Opening new Vanquis ISA

PeskyBlunder

I want to open a new 1 year fixed rate ISA with Vanquis solely for the purpose of transferring a maturing ISA from another provider. I have also funded another ISA this year. The first question in the application is "Have you already opened an ISA in this tax year?". Truthfully answering "yes" to this brings up the response:

"You have indicated that you have already opened an ISA in the current 
tax year. You can only open this ISA by transferring your current
years ISA subscription, in full, as an opening balance.

If you would like, you can also transfer other ISA holdings you have 
opened in previous TAX years as part of your opening balance."

It seems to me that this goes against the rule that allows multiple ISAs to be opened? I've asked them to clarify this but was wondering if anybody else has tried to do this.

eskbanker

This was discussed quite a lot when the rules changed last year, as many ISA providers weren't willing to support multiple cash ISAs being funded concurrently ('opening' is actually irrelevant), even across multiple providers, despite this now being permitted.

The point made then was that such a stance is unlikely to be enforceable in court, as it's fundamentally anti-competitive, so in the circumstances the most pragmatic solutions would be (a) stick to better providers and/or (b) be economical with the truth on applications....

PeskyBlunder

Just received a reply from Vanquis:

"Thank you for your secure message of 18 September regarding your Vanquis Bank Savings account. We are aware of this issue with the question and are looking into getting this amended, in the meantime please answer “no” to this question and then proceed. Apologises for any confusion."

So, I can be economical with the truth with added impunity.