Kent Reliance Application for missed ISA subscription

Sago48

I was checking some detail about a joint savings account we've closed a couple of days ago. We still have 3 ISAs with KR. The customer bloke said oh you haven't competed the applicaiton for a missed ISA subscription yet. I looked this up and it's a declaration that I will apply for an ISA in all future years. Then it says this doesn't mean I have to! I got my fingers burnt a while back when Coventry BS hid its information about transfer penalties and ooled me as to how much the penalty would be. That cost me £150 or so (an appeal to the Financial Services Ombudsman was unsuccessful and was so skewed I won't use them again), so I'm naturally cautious about ISA providers and their transparency. Does anyone know what this is and whether it's a new ISA requirement? KR have conssitently offered good savings rates which is why I've used them in recent years. I gather KR are undergoing structural changes but haven't looked at what exactly. Is this form part of those changes? Thanks.

wmb194

Sago48 said:

I was checking some detail about a joint savings account we've closed a couple of days ago. We still have 3 ISAs with KR. The customer bloke said oh you haven't competed the applicaiton for a missed ISA subscription yet. I looked this up and it's a declaration that I will apply for an ISA in all future years. Then it says this doesn't mean I have to! I got my fingers burnt a while back when Coventry BS hid its information about transfer penalties and ooled me as to how much the penalty would be. That cost me £150 or so (an appeal to the Financial Services Ombudsman was unsuccessful and was so skewed I won't use them again), so I'm naturally cautious about ISA providers and their transparency. Does anyone know what this is and whether it's a new ISA requirement? KR have conssitently offered good savings rates which is why I've used them in recent years. I gather KR are undergoing structural changes but haven't looked at what exactly. Is this form part of those changes? Thanks.

Don’t worry about it, so long as you don’t exceed the annual limit of £20,000 across all accounts you can deposit money in as many Isas every tax year as you like.

refluxer

Sago48 said:

I was checking some detail about a joint savings account we've closed a couple of days ago. We still have 3 ISAs with KR. The customer bloke said oh you haven't competed the applicaiton for a missed ISA subscription yet. I looked this up and it's a declaration that I will apply for an ISA in all future years. Then it says this doesn't mean I have to!....

 Does anyone know what this is and whether it's a new ISA requirement? KR have conssitently offered good savings rates which is why I've used them in recent years. I gather KR are undergoing structural changes but haven't looked at what exactly. Is this form part of those changes? Thanks.

This sounds similar to the standard ISA declaration - you obviously sign one when you first open the ISA, but then (in theory) you need to sign one every tax year if you want to continue to pay into it.

I've never had to do this, but that's presumably because I tend to open fixed rate cash ISAs where paying into it in future tax years isn't usually possible. Kent Reliance, however, are one of the few exceptions to this which probably explains why they're asking you to sign a new declaration. In the current climate of reducing interest rates, this could actually be a good thing because it might allow you to contribute further to a fixed rate that is higher than those currently available.

If it is akin to a standard ISA declaration, then it should be fine to sign it again and, as stated, it doesn't mean you have to add more funds to it. If the bank is insisting on it, I would just do it otherwise it will just cause problems and you don't want to risk the money losing it's ISA status.

The government actually did away with this ongoing requirement with the ISA rule changes that came into effect last April, but (like some of the other rule changes) it's possible that not all ISA providers have fully embraced them yet. 

Sago48 said:

I got my fingers burnt a while back when Coventry BS hid its information about transfer penalties and ooled me as to how much the penalty would be. That cost me £150 or so (an appeal to the Financial Services Ombudsman was unsuccessful and was so skewed I won't use them again), so I'm naturally cautious about ISA providers and their transparency.

Was this a long time ago ? All ISA providers state any early withdrawal penalties in the 'Can I withdraw money ?' section in the account summary box these days, so I wouldn't be worried about a lack of transparency. 

Generally speaking, all fixed rate cash ISAs will have penalties for early withdrawals or transfers - the only thing that can differ is how much they charge.

Sago48

Thanks for those reassurances. Good to know and I'll complete the form tomorrow. I've always found KR reponsive and quite efficient and have saved with them for over 4 years now - but until this latest crop, this was all taxable savings, not ISAs.. We now have 3 ISAs with KR - all fixed rate - and this is the first time I've come across this.

The problem with Coventry was that I was unable to find the penalty amounts. This was especilly galling because a pamphlet included when I openend the ISA said all of the key informaiton was online - which is where I usually look. But ths information wasn't there. Shortly after I lost my money most providers, including Coventry, made the penalty amounts prominent and explicit. What changed, I wonder? Their attitude to my complaint, and that of the FSO, was that it was my responsibilty to find the information - which is very 20th Century, as if, for example, the Plain English Campaign had never existed. I'd assumed such an outdated and unhelpful view had been abandoned. Coventry is a 'real' building society I think, and presmably works for its members, nt against them, as in my case.