My Santander ISA is maturing this December - oh what to do now as I have new cash to invest

MrGalaxyman

Hi. Can anyone help.

I started a 1-year fixed term cash ISA with Santander in late Dec 2025. It matures in early Jan 2027. I started it with the full £20k allowed and it has 3.8% interest fixed for the year.

Now the new tax year for 2026-2027 has started, I have another £20k that I want to put into an ISA (again, fixed term 1 year one). I also want to stay with Santander (less admin for me).

I've checked on Santander website and they do allow more than one cash ISA to be held.

My plan is to start a new Santander cash ISA now with the full £20k for 2026-2027 TY for 1 year fixed term. Santander shows this has 4.5% rate (more than the 3.8% my existing one has). Then, when my existing Santander ISA matures in early 2027 I want to xfer it (and the interest accrued) to this new (2026/27) ISA so all my savings and interest will then be in one single ISA (less juggling). Then, when that 'combined' ISA matures a year from now I'll likely invest the 'reduced' £12k new money into another new ISA (hopefully with a better rate) and look into xferring my 'combined' ISA into it.

My question is, am I right in thinking that only new money counts towards the max £20k that can be put into an ISA (or ISAs) in any TY (then 12k from 2027). As I will be xferring (not closing) my 'combined' ISA - max investment allowance is not affected.

Has anyone done anything similar … and suggest any pitfalls.

Thanks in advance.

eskbanker

Like most fixed rate accounts, Santander's 4.5% ISA can only be funded for a short initial window (to end of May 2026) so you wouldn't be able to add to it next January.

And yes, £20K is the annual contribution allowance for new money, and isn't affected by transfers of prior year money.

Ayr_Rage

You can move "old" money and interest at will however it is very unlikely that the new 2026/27 ISA will accept transfers in if it is a fixed term product.

Suggest you do a little bit of research first.

superleeds27

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956203#Comment_81956203

Santander Fixed rate allows transfers.

For ISA transfers from another provider, we’ll need to receive:

• your application within 14 days of your account being opened, and

• the money from the ISA you’re transferring within 30 days of your account being opened.

Ayr_Rage

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956249#Comment_81956249

I think you missed the timeline in the OP, their old ISA doesn't mature until early in 2027 so if they open a new one now they will miss the window by 8 months!

Your post also says "transfers from other providers" so whether they can do internally is another question.

Time to read carefully before hitting that Post Comment button.

superleeds27

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956259#Comment_81956259

Your post read like you were stating transfers in weren't allowed at all.

If you'd take two minutes to read the Santander website, you'd also see that Combining Santander ISA balances is allowed.

You can combine all of your Santander cash ISA balances into one cash ISA. 

To combine your cash ISAs, please use the Santander Cash ISA transfer form below.

Ayr_Rage

@superleeds27 I posted what I did because of the OP's quoted timescale, as @eskbanker also alluded to.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956262#Comment_81956262

….and further up the summary box, in the 'paying money in' section:

If you’re transferring in a Santander cash ISA, we’ll need to receive your application by 31 May 2026.

superleeds27

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956291#Comment_81956291

Aware of that. Like i've mentioned above. The way the post was worded, made it sound like transfers in where a no-no

however it is very unlikely that the new 2026/27 ISA will accept transfers in if it is a fixed term product.

Altior

OP if your preference is for less admin then you could do worse than opening an account with a savings platform such as HL. A single log in for your cash ISA, but will also give you access to the wider market. When your existing ISA matures you can then transfer it over to the platform. It also means however that you are not stuck with having only one individual ISA account, for example you could build a ladder (depending on the market opportunities at the time).

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956304#Comment_81956304

Yes, I should have made it clearer that I was clarifying your earlier post, which quoted timescales for external transfers but not internal ones, so even though both are permitted, they won't help OP with their maturity options in January.