Aldermore ISA declaration states I can not subscribe to any other CASH ISA in 24-25

Whistler67

I received a copy of my ISA reactivation declaration from Aldermore. It clearly stated I am not aloud to open any other cash ISA this financial year.   The following is on their Web site...

Aldermore offers Cash ISAs only. You can split your Cash ISA allowance between any of our Cash ISA products. This will be classed as one Cash ISA for the purposes of tax-free allowances and HMRC reporting.

Although the Government recently announced changes to ISA rules to allow individuals to invest their current tax year’s ISA allowance across multiple providers, we don’t have the functionality to allow this currently. Unfortunately, at present, if you’ve invested part of your current year’s ISA allowance in a Cash ISA with another provider, you won’t be able to invest your remaining allowance in an Aldermore Cash ISA in the current tax year. However, it’s an option that we’re looking to introduce.

If you’ve got existing ISAs with other providers from previous tax years, these don’t count towards your £20,000 annual allowance so you can transfer these to us in full. By bringing all of your ISAs together in one place, you can manage your ISA portfolio with ease.

I have transferred a previous year's ISA and topped up with 16k.  Surely I can go to another provider and open it , transfer a previous years ISA, not already transferred to Aldermore, then close this years allowance by adding 4k.

refluxer

Whistler67 said:

I received a copy of my ISA reactivation declaration from Aldermore. It clearly stated I am not aloud to open any other cash ISA this financial year.   The following is on their Web site...

Aldermore offers Cash ISAs only. You can split your Cash ISA allowance between any of our Cash ISA products. This will be classed as one Cash ISA for the purposes of tax-free allowances and HMRC reporting.

Although the Government recently announced changes to ISA rules to allow individuals to invest their current tax year’s ISA allowance across multiple providers, we don’t have the functionality to allow this currently. Unfortunately, at present, if you’ve invested part of your current year’s ISA allowance in a Cash ISA with another provider, you won’t be able to invest your remaining allowance in an Aldermore Cash ISA in the current tax year. However, it’s an option that we’re looking to introduce.

If you’ve got existing ISAs with other providers from previous tax years, these don’t count towards your £20,000 annual allowance so you can transfer these to us in full. By bringing all of your ISAs together in one place, you can manage your ISA portfolio with ease.

I have transferred a previous year's ISA and topped up with 16k.  Surely I can go to another provider and open it , transfer a previous years ISA, not already transferred to Aldermore, then close this years allowance by adding 4k.

You can according to HMRC but not according to Aldermore if you've already paid new subscriptions into an ISA with them, judging by the information they sent you.

I'm not sure how they would know if you did and what they would do about it - these are new and uncharted waters !

It's also no longer necessary to have to reactivate an ISA that hasn't been used for a while with a new declaration AFAIK, so is that another new ISA rule that banks are going to ignore, I wonder ? 

PCashew74

I've opened 3 Cash ISAs (so far) this financial year, 1 with Aldermore - I didn't see anything in the product terms and conditions regarding the above and would be surprised if they could tell if I have opened any new ISAs elsewhere.

Albermarle

PCashew74 said:

I've opened 3 Cash ISAs (so far) this financial year, 1 with Aldermore - I didn't see anything in the product terms and conditions regarding the above and would be surprised if they could tell if I have opened any new ISAs elsewhere.

I looked at their ISA page yesterday and it was clearly stated.

However as you are not breaking HMRC ISA rules, I am not really sure what, if anything, they could do about your 3new ISA's.

I suspect they only refer to adding new money to different cash ISA's, and just opening a new cash ISA with another provider to transfer money in would not be an issue for them.

So far not aware of any other provider saying something similar.

PCashew74

Also being discussed re other providers are saying similar eg West Brom 60 day notice ISA
Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List - Page 759 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

masonic

This thread seems to be the 'main' one on the topic of ISA managers misunderstanding / failing to prepare for the new ISA rules: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6514005/new-isa-rules-april-2024

PeskyBlunder

Seems like Aldermore have muddied the waters again - I got a secure message from them last week:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80717034/#Comment_80717034

boingy

Quite simply, you are allowed to contribute to as many ISAs as you want, with any providers, as long as your total stays within the 20K limit. Aldermore have no way to know what you have done with other providers, nor do they have any way to stop you! All they can do is control how many ISAs you open with them.

jimjames

boingy said:

Quite simply, you are allowed to contribute to as many ISAs as you want, with any providers, as long as your total stays within the 20K limit. Aldermore have no way to know what you have done with other providers, nor do they have any way to stop you! All they can do is control how many ISAs you open with them.

It seems bizarre that they're claiming their systems don't support you having an ISA elsewhere when that has been possible for many years, in fact since ISAs were introduced you could have ISAs at different places albeit cash and S&S but principle is the same and has no impact on their own systems. Yes they would need changes to support multiple ISAs per year per person in their own system but that's not required.