HSBC's GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account – A Bit of a Head-Scratcher

popinjay

Hi, I'm new here.

I just wanted to share my recent experience with HSBC’s Stocks & Shares ISA (the managed one via their Global Investment Centre) in case it helps anyone avoid the same confusion I ran into.

I opened the ISA in September 2024. The setup was smooth, and the online process seemed pretty straightforward. I deposited £100 to get started, and it went into something called the “GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account” that they had created for me. A few days later, HSBC automatically transferred that money into another account they had created called "GIC ISA Investments Account" — so far, so good.

Thinking this was how it worked, I later added another £20 to the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account. But this time, it just sat there. Nothing happened. After a bit of head-scratching and a call to HSBC, I found out that only the first deposit is automatically moved into the GIC ISA Investments Account. Not ideal if you’ve chosen a managed ISA.

I then set up a regular monthly payment of £50 to streamline things. Oddly, these payments go straight into the GIC ISA Investments Account and bypass the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account altogether. So naturally I started wondering — what’s the point of the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account at all, if it’s not used for regular payments and doesn't handle additional deposits automatically?

To complicate things more, when I set up the payment plan, it let me choose from my HSBC accounts — including my savings account. I picked that, assuming if it was listed, it would work. But I got a letter later saying the payment failed due to insufficient funds (even though the money was there), and that the plan had been cancelled. Turns out, it has to be a your current account that the payments are made from. No warning about that during setup.

In the end, I’ve now set it up again using my current account, and hopefully it’ll go through fine next time.

But the whole thing just seems overly complicated. If you already have a few HSBC savings accounts, the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account doesn't really serve any purpose. It’s like a relic from a more hands-on investment model, but they’ve just left it sitting there in the managed setup where it causes confusion. Especially frustrating when you’re trying to keep things simple and automated.

Has anyone else run into this with HSBC or had a similar experience with other providers?

Middle_of_the_Road

If you sold any of the funds held within the ISA, the proceeds would land in the uninvested cash account. These accounts sometimes pay interest, depending on who you're with. Don't think HSBC pay interest on uninvested cash.

wmb194

popinjay said:

Hi, I'm new here.

I just wanted to share my recent experience with HSBC’s Stocks & Shares ISA (the managed one via their Global Investment Centre) in case it helps anyone avoid the same confusion I ran into.

I opened the ISA in September 2024. The setup was smooth, and the online process seemed pretty straightforward. I deposited £100 to get started, and it went into something called the “GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account” that they had created for me. A few days later, HSBC automatically transferred that money into another account they had created called "GIC ISA Investments Account" — so far, so good.

Thinking this was how it worked, I later added another £20 to the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account. But this time, it just sat there. Nothing happened. After a bit of head-scratching and a call to HSBC, I found out that only the first deposit is automatically moved into the GIC ISA Investments Account. Not ideal if you’ve chosen a managed ISA.

I then set up a regular monthly payment of £50 to streamline things. Oddly, these payments go straight into the GIC ISA Investments Account and bypass the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account altogether. So naturally I started wondering — what’s the point of the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account at all, if it’s not used for regular payments and doesn't handle additional deposits automatically?

To complicate things more, when I set up the payment plan, it let me choose from my HSBC accounts — including my savings account. I picked that, assuming if it was listed, it would work. But I got a letter later saying the payment failed due to insufficient funds (even though the money was there), and that the plan had been cancelled. Turns out, it has to be a your current account that the payments are made from. No warning about that during setup.

In the end, I’ve now set it up again using my current account, and hopefully it’ll go through fine next time.

But the whole thing just seems overly complicated. If you already have a few HSBC savings accounts, the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account doesn't really serve any purpose. It’s like a relic from a more hands-on investment model, but they’ve just left it sitting there in the managed setup where it causes confusion. Especially frustrating when you’re trying to keep things simple and automated.

Has anyone else run into this with HSBC or had a similar experience with other providers?

Have you paid any fees yet? IIRC when I had the HSBC GIA equivalent of this the uninvested cash account is where the fees were taken from and it's where dividends and interest from your investments are deposited.

dunstonh

But the whole thing just seems overly complicated. If you already have a few HSBC savings accounts, the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account doesn't really serve any purpose. It’s like a relic from a more hands-on investment model, but they’ve just left it sitting there in the managed setup where it causes confusion. Especially frustrating when you’re trying to keep things simple and automated.

Most platforms operate a cash account within the wrapper and some external to the wrapper as well.
Some of the providers offering pre-built portfolios (i.e. robo style) are built on software designed for self select.   So, the cash account will still exist.    

In general, you don't expect bank offerings to be good for software or cost, irrespective of the bank.  

popinjay

Middle_of_the_Road said:

If you sold any of the funds held within the ISA, the proceeds would land in the uninvested cash account. These accounts sometimes pay interest, depending on who you're with. Don't think HSBC pay interest on uninvested cash.

That makes sense. I haven’t sold anything yet, so I wouldn’t have seen that in action. It’s good to know it has some function in that context, though it still feels a bit obscure if you’re just passively contributing to a managed ISA.

popinjay

wmb194 said:

Have you paid any fees yet? IIRC when I had the HSBC GIA equivalent of this the uninvested cash account is where the fees were taken from and it's where dividends and interest from your investments are deposited.

Interesting point about fees and dividends. So far, I’ve only been charged one fee — 6p — and that actually came straight out of my current account rather than the uninvested cash account, which surprised me. I’ve not received any dividends or interest yet, but I’ll keep an eye on whether they get routed through the uninvested account when they start coming in.

popinjay

dunstonh said:

But the whole thing just seems overly complicated. If you already have a few HSBC savings accounts, the GIC ISA Uninvested Cash Account doesn't really serve any purpose. It’s like a relic from a more hands-on investment model, but they’ve just left it sitting there in the managed setup where it causes confusion. Especially frustrating when you’re trying to keep things simple and automated.

Most platforms operate a cash account within the wrapper and some external to the wrapper as well.
Some of the providers offering pre-built portfolios (i.e. robo style) are built on software designed for self select.   So, the cash account will still exist.    

In general, you don't expect bank offerings to be good for software or cost, irrespective of the bank.  

I see. The "glitch" makes sense if the managed ISA is running on software originally meant for self-select accounts.

And yes, point taken about banks not being the best investment platforms. I would have hoped HSBC would have ironed out the user experience a bit more by now.