Nationwide 'split-ISA' - can it be transferred out

whalemoney

Hi, a few years ago when I was putting contributions into a Nationwide Help to Buy ISA, they offered a "split ISA" (I think it's called Flexclusive Split ISA).  The offered this to give us an opportunity to use up the full 20k ISA allowance.  So over the course of a year I'd deposit the maximum I could into the Help to Buy (£1,400 per year) and then the remaining £18,600 could be put into the split ISA.

I have just over 22k sat in this split isa at a pitiful 2.5%.  Does anybody know if I can transfer this out as a normal ISA, or is it pretty much condemned to a life of 2.5%?

Catplan

I think you should be able to transfer it, https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/transferring-your-isa#:~:text=You%20can%20transfer%20all%20or,year%20or%20in%20previous%20years.

gravel_2

I would make the assumption that it's actually just a separate account and can be freely transferred. At this point it's a redundant account anyway (if it wasn't always) as you can now have as many ISAs as you like and subscribe to as many as you like in the same tax year. I don't think they have any basis for tying the two together.

On Nationwide I assume it's just listed as its own account? I've tried but it seems difficult to find terms and conditions on NW for old accounts. Even for new accounts I'm struggling to see definitively what terms apply to my accounts. If you want to be totally sure you could contact NW.

whalemoney

gravel_2 said:

I would make the assumption that it's actually just a separate account and can be freely transferred. At this point it's a redundant account anyway (if it wasn't always) as you can now have as many ISAs as you like and subscribe to as many as you like in the same tax year. I don't think they have any basis for tying the two together.

On Nationwide I assume it's just listed as its own account? I've tried but it seems difficult to find terms and conditions on NW for old accounts. Even for new accounts I'm struggling to see definitively what terms apply to my accounts. If you want to be totally sure you could contact NW.

It displays as separate account when I view my accounts on the app, but I distinctly remember that it wasn't to be considered to be a normal ISA.  I recall that the rule was if you put your money into a help to buy ISA then you couldn't also put any money into a standard ISA too.  Then Nationwide made this somewhat unique split- ISA that offered a unique way of getting around the rules and allowing me to make full use of the 20k annual ISA allowance.  My concern is that the 22k is essentially attached to the funds in the help to buy ISA as a single ISA product.  

I did try to contact Nationwide but they seemingly have removed the ability to send them an inbox style message and have replaced it with an infuriating chatbot that simply doesn't offer any opportunity to send them a detailed enquiry!

gravel_2

As said, there's no basis for them tying it to the other account. This sounds like a redundant workaround to old ISA rules whereby the provider enabled you to do a full ISA subscription within their estate if you also wanted to make the max subscription to H2B but had more cash to spare.

The savings number is 03457 30 20 11

EDIT: to add, they shouldn't close your H2B without clear instruction. Closure of H2B without a sale associated with it means forgoing the house purchase 25% bonus. Honestly think you'll be fine just transferring the "split" using its unique account details.

whalemoney

gravel_2 said:

As said, there's no basis for them tying it to the other account. This sounds like a redundant workaround to old ISA rules whereby the provider enabled you to do a full ISA subscription within their estate if you also wanted to make the max subscription to H2B but had more cash to spare.

The savings number is 03457 30 20 11

EDIT: to add, they shouldn't close your H2B without clear instruction. Closure of H2B without a sale associated with it means forgoing the house purchase 25% bonus. Honestly think you'll be fine just transferring the "split" using its unique account details.

Thanks,  I'll transfer it out to Plum then.  It's got a 5.17% promo rate on it currently.  You don't know if that rate also applies to transfers do you?

gravel_2

It doesn't. Plum is oddly set up in that regard. It's 4.29% on transfers.

whalemoney

thanks.  I'm struggling to even get to the point of transferring my ISAs out of Nationwide as they don't assign a sort and acct number to each ISA.  I have several ISAs with them and they all have the same sort and acct number, so it's impossible to transfer them out!

slinger2

whalemoney said:

thanks.  I'm struggling to even get to the point of transferring my ISAs out of Nationwide as they don't assign a sort and acct number to each ISA.  I have several ISAs with them and they all have the same sort and acct number, so it's impossible to transfer them out!

Don't they have different "roll numbers" (eg 1234/123456789)? Make sure you give that to the provider you want to transfer to,

whalemoney

slinger2 said:

whalemoney said:

thanks.  I'm struggling to even get to the point of transferring my ISAs out of Nationwide as they don't assign a sort and acct number to each ISA.  I have several ISAs with them and they all have the same sort and acct number, so it's impossible to transfer them out!

Don't they have different "roll numbers" (eg 1234/123456789)? Make sure you give that to the provider you want to transfer to,

Hi it wasn't possible to give the new provider (Plum) any other information than the account and sort details.  There was no other box to input any other information.  Nationwide rang me and eventually manually transferred the ISAs, but it was an unnecessary faff and delayed the transfer for about 10 days