Trading 212 easy access ISA 5.2% APY and 1% cashback. Too good to be true?

PParka

Has anyone paid £20,000 into their ISA, received the £200 cashback and then transferred the £20,000 to another ISA provider?
I can see anything in the T&Cs that says this isn’t allowed. It doesn’t look like they will clawback the £200. 

Petriix

What I did was pay in £500 then move it backwards and forwards between the ISA and the Invest accounts within the app 37 times before withdrawing it again. This used up £18.5k of my ISA allowance and generated £185 cashback.

They don't seem to have any issues with the money being withdrawn again. The cashback itself remains locked for 12 months.

Alexland

Petriix said:

What I did was pay in £500 then move it backwards and forwards between the ISA and the Invest accounts within the app 37 times before withdrawing it again. This used up £18.5k of my ISA allowance and generated £185 cashback.

Thanks I will make a note to consider doing that if I have any ISA allowance remaining at the end of the tax year. Or I might just withdraw enough from a previous year ISA elsewhere to contribute into the T212 current year ISA to get the cashback. I'm not intending to stay with T212 beyond a year hopefully Fidelity will run another transfer cashback offer for existing customers to move it next tax year.

masonic

From mid-late May (whenever they launch their cash ISA), T212 ISAs will become Flexible, meaning it will not be necessary to burn ISA allowance in the manner @Petriix has done.

Also, just to note that withdrawing from a previous year ISA elsewhere to contribute into T212 would result in consumption of this year's ISA allowance @Alexland. I'm not sure if the reason you mentioned this was because you don't expect to be able to fund from unwrapped cash, or thought the money could be added as replacement subscriptions to T212.

Alexland

masonic said:

Also, just to note that withdrawing from a previous year ISA elsewhere to contribute into T212 would result in consumption of this year's ISA allowance @Alexland. I'm not sure if the reason you mentioned this was because you don't expect to be able to fund from unwrapped cash, or thought the tax status on the withdrawn previous year ISA contributions would be retained.

It's for any unused ISA allowance at the end of the year which would otherwise go to waste. Since taking on a big mortgage for the buyout (before the divorce we had more in ISAs than the mortgage) I am not really in a position to make full use of the ISA allowance anymore while also staying efficient on income tax. I'll settle for filling the LISA and putting what I can into a S&S ISA for now.

gravel_2

masonic said:

From mid-late May (whenever they launch their cash ISA), T212 ISAs will become Flexible, meaning it will not be necessary to burn ISA allowance in the manner @Petriix has done.

Also, just to note that withdrawing from a previous year ISA elsewhere to contribute into T212 would result in consumption of this year's ISA allowance @Alexland. I'm not sure if the reason you mentioned this was because you don't expect to be able to fund from unwrapped cash, or thought the money could be added as replacement subscriptions to T212.

Can you please share a link confirming the change to flexible? For me this was one of the things unfortunately missing from the T212 offering so would be great to see the S&S ISA go flexible.

Thanks.

masonic

gravel_2 said:

masonic said:

From mid-late May (whenever they launch their cash ISA), T212 ISAs will become Flexible, meaning it will not be necessary to burn ISA allowance in the manner @Petriix has done.

Also, just to note that withdrawing from a previous year ISA elsewhere to contribute into T212 would result in consumption of this year's ISA allowance @Alexland. I'm not sure if the reason you mentioned this was because you don't expect to be able to fund from unwrapped cash, or thought the money could be added as replacement subscriptions to T212.

Can you please share a link confirming the change to flexible? For me this was one of the things unfortunately missing from the T212 offering so would be great to see the S&S ISA go flexible.

Thanks.

It was stated by a staffer in the forums earlier this week: https://community.trading212.com/t/pls-provide-flexible-isa/30125/55

slinger2

See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-isa-subscriptions-for-your-investors#flexible-isas

"Where the terms and conditions of an ISA are changed to offer flexibility from a date other than 6 April, and managers’ systems permit it, withdrawals made from the start of the tax year can be treated as having been made from a flexible ISA. In other words, any subsequent subscriptions in the same tax year that would otherwise count towards the subscription limit will do so only to the to the extent that previously withdrawn amounts have been fully replaced."

I think that means that they MIGHT treat earlier withdrawals (since 6 Apr 2024) as flexible. All quite unclear at the moment.

charlie12525

I've just received an email from T212 announcing their new cash isa.

There is also a link to their new cashback terms which refers to "net deposit" when the previous cashback terms referred to "deposit".

It doesn't look clear to me but it looks like they are now saying that if you deposit 20k in your isa and then withdraw 20k (or transfer away) then your net deposit would be zero so no cashback.

Am I reading it correctly?

I have activated my T212 stocks isa and I was going to add this year's 20k and transfer it out soon afterwards to get the £200 cashback. This may no longer work.

The new terms take effect on 08/06/24 so it could work if done within the next month.

https://www.trading212.com/legal-documentation/uk/Table-Overview-of-ISA-Deposit-Cashback-Terms-Amendments-05.2024_EN.pdf

Aidanmc

charlie12525 said:

I've just received an email from T212 announcing their new cash isa.

There is also a link to their new cashback terms which refers to "net deposit" when the previous cashback terms referred to "deposit".

It doesn't look clear to me but it looks like they are now saying that if you deposit 20k in your isa and then withdraw 20k (or transfer away) then your net deposit would be zero so no cashback.

Am I reading it correctly?

I have activated my T212 stocks isa and I was going to add this year's 20k and transfer it out soon afterwards to get the £200 cashback. This may no longer work.

The new terms take effect on 08/06/24 so it could work if done within the next month.

https://www.trading212.com/legal-documentation/uk/Table-Overview-of-ISA-Deposit-Cashback-Terms-Amendments-05.2024_EN.pdf

Would it have something to do with them making it a flexible isa, i wonder?

The cashback is credited more or less instantly to the Invest acc whenever deposit is made to S&S Isa.

I cant see them clawing the cash back