New ISA with Paragon adding transfer from Virgin Money

teddysmum

I have a good maths degree, so should be able to sort my own affairs, but I'm getting old now, and dealing with three other banks has recently given me a wobble, so I would appreciate a little help with the above, as the bank doesn't appear to have phone line.

First of all, can anyone give me an estimate of the time that it will take to transfer the contents of  an easy access ISA with Virgin Money, to Paragon ?

As I will open the account this evening, I assume that the transferred account will arrive in the new tax year, so am I correct in thinking that provided any cash deposit I make, is within 28 days, the new deposit and the transfer will still be counted as money for the current rate and tax year ?

Finally, as the 15 months of interest starts on the day the cash deposit is received, it would be better to hold back this deposit, until the transfer arrives (to gain the maximum number of days' interest for the transferred amount), as long as the transfer is not taking too long ?

eskbanker

The transfer doesn't count towards your contribution allowance, regardless of how long it takes, but your deposit will, and if it's paid in before Saturday it'll be 2024/25 money, otherwise it'll be 2025/26.

teddysmum

Thank you. I know the arrival of the transfer does not cause problems with it's rate, which is guaranteed fixed, but thinking it needs to be with Paragon to earn interest so if arriving in the next few days it's worth holding the deposit, so they start earning at the same time.

refluxer

Paragon and Virgin Money both do electronic ISA transfers so the transfer itself should be quick - the time the whole thing takes will be dependent on how quickly staff at each bank processes the transfer.

As this week will be a busy one for the banks, you may find this affects the speed of your transfer plus Virgin have, in the past at least, attracted complaints specifically regarding how they handle ISA transfers. Their customers also occasionally run into sort code issues relating to different codes being used, as a result of mergers/acquisitions of other banks in the past.

With all that in mind, if you opened the Paragon ISA last night and requested the transfer at the same time, I think it's unlikely (although not impossible) that the transfer will be credited before the end of tomorrow (5th) so if you're keen to ensure the extra cash deposit comes from the current tax year's allowance, then you may have to go ahead and pay that in, in advance of the transfer, bearing in mind that not all banks process payments at the weekend. If that isn't critical though and you're happy for it to count towards the 2025-26 allowance, then waiting for the transfer shouldn't be an issue. Just keep an eye on the funding window, as that will have started when you opened the account and you won't be able to make any deposits once that window ends.

dosh37

I recently did something similar:-

See:-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6599649/new-double-access-paragon-isa-for-2025-2026#latest

It all happend quickly with no problems