Cash ISA providers who allow partial transfers out?

ericlered7

Hi everyone, can anyone recommend a cash ISA provider that allows partial transfers out? I have £40k in a Zopa Smart ISA, £20k of this deposited this tax year. They only allow transfers out in full. I'd love to be able to move this to another provider, and then transfer it in £10k chunks to Santander fixed cash ISA's in order to acquire 4 x £50 vouchers. Does this sound feasible? 

refluxer

You have to transfer the full balance of an ISA (minimum £10k) in order to qualify for the voucher, so you'd have to split it amongst 4 different ISA providers and transfer in from each in order to get 4 vouchers.

friolento

Try Virgin, Coventry, Leeds BS, Paragon (in no particular order)

ericlered7

refluxer said:

You have to transfer the full balance of an ISA (minimum £10k) in order to qualify for the voucher, so you'd have to split it amongst 4 different ISA providers and transfer in from each in order to get 4 vouchers.

Ah of course. So what I need is an ISA provider who i can move the money to, who i can then transfer it out to 4 new ISA's. Can these 4 new ISA's all be with the same provider, example 4 x Nationwide? Or would they have to be with different providers?

flaneurs_lobster

Given the chances of at least one or two of those 9 (?) transfers getting delayed/lost/failing, not sure a potential £200 is enough of a bribe to compensate for the anxiety.

Is your Zopa ISA currently paying one of the boosted rates? 

ericlered7

flaneurs_lobster said:

Given the chances of at least one or two of those 9 (?) transfers getting delayed/lost/failing, not sure a potential £200 is enough of a bribe to compensate for the anxiety.

Is your Zopa ISA currently paying one of the boosted rates? 

To be honest, I'm starting to think it's just too much hassle all round 🤣 

Think I'm better off just transferring the lot & getting 1 x £50 voucher. My Zopa ISA seems to have gone down to 4% now. 

I'm assuming that interest rates will continue to fall so happy to fix for one or two years. 

refluxer

ericlered7 said:

refluxer said:

You have to transfer the full balance of an ISA (minimum £10k) in order to qualify for the voucher, so you'd have to split it amongst 4 different ISA providers and transfer in from each in order to get 4 vouchers.

Ah of course. So what I need is an ISA provider who i can move the money to, who i can then transfer it out to 4 new ISA's. Can these 4 new ISA's all be with the same provider, example 4 x Nationwide? Or would they have to be with different providers?

If you're wanting to be left with an easy access ISA with some money in it then yes, you'd need to open 5 in total, otherwise you could get away with 4 by opening the first, transferring out to 3 others and leaving £10k+ in the first for the 4th and final transfer (which would have to be done after the last transfer out was complete). All but the first provider would need to accept partial transfers-in.

I don't think there's any requirement for the providers to be unique to qualify, but there are some who'll only let you open one cash ISA with them each tax year, plus they are bound to be some who'll only allow you to open one easy access cash ISA with them anyway. 

One word of caution before you proceed - it's very unusual for Santander to be near the top of the fixed rate cash ISA 'best buy' tables, so there's no guarantee how long these rates will be around. They've been available for a good week or two so far, so I can't imagine they'll be around for much longer. You could potentially open the ISA now but note that transfer applications have to be received within 14 days of account opening and the money must be received within 30 days so you'll need to get your timings right.

I would imagine the chances of all of this succeeding in time and your scheme working flawlessly are pretty low, plus if you were to miss the deadline and transfers were rejected, I'd be concerned about the risk of some of the money ending up losing it's ISA status if the sending account had been closed. 

ericlered7

refluxer said:

ericlered7 said:

refluxer said:

You have to transfer the full balance of an ISA (minimum £10k) in order to qualify for the voucher, so you'd have to split it amongst 4 different ISA providers and transfer in from each in order to get 4 vouchers.

Ah of course. So what I need is an ISA provider who i can move the money to, who i can then transfer it out to 4 new ISA's. Can these 4 new ISA's all be with the same provider, example 4 x Nationwide? Or would they have to be with different providers?

If you're wanting to be left with an easy access ISA with some money in it then yes, you'd need to open 5 in total, otherwise you could get away with 4 by opening the first, transferring out to 3 others and leaving £10k+ in the first for the 4th and final transfer (which would have to be done after the last transfer out was complete). All but the first provider would need to accept partial transfers-in.

I don't think there's any requirement for the providers to be unique to qualify, but there are some who'll only let you open one cash ISA with them each tax year, plus they are bound to be some who'll only allow you to open one easy access cash ISA with them anyway. 

One word of caution before you proceed - it's very unusual for Santander to be near the top of the fixed rate cash ISA 'best buy' tables, so there's no guarantee how long these rates will be around. They've been available for a good week or two so far, so I can't imagine they'll be around for much longer. You could potentially open the ISA now but note that transfer applications have to be received within 14 days of account opening and the money must be received within 30 days so you'll need to get your timings right.

I would imagine the chances of all of this succeeding in time and your scheme working flawlessly are pretty low, plus if you were to miss the deadline and transfers were rejected, I'd be concerned about the risk of some of the money ending up losing it's ISA status if the sending account had been closed. 

All good points, thanks. I'm giving up on my idea, pretty sure it would go wrong somewhere along the line, not to mention the hassle setting it all up in the first place.

Have opened the Santander account now & will initiate the transfer shortly. 

At what point in the process am I guaranteed the current advertised rates?

flaneurs_lobster

ericlered7 said:

At what point in the process am I guaranteed the current advertised rates?

Summary says that the rate will apply if the ISA is funded by 1 June.

ericlered7

flaneurs_lobster said:

ericlered7 said:

At what point in the process am I guaranteed the current advertised rates?

Summary says that the rate will apply if the ISA is funded by 1 June.

Thanks, I saw that. I'm unsure if funded means money in the account, or transfer in requested? Guessing the latter, surely they couldn't reduce the rate offered if the transfer drags on past 1st June?

refluxer

ericlered7 said:
Have opened the Santander account now & will initiate the transfer shortly. 

At what point in the process am I guaranteed the current advertised rates?

You're guaranteed the rate once your application is accepted, but you'll need to get the transfer request in within 14 days and the money will have to be credited within 30 days.

I think a few people have had issues with regards to Zopa ISA transfers, so I'd get the request in ASAP. Don't forget the transfer has to be a full transfer to qualify for the voucher. 

As Zopa cash ISAs are simply a 'pot' within the Smart Saver, they don't have an individual sort code and account number so you'll have to go into the app and search for your 'Smart ISA Reference Number'. As reference numbers are usually non-standard, I always put them in the 'roll number/reference number' field on an ISA transfer form but a Zopa Smart ISA Reference Number is an 8-digit number, so I'm not sure whether it would go into the (conventional) account number field instead. It may not actually matter, but it might be worth checking on this.

Presumably you've just got one 'access' Zopa ISA pot and no 'fixed term' pots ? The latter would also get transferred if you had any (due to the 'no partial transfers-out' policy), which would incur a penalty.