Transfer Cash ISAs Discussion Area

MarkyMarkD

easilyconfused wrote: »

I will certainly follow your advice if I have to, murphydavid.
I assume that HMRC's 30-day guideline for transfers means 30 working days, so there are still a couple of days to go before I can start the ball rolling.

There is no HMRC guideline for how long your new bank can take to request the funds; the 30 days (and it's calendar, not working) HMRC guideline is how long the old bank have to transfer the funds once they receive a valid request.

So it's easy for the entire process to take (say) 2 months, and for neither your old or new bank to be in breach of anything. (If the new bank takes 5 weeks and the old one takes 29 days).

This is why I always (repeatedly!) emphasise in threads on here, that if you want to complain, you need to know your facts.

E.g.

Application send to Bank B on 01/01/10.
Bank B send it to Bank A on 01/02/10.
Bank B receives funds from Bank A on 28/02/10.

Nobody has breached anything and complaining is a waste of breath.

But:

Application send to Bank B on 01/01/10.
Bank B send transfer request to Bank A on 03/01/10 which arrives on 06/01/10.
Bank B receives funds from Bank A on 28/02/10 which they sent on 27/02/10.

Clearly in this case, with the same overall delay, Bank A is in breach of the 30 days limit and owes you compensation for the extra 22 days (it's 52 days from 06/01/10 to 27/02/10).

And almost inevitably, if you complain to Bank A without being in full possession of the facts, they might tell you that they sent the funds ... when actually they hadn't. Bank B should be only too willing to tell you when the cheque was actually posted to them.

easilyconfused_2

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

This is why I always (repeatedly!) emphasise in threads on here, that if you want to complain, you need to know your facts.

That's why it's great to have knowledgeable people like you on here, MarkyMarkD. Many thanks for the info.

easilyconfused_2

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

And almost inevitably, if you complain to Bank A without being in full possession of the facts, they might tell you that they sent the funds ... when actually they hadn't. Bank B should be only too willing to tell you when the cheque was actually posted to them.

Thinking about this again, it is hard to get at the facts. My wife has received a statement from Bank A (in your example) showing that the account was closed on 17/02/10 and contains £0.00. The final entry is "ISA TFR OUT" for the same date. It can therefore be established that Bank B must have made the transfer request within a couple of weeks of account opening.

So no complaint with Bank B (thus far)

According to your analysis,
either
Bank A have sent the cheque to Bank B
or
Bank A are telling her "that they sent the funds ... when actually they hadn't"

If Bank A sent the cheque on that date (even by second class post), it should have cleared by now and be in my wife's account with Bank B. It isn't.

So, either Bank A haven't sent the cheque, the cheque has got lost in the post or Bank B haven't gotten around to "processing" the cheque. (They didn't seem to be "only too willing" to say if they'd received it or not when my wife enquired. She was told they had been "deluged" with ISA applications recently...)

Finally, could MarkyMarkD clarify: would Bank A still have 30 days from the "ISA transfer out" date on the statement to actually transfer the funds?

MarkyMarkD

There is no justification for not sending the funds on the day the account is closed. So, barring it getting lost in the post, it should arrive with the other bank within 3 working days and be cleared within another 3 working days ... so let's say 7 working days in all is more than enough.

If your account was closed on 17/02/10 then it should be in the other account earning interest by 26/02/10. Which is just Friday. So you are getting a bit het up to be complaining it's not there yet, I guess.

Also, if the receiving bank is busy, they may easily bank the cheque straight away and deal with the processing later (but backdate it). That's fine unless you wanted to withdraw the money - which you wouldn't normally with an ISA transfer. So, once again, it's best to wait a little while and see what date they credit the funds from.

For exactly the reasons as noted above, they may be deluged and hence have some processing delay, but it doesn't necessarily mean that delay will cost you anything.

System

Last year I transferred my ISA to the Halifax Direct saving ISA at 3%. This year is the Alliance & Leicester (Santander) at 3.5% seems to be very popular on this forum, are there any better offers at the moment?

I have seen the Nationwide one but it's for several years and I'm not sure about whether it's good to put the money in here longterm.

FrugalTopCat

Baldur wrote: »

If you select Cash ISAs that accept ISA transfers, you can do both at once if you wish, i.e. subscribe your 2009/10 allowance(s) and complete the new provider's ISA transfer form(s) at the same time.

Thanks very much for your feedback, Baldur. The best buy pages are really helpful. I have spent a few days trawling through the site and there is just such a massive wealth of info. I think, after reading the various best buys, that I will use our 09-10 allowances to open the A&L Flexible for both me and OH, and transfer the old ISAs to various providers who accept transfers - probably the other A&L acct, Nationwide and First Direct.

Now a further question - and again, apologies if this has been asked a thousand times before (no doubt it has ). There are just so many pages to look through here...

Here's the scenario. I have approx 18k in one existing ISA from various previous years but nothing paid into it in 09-10. My OH has approx 20k with another provider (same situation - not yet used 09-10 allowance) AND I have an old Derbyshire TOISA with just 450 quid left in it. So my question is twofold:

1) Can I transfer the 18k, for instance, into two different new ISA accts (subject to them accepting transfers) or can I only direct the funds from that particular acct to one new destination. That is, can I split my old accounts in terms of where the funds are going (just thinking eggs and baskets). I think I have seen that you can do that but can't find the relevant posts just now. Does this tend to be a problematic thing to do?

2) Given the modest amount in the TOISA can I transfer that into a new destination ISA along with, say, half of the 18k. That is, do new providers accept multiple sources of transfers.

Thanks for any input.

10_66

FrugalTopCat wrote: »

...Here's the scenario. I have approx 18k in one existing ISA from various previous years but nothing paid into it in 09-10. My OH has approx 20k with another provider (same situation - not yet used 09-10 allowance) AND I have an old Derbyshire TOISA with just 450 quid left in it. So my question is twofold:

1) Can I transfer the 18k, for instance, into two different new ISA accts (subject to them accepting transfers) or can I only direct the funds from that particular acct to one new destination. That is, can I split my old accounts in terms of where the funds are going (just thinking eggs and baskets). I think I have seen that you can do that but can't find the relevant posts just now. Does this tend to be a problematic thing to do?

2) Given the modest amount in the TOISA can I transfer that into a new destination ISA along with, say, half of the 18k. That is, do new providers accept multiple sources of transfers...

You may split your old ISAs transferring between two different new ISAs (or more if you want), as long as the terms of the old ISA and new ISA permit partial transfers.

You can also transfer your old TOISA into the new ISAs that you intend to transfer your £18K between (usually, if it's an easy access ISA you can add to it, however, if you open fixed rate ISAs for your £18K transfers you may not be able to add to them once opened, you'd need to check).

littlefurrymonkey

Hi
Not sure if this has been posted before (my first ever post to MSE). My current ISA rate is appaling and I want to transfer this money to a better rate with a different provider.

I also want to open A&L's new ISA deal so I can take advantage of their super interest rate at the moment? I know I can't transfer existing funds into this ISA.

Can I do both - open A&L's and do a transfer to another provider - and stay within the rules? Or can I only do one each year? And if I can only do one each year, does that mean I can only invest into one of them next year? Hmm, questions, questions!! All help gratefully received!
Thanks

Mickygg

Reading the problems of how long the funds take to cross from one provider to another really does need to be taken into account when chosing whether to use a new provider or not. I was going to change providers, but I worked out if I lost out on 2 months interest due to transit I wouldn't be gaining, so I have decided to stay with my current provider but a different bond, albeit at lower interest.

wackojackouk

littlefurrymonkey wrote: »

Hi
Not sure if this has been posted before (my first ever post to MSE). My current ISA rate is appaling and I want to transfer this money to a better rate with a different provider.

I also want to open A&L's new ISA deal so I can take advantage of their super interest rate at the moment? I know I can't transfer existing funds into this ISA.

Can I do both - open A&L's and do a transfer to another provider - and stay within the rules? Or can I only do one each year? And if I can only do one each year, does that mean I can only invest into one of them next year? Hmm, questions, questions!! All help gratefully received!
Thanks

This is exactly what I have just done. Opened the Flexible 3.5% A&L one with this years allowance £3600 and then opened the First Direct one and will be transferring in from previous years allowances.

Checked with HMRC and they said as long as I haven't put any funds into one this year already I could do that.

Will then decide where to put next years allowance after April 6th.

HTH

WJUK