Funds transfer - keeping within ISA wrapper

20122013

Appreciate this is a long post.

Following on from my previous post. While I plan my next steps, I am thinking of selling all my current S&S ISA 29 funds into cash ISA. I would like to know when will will the fees for my current platform and fund managers stop?  and when will my Cash ISA I start earning interest ?

As there is no selling fee with my current platform and I will need to use more than one provider for the Cash ISA transfer due to FCSC rules and will be looking to buy passive funds.

1. Will it make sense to sell all SS ISA and turn them into CASH ISA with my current platform,  so I can enter the exact amount  on the new provider's transfer form  ?  will I still be within the ISA wrapper?

2. Keep all SS ISA as it is on current platform and on the new provider's transfer form, I will list the funds to sell so it stays within the FCSC rules? or is there a way I can write on the form(s) (so the appropriate amount will be sold and the provider can choose which funds to sell? (I don' think this is possible) and still fits in the FCSC rule or do I have to state which funds to sell, as this will be not straight foward to do)?

If I choose option 2, as I will transferring to more than one provider,  shall I wait for each transfer to complete before I do the next one with a different provider ? as the last time I did this it took 10 months (partly due to busy ISA period etc) and it was not easy to track,

3. Regarding new provider would it better to choose one with the highest interest rate with easy access (mostly with bank or building soceity) or use an online platfrom so the funds are there whenI am I ready to buy funds? Currently still planning on portfolio so do not know what funds I am looking to buy.

Some of the providers I have found and would be interested to know whether there are things I have not thought of, fees, penalities, restrictions or other ways to do this:

- Trading 212  up to 5.03% to new customers (but has a limited fund selection), Does this matter if I am using it to hold my Cash ISA and transfer them to another provider as S&S ISA? 

- Money farm up to 4.70%

- Post Office 4.4%

I would like to know what option will make (most financial) sense, please? Any other option, welcome.

masonic

I would avoid having more than one transfer on the go at one time. The approach that would make most sense to me would be to sell some of your holdings to raise a cash balance and then request partial transfer of a specific cash amount (e.g. if you want to split up to keep below the £85k FSCS compensation limit). It is highly unlikely that a cash ISA transfer form will give you the option to list investments. The fees will continue until the S&S ISA is empty or closed. Some providers will not charge anything for a S&S ISA containing only cash. Depends on your provider.

FSCS is the compensation scheme

HMRC is responsible for the rules relating to ISAs