Time frame for Transferring cash ISA from Chip to trading212 - any recent experience?

dreaMer001

I'm looking to transfer my Chip cash ISA to trading212 as they offer a much higher interest rate. Opened my trading212 account (blagged via the MSE link) and verified ID. Now all I need to do is start the transfer. 

Was wondering if anyone has done this transfer recently? If yes, how long did it take? I chatted with trading212 support yesterday and the jobsworth there could only tell me that it will take 15 - 30 days. When I had all the while emphasised that I wanted the TYPICAL time frame. When they told me it will take 15 - 30 days I said it could be less, right?, then they backtracked and said they were talking about the USUAL time frame and that it could be less than 15-30 days.

I've seen elsewhere (on another forum - https://www.reddit.com/r/trading212/comments/1h3zung/comment/lzvag9y/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) that it only took 2 or 3 days, but that post is from 4 months ago. Not sure if the same holds now, considering that there may be more transfers happening due to end of tax year approaching.

By the way, if it does take 30 days, is there any chance I could end up losing interest while the money is 'in-between' Chip and trading212. i.e. Chip sends the money on day 25 and trading212 receives the money on day 30, so 5 days interest lost?

Also, are there any advantages (or disadvantages) if the transfer is completed ON OR BEFORE the end of this tax year as opposed to AFTER the end of this tax year. i.e. the funds landing in trading212 on 5 April 2025 as opposed to 6 April 2025?

masonic

It would be surprising for any provider to suggest that the transfer of a cash ISA would take as long as 30 days.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-an-isa-if-youre-an-isa-manager#cash-isa-transfers

I don't think T212 will backdate interest, so you should expect to lose interest over the 1-2 working days between them receiving the funds and applying them to your account.

dreaMer001

No need to be surprised. Here's the proof:



The link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-an-isa-if-youre-an-isa-manager#cash-isa-transfers
says 'within 15 business days'. When I chatted with Trading212 both staff members said '15 - 30 days'. There was no mention of 'business days'. Clearly, trading212 is not following the government guidance and advising us with the correct time frame. Even if they've 'converted' the business days to calendar days, they should make it clear that the government guidance is 'within 15 business days'.

booneruk

Remember there are two parties involved in a transfer. "Cash ISA to Cash ISA transfers must take place within 15 business days of the transfer instruction being received by the new ISA manager, "

Chip have to do their bit too, if I were representing T212 I'd have said something like "Generally within 15 days".

masonic

Nowhere in the calendar does a period of 30 calendar days not exceed 15 business days.

I would suggest people who have been given misleading information about ISA transfers raise a complaint. This contravenes the FCA's Consumer Outcome #6 "Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint." This is a barrier to competition in the market. The FCA have stated they wish to see 90% of transfers completed within 7 calendar days (up from 85% currently).

dreaMer001

Seems trading212 staff told me the time frame for other types of transfer (as opposed to cash ISA transfer). 

See:
https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/transferring-your-isa#:~:text=15 working days for transfers,for other types of transfer

where it says:

"Deadlines and complaints

ISA transfers should take no longer than:

• 15 working days for transfers between cash ISAs
• 30 calendar days for other types of transfer"

I did select 'Cash transfer' option (and not the stocks transfer option) at the BOT stage - before I was connected with a human, so it should've been clear that I wanted to transfer a cash ISA. If it wasn't, staff should've confirmed it and not assume I wanted to transfer another type of ISA:



I raised a complaint with trading212. They've confirmed that it's 15 working days for cash isa and '30 for Stocks ISAs'. Even with that email response, they've failed to specifically say '30 calendar days for Stocks ISA'. Really shoddy! They're investigating my complaint further.

masonic

In fairness "portfolio transfers" would relate to investment accounts where they would either transfer holdings in specie (Stock transfer) or sell the investments and then transfer the resulting cash (Cash transfer).

The answer of 15-30 days for a S&S ISA cash transfer is a reasonable response.

It seems like they still haven't answered your question about a typical timeframe for a cash ISA transfer, which would be considerably less than 15 working days.

dreaMer001

If the 'portfolio transfers' category dosen't apply to Cash ISA transfers then they would need another category for the question "Which of the following categories best fits your inquiry". None of the other categories. i.e. Interest, 212 card, Promotions, MyAccount, Investing, Payments, apply here.

Note that once a category is selected, I wasn't able to go back to the previous question, unless I ended the chat and started again. So, it was a case of picking a category and crossing my fingers!

Also, as you can see from screenshot my initial query had been (it's the heading of the screenshot) 'transfer an isa', therefore Cash ISA should've featured prominently as one of the categories or at least the workflow should've landed me on it.

Edit (25/03/2025): A trading212 customer care hero has told me that due to the influx of transfer requests they've developed a queue system (more details: https://helpcentre.trading212.com/hc/en-us/articles/25127241339165-Why-is-my-transfer-in-a-queue).

Not sure if this kinda thing happens with Chip, but there has been an occasion (could be an isolated incident) where the transfer fell through after waiting weeks because trading212 had a 'lack of response from other broker' (in this case it was freetrade.io). See thread here: https://community.freetrade.io/t/isa-transfer-delays-cash-4-weeks-running/73417/8

Seems someone from Freetrade.io team monitoring the the above community forum intervened after the transfer fell thorough (too little too late tbh). She doesn't say why the transfer fell through. i.e. the reason for the lack of response from them. 

Sg28

dreaMer001 said:

If the 'portfolio transfers' category dosen't apply to Cash ISA transfers then they would need another category for the question "Which of the following categories best fits your inquiry". None of the other categories. i.e. Interest, 212 card, Promotions, MyAccount, Investing, Payments, apply here.

Note that once a category is selected, I wasn't able to go back to the previous question, unless I ended the chat and started again. So, it was a case of picking a category and crossing my fingers!

Also, as you can see from screenshot my initial query had been (it's the heading of the screenshot) 'transfer an isa', therefore Cash ISA should've featured prominently as one of the categories or at least the workflow should've landed me on it.

Edit (25/03/2025): A trading212 customer care hero has told me that due to the influx of transfer requests they've developed a queue system (more details: https://helpcentre.trading212.com/hc/en-us/articles/25127241339165-Why-is-my-transfer-in-a-queue).

Not sure if this kinda thing happens with Chip, but there has been an occasion (could be an isolated incident) where the transfer fell through after waiting weeks because trading212 had a 'lack of response from other broker' (in this case it was freetrade.io). See thread here: https://community.freetrade.io/t/isa-transfer-delays-cash-4-weeks-running/73417/8

Seems someone from Freetrade.io team monitoring the the above community forum intervened after the transfer fell thorough (too little too late tbh). She doesn't say why the transfer fell through. i.e. the reason for the lack of response from them. 

A few weeks ago I attempted a zopa to t212 cash isa transfer. After 12 working days I got an email from t212 about the impending drop in isa rate and as the app still showed "contacting provider", and with rates being now not too far apart I cancelled the transfer.

Unfortunately for me I had forgotten about the zopa bonus rate which expires soon. So last week back I went to t212 to initiate another transfer. 
This time im in the queue. On Thursday it showed a 7 day wait and my position 127. Today its now showing ~7 day wait and in 119.

Looks like its going to be a long wait...

mpet

I cancelled my transfer from Virgin to T212 as it was over a week and I was still 94 in the queue. I transferred my ISA from Virgin to Kent Reliance and it took two days - not sure what the issue is with T212.

AverageBloke

Be warned - the Trading212 bonus rate evaporates before you get to the front of the queue!

I'd like to add my general disatisfaction with Trading212 and their "queue" system. No other ISA provider has this as far as I'm aware. I came to Trading 212 from the MoneySavingExpert "Easy-access cash ISAs – what we'd go for" list as it promised a 5.32% interest rate (made up of a base rate of 4.5% and a "bonus rate" for 3 months).

What was not mentioned until I started the transfer was that I only had 5 days to fund my trading212 cash isa after opening the account in order to get that bonus rate, after which it evaporated. As I was "stuck in the queue" and this was going to take a lot longer than those 5 days it's clear now I was never going to get that headline rate. I wonder if anyone else has been caught out like this?