I would be ringing UBL when their phone lines open first thing tomorrow morning. Even if they can't accept maturity instructions over the phone, they should hopefully at least be able to clarify your position and put your mind at rest. You need confirmation from UBL that the route you're taking will be acceptable under the cooling-off clause and definitely won't end up resulting in a penalty, because transferring away and paying a 90-day penalty will almost-certainly see you worse-off than if you'd stayed on another fix with UBL.

Dallybally

refluxer said:

Which Principality ISA have you gone with, out of interest ? I only ask because UBL's fixed rates are either higher or similar for all durations. Or have you gone for Principality's Online Bonus ISA because you're thinking you might need access to the money ? 

If I was in your position, I would be ringing UBL when their phone lines open first thing tomorrow morning. Even if they can't accept maturity instructions over the phone, they should hopefully at least be able to clarify your position and put your mind at rest. You need confirmation from UBL that the route you're taking will be acceptable under the cooling-off clause and definitely won't end up resulting in a penalty, because transferring away and paying a 90-day penalty will almost-certainly see you worse-off than if you'd stayed on another fix with UBL.

I went with the flexible one so I can transfer it all in April into 1 fix, wanted to align to tax year. Yes, I’m going to speak to UBL next week, Principality have got the form and have sent it on to UBL, if it’s not going to happen in time I’ll bite bullet and cancel transfer and leave it with UBL. Their one year fix is great, slightly higher than the best on offer as they give you a small loyalty bonus if you keep it, but you can’t add more to it on the bonus, hence trying to move all in April. 

refluxer

Dallybally said:

refluxer said:

Which Principality ISA have you gone with, out of interest ? I only ask because UBL's fixed rates are either higher or similar for all durations. Or have you gone for Principality's Online Bonus ISA because you're thinking you might need access to the money ? 

If I was in your position, I would be ringing UBL when their phone lines open first thing tomorrow morning. Even if they can't accept maturity instructions over the phone, they should hopefully at least be able to clarify your position and put your mind at rest. You need confirmation from UBL that the route you're taking will be acceptable under the cooling-off clause and definitely won't end up resulting in a penalty, because transferring away and paying a 90-day penalty will almost-certainly see you worse-off than if you'd stayed on another fix with UBL.

I went with the flexible one so I can transfer it all in April into 1 fix, wanted to align to tax year. Yes, I’m going to speak to UBL next week, Principality have got the form and have sent it on to UBL, if it’s not going to happen in time I’ll bite bullet and cancel transfer and leave it with UBL. Their one year fix is great, slightly higher than the best on offer as they give you a small loyalty bonus if you keep it, but you can’t add more to it on the bonus, hence trying to move all in April. 

As interest in an ISA is tax-free, why do you want to align with the tax year ? The start of the new tax year is only relevant to ISAs in that you get a new £20k allowance, but you can pay that allowance into whatever ISA you see fit - it doesn't necessarily need to be combined with your current ISA.

Interest rates are predicted to head downwards in general at some point next year (and fixed rates have been falling steadily over the past month as a result) so if you don't need access to the money and want to take advantage of fixed rates, then it might not make sense to put money you could fix now into an easy access ISA until next April because fixed rates could well be lower then than they are now... if the current downward trend continues that is - it presumably has to bottom-out at some point.

If your 1 year UBL fix is a little more than the 5.1% they're currently offering then (ignoring Metro which is branch-only and Virgin which requires a current account) it must be pretty close to the next-best rates currently available (5.30%) which would make it a decent option for a 1 year fix ?

Those are just my thoughts, anyway. Obviously no-one knows for sure what the base rate will be next April.

refluxer

Dallybally said:
Their one year fix is great, slightly higher than the best on offer as they give you a small loyalty bonus if you keep it, but you can’t add more to it on the bonus, hence trying to move all in April. 

I've just picked up on this... you probably can't add any more to it at all.

With just a few exceptions (eg. Barclays and Shawbrook) you generally can't add more to a fixed rate ISA beyond the initial funding window, but you can simply open a new fixed rate ISA (either with UBL or elsewhere) to pay your new ISA allowance into after 6th April next year.

Veteransaver

It will likely either roll into a new fix or be rolled into a poorly paying ISA.
If it rolls into a new fix you should have a cooling off period so you can start a transfer request through another provider now (make sure you correctly complete the bit about waiting for current one fix period to end)
If it just rolls into an easy access then worst case you've lost a few days interest.
ISA transfers are generally quite quick now, within 5 days.
This happened to me this month, my fix was ending so i started the transfer process a couple of weeks before the fix expired . I assumed this would stop the current provider from rolling it into a new fix (their "do nothing" option) but it didn't and it ended up in a 3 year fix. But they  then just transferred it to the new provider without any penalty including a few days of decent interest, so I actually benefited from a higher rate for a few days. So all good

Dallybally

refluxer said:

Dallybally said:

refluxer said:

Which Principality ISA have you gone with, out of interest ? I only ask because UBL's fixed rates are either higher or similar for all durations. Or have you gone for Principality's Online Bonus ISA because you're thinking you might need access to the money ? 

If I was in your position, I would be ringing UBL when their phone lines open first thing tomorrow morning. Even if they can't accept maturity instructions over the phone, they should hopefully at least be able to clarify your position and put your mind at rest. You need confirmation from UBL that the route you're taking will be acceptable under the cooling-off clause and definitely won't end up resulting in a penalty, because transferring away and paying a 90-day penalty will almost-certainly see you worse-off than if you'd stayed on another fix with UBL.

I went with the flexible one so I can transfer it all in April into 1 fix, wanted to align to tax year. Yes, I’m going to speak to UBL next week, Principality have got the form and have sent it on to UBL, if it’s not going to happen in time I’ll bite bullet and cancel transfer and leave it with UBL. Their one year fix is great, slightly higher than the best on offer as they give you a small loyalty bonus if you keep it, but you can’t add more to it on the bonus, hence trying to move all in April. 

As interest in an ISA is tax-free, why do you want to align with the tax year ? The start of the new tax year is only relevant to ISAs in that you get a new £20k allowance, but you can pay that allowance into whatever ISA you see fit - it doesn't necessarily need to be combined with your current ISA.

Interest rates are predicted to head downwards in general at some point next year (and fixed rates have been falling steadily over the past month as a result) so if you don't need access to the money and want to take advantage of fixed rates, then it might not make sense to put money you could fix now into an easy access ISA until next April because fixed rates could well be lower then than they are now... if the current downward trend continues that is - it presumably has to bottom-out at some point.

If your 1 year UBL fix is a little more than the 5.1% they're currently offering then (ignoring Metro which is branch-only and Virgin which requires a current account) it must be pretty close to the next-best rates currently available (5.30%) which would make it a decent option for a 1 year fix ?

Those are just my thoughts, anyway. Obviously no-one knows for sure what the base rate will be next April.

 Between me and the wife now we already have 4 ISAs and will need 2 more in April, am trying to consolidate to make it easier to manage. I had quite a bit saved that I never bothered with as rates were so low, I got caught out by the rate increases and started paying tax on interest. 

Albermarle

ISA transfers are generally quite quick now, within 5 days.

However unfortunately that is not always the case, as can be seen on many threads on this forum.

One issue is when a provider offers a market leading rate, and then is unprepared for the response.

Dallybally

I take it this is only an issue when the one I want to transfer from is fixed and ending soon? If I transfer from a flex to a fix in April, it doesn’t matter how long the transfer takes? You only get a week to fund the fix but presume transfer is allowed after this as long as you request it quick?

refluxer

Dallybally said:

I take it this is only an issue when the one I want to transfer from is fixed and ending soon? If I transfer from a flex to a fix in April, it doesn’t matter how long the transfer takes? You only get a week to fund the fix but presume transfer is allowed after this as long as you request it quick?

If you mean easy access, then yes - transferring from an easy access cash ISA to a fixed rate cash ISA should be more straight-forward as there are no notice or penalty periods to contend with like there are when transferring from other types of cash ISA.

Don't presume that all ISA providers allow transfers in though, because there are a few (eg. Marcus or Zopa) who don't. For the providers who do, most will give you a deadline of anything up to a month to get your transfer request in, although some do insist on the request being provided at the time of application. 

If you're just transferring in, then providers tend to waive the normal funding window provided a transfer request has at least been received before any transfer-in request deadline they impose.   

As always, it's really important that you read the T&Cs thoroughly first so you know where you stand in advance and can avoid opening accounts that aren't suitable or might give you hassles further down the line. For example - when opening your next fixed rate ISA, you could choose a provider who does give a 'maturity'/easy access ISA option at maturity to avoid the issue you've got now from happening again.