ISA accounts that allow transfers in - at any time

sorethumbs1992

I know the official Gov description is....
You can transfer all or part of the savings in your Individual Savings Account (ISA) from one provider to another at any time.

But how many accounts/providers allow a transfer in at 'any time' and aren't restricted to like first 90 days or whatever the limit is on a new account.

eskbanker

All ISA providers are required to support transfers out but there is no equivalent obligation to allow transfers in, so some don't offer transfers in at all.  Of those that do, easy access accounts will generally allow them at any time, whereas fixed term products will typically only do so during a short initial funding window - there are a few providers accepting deposits later but not sure if that extends to transfers.

Assuming this isn't an entirely hypothetical question, what is your actual situation?

Albermarle

If it is an easy access ISA, then you should be able to transfer in to it at any time.

If it is a fixed term/fixed rate ISA, normally you can not transfer in ( or add any new money), after the initial funding window, which is typically 30 days, but can be shorter or longer.

A handful of fixed term ISA providers, will allow new money to be added through the fixed term, subject to the usual ISA limits. Transfers after the initial funding window are also allowed but only at the providers discretion.

refluxer

For fixed rate cash ISAs, Shawbrook, Kent Reliance, Barclays and Lloyds all allow new subscriptions to be added throughout the duration of the fixed rate period, but they all have limited finding windows for transferring-in except Shawbrook, who offer the potential to transfer-in at a later date at their discretion.

The relevant statement from the their T&Cs is... "Requests to transfer funds into an account from another ISA provider must be made at the same time as your initial account application by signing a transfer form. Transfer requests received after your initial account application may be refused"

I'm fairly sure I've read of this being done successfully in the past, however there has been at least one instance recently of someone attempting to do this and being refused. I'm presuming that future requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, where the amount and current rate verses previously fixed rate are all taken into account

Albermarle

refluxer said:

For fixed rate cash ISAs, Shawbrook, Kent Reliance, Barclays and Lloyds all allow new subscriptions to be added throughout the duration of the fixed rate period, but they all have limited finding windows for transferring-in except Shawbrook, who offer the potential to transfer-in at a later date at their discretion.

The relevant statement from the their T&Cs is... "Requests to transfer funds into an account from another ISA provider must be made at the same time as your initial account application by signing a transfer form. Transfer requests received after your initial account application may be refused"

I'm fairly sure I've read of this being done successfully in the past, however there has been at least one instance recently of someone attempting to do this and being refused. I'm presuming that future requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, where the amount and current rate verses previously fixed rate are all taken into account

I think it is pretty clear that if you have say a 4.5% fixed rate ISA with Shawbrook and BoE interest rates start going up again, they will be happy to accept transfers in.
However if BoE rates and saving rates dropped, they would block any transfers, otherwise there would be a big queue of people wanting to transfer in large sums.

sherbie28

If it's a fixed rate ISA at let's say Lloyds and you were putting £20,000 in do you have to put the £20,000 in the first deposit or do they allow you time to add up to the £20,000? Thanks

eskbanker

sherbie28 said:

If it's a fixed rate ISA at let's say Lloyds and you were putting £20,000 in do you have to put the £20,000 in the first deposit or do they allow you time to add up to the £20,000? Thanks

It varies, so you'd need to check the terms of any specific product that you're interested in.

sorethumbs1992

eskbanker said:

All ISA providers are required to support transfers out but there is no equivalent obligation to allow transfers in, so some don't offer transfers in at all.  Of those that do, easy access accounts will generally allow them at any time, whereas fixed term products will typically only do so during a short initial funding window - there are a few providers accepting deposits later but not sure if that extends to transfers.

Assuming this isn't an entirely hypothetical question, what is your actual situation?

I have a fixed term Cash ISA maturing in August so want to leave that alone until then.  In the mean time I want to open a new fixed term ISA for 12 months starting from now.

As it seems clear, I have 30 days to transfer in - which I obviously can't without interest penalties on the Aug ISA.

I guess I can open and deposit in a new cash ISA now, lock that away for the 12 months.
And once August matures and reverts to a basic rate I can find another fixed term ISA with another bank to transfer to.


I'm a little unclear - can I open an ISA now with the full allowance and then just open another ISA in Aug purely to transfer in (without depositing new cash) - do they allow just transfer in with no initial deposit?

I'm with Barclays

Yorkie1

Yes that's what you'd do. 

I've transferred cash ISAs this year without new funding.
Cash ISA - transfer in - minimum funding — MoneySavingExpert Forum

refluxer

Just to confirm (as other forumites have already discovered) that Shawbrook are no longer accepting transfers into their fixed rate cash ISAs beyond the initial 14-day funding funding window.

A friend of mine just asked to transfer in to a fixed rate ISA they opened a few months ago and the request has been refused which (as mentioned above) isn't too surprising, considering the rates for these fixed accounts have dropped fairly substantially since this particular account was opened.

On the plus side, at least you can still continue to fund them with new subscriptions which is something you can't do with fixed rate ISAs offered by most other banks and this could be advantageous when rates are falling.