Maturing ISA - partial transfers

Sepulveda

I'm an ISA newbie, as I never had one until I inherited a reasonable sum a year ago (I could not afford to save before that), so I've learnt a LOT from these forums about ISAs and savings in general, so thank you! So...I have a Co-op Fixed ISA £20k 5.59% which matures next month and goes into a Co-op instant access ISA at 2.53%, which I then want to transfer out. I feel reasonably confident about what to do re the transfer process, but I'm still confused about partial transfers. I'd like to do partial transfers (which Co-op permits) as I prefer to spread money around, not all eggs in one basket etc, particularly given the interest rate situation, so some of the £20k in fixed, some not. I opened 7 ISAs in April (£20k spread across these), 4 of these allow transfers in, but I'm also considering opening new ISAs. My question is, is it a straightforward process to do partial transfers? Which providers allow partial transfers in - is there a list, or a way to find out? - as its not always clear from provider websites which do and which don't. The other issue that concerns me is that I see from this forum that some providers don't do digital transfers, such as Principality, who do it by paper/cheque?! I'd rather avoid that if possible.  Any thoughts or insights about the ISA transfer process would be helpful as I want to be aware of any potential pitfalls - apologies if this has been asked before!

refluxer

I don't know the exact stats, but I would imagine that a decent proportion of cash ISA providers allow partial transfers in or out, particularly when it comes to easy access ISAs which tend to operate without restrictions. One exception I can think of that I've personally come across is Zopa (which means you need to be very wary about opening different combinations of easy access and fixed term pots with them) and another is when providers like Santander run their eVoucher promotions, where a full transfer-in is required to earn the reward. Unfortunately, even the better comparison sites like Moneyfactscompare don't allow you to filter according to whether a provider does or doesn't allow partial transfers, so you'll have to make sure you read the summary boxes and T&Cs of the accounts you're interest in carefully.

Spreading £20k across 7 different cash ISAs seems a bit excessive. As 4 allow transfers in, does that mean that includes 4 easy access ISAs ? While there is obviously a potential benefit to spreading money across fixed rate ISAs of different durations, I can't see the benefit of opening 4 different easy access ISAs - you're just creating extra work and admin for yourself keeping on top of all those different accounts. Personally, I would just stick to one easy access cash ISA or maybe two at the most. If a rate becomes uncompetitive, you can simply transfer it to a better-paying alternative. It's up to you though, of course.

While I try and stick to ISA providers who use the BACs ISA transfer service, I have dealt with a few that don't (like the Principality) in the past and it just means that transfers take a couple of weeks rather than a couple of days. Provided the new ISA provider backdates the interest to the date the funds leave the sending account, then it shouldn't lead to a loss of interest (in theory) despite the inevitable postal delays.

Fortunately, most of the big-players do use the service - it tends to be mainly some of the smaller building societies that don't. Hodge is the only bank that springs to mind that doesn't, but there may be others. Shawbrook provide a useful list here... https://www.shawbrook.co.uk/savings/articles/how-to-transfer-an-isa-to-shawbrook-bank/#electronic-isa-transfers

Sepulveda

Thank you, this is very helpful. I do have a Zopa ISA, but what I've read on here already made me wary about opening another one. I see what you mean about excessive number of ISAs, but then I do have 17 regular saver accounts, so...! I keep on top of everything with Excel spreadsheets etc, and so far it seems to be working. I think at the time, in April, I was not sure about the transfer process (and from what I see here, it is not always as straightforward as it should be), so thought I'd open as many potentially attractive ISAs as possible. The Shawbrook list is very helpful, thanks. And I do have an ISA with Shawbrook - I read on here that they allow transfers in to fixed ISAs if you phone them, so I took a 2 year fixed one out at 4.5%. So perhaps that may be an option for the Co-op ISA, particularly given the way interest rates are looking right now. This has been a steep learning curve in the last 12 months! Thanks again