Transfer Cash ISAs Discussion Area

DragonQ

Erm that depends if you want to deposit in the current tax year or not (assuming you haven't used your 2011-12 ISA allowance yet).

LarryHarry

I've not yet put my full allowance into this years ISA so was just wondering if it would be best to complete this years allowance or to open a new ISA next year

KTF

Complete this years one then if you have any spare cash you can put it in next years one.

DragonQ

Yep. If you don't use your allowance, you lose it forever, so it's always best to use the current year's allowance if you can.

dan_wise

Munro_Bagger wrote: »

Good evening!

I'm having a brain burp! I wish to transfer an existing ISA with Halifax into my new Santander Direct ISA (amazingly, I only applied on Sunday and I've already received email confirmation with an account number and sort code). Santander mention that a transfer form must be completed and sent off in the post. I'm going to ask a silly question...is it a case of you must do it this way, or could I simply transfer the cash from Halifax to Santander online (account to account), using the bank account number and sort code they have supplied?

Many thanks for your patience.;)

I am looking to do precisely this also. My question is, is it too late for me to apply for this new Santander ISA? Will they be able to transfer the funds across in time?

blueberrypie

dan_wise wrote: »

I am looking to do precisely this also. My question is, is it too late for me to apply for this new Santander ISA? Will they be able to transfer the funds across in time?

In time for...what?

Transfers don't count towards your annual ISA allowance, and you can transfer at any time (assuming you're not currently tied into a fixed-rate ISA).

decker27

I have two cash ISAs (both 1 year fixed) with Barclays, one for the 2011-2012 year and one for the 2010-2011 year both have around £5000 in them. Can somebody confirm if the following is possible?

Transfer the 2010-2011 ISA into a new Santander 3.5% 1 year fixed rate ISA before 6th April. Then pay in £5,640 into the Same Santander ISA after 6th April and also transfere the 2011-2012 ISA (once it has completed its 1 year fixed period) into the same Santander ISA. So I would have around £15,640 pounds (2x transfers of around £5,000 + 1x £5640 payment)

The Satander ISA says the amount deposited must be at least £2500 but I did not know if this needed to be new cash or could be a transfer from my 2010-2011 ISA.

Thanks in advance

chipp

Apologies if this has already been mooted elsewhere.

Does anyone else think it would be useful to know how long different banks take to transfer ISAs? I admit to being a "rate tart" but every year I find that the delays in moving money mean I could have been better off choosing a bank with lower rates but better customer service. Each year I think "surely it can't happen again" but I don't learn! HMRC guidelines are max 5 days but guidelines are pretty meaningless. Are MSE able to set up some sort of anonymised data-gathering exercise, to give us an idea of how long it is likely to take to transfer an ISA from bank A to bank B or bank C to bank D?

Unless the new ISA provider pays interest on the money whilst awaiting its receipt, any delay between the old provider closing and the new provider crediting your new account (so the money is effectively in "limbo") loses you interest on your savings. A fortnight delay is equivalent to a drop of 0.1% if the advertised annual rate is 2.6%, and the higher the rate, the bigger the financial effect of the delay. My old provider closed my ISA on 16th March and today, the 22nd, the money has still to appear in my new ISA, which was opened with a zero balance (pending receipt of transferred funds) on 7th March. I am sure both banks will blame the other (or the postal service) for the delay, but for the past 5 days my money has not been working for me. And the initial bonus paid for the first year - that's a year from opening, not a year from receipt of funds. I would love to "name and shame" but I'm not sure I'm allowed to.

When I transferred an ISA last year I was given to believe that the transfer could only be done by cheque between institutions; they couldn't do it electronically. This reliance on manual procedures amazed me, the more so because last year I was transferring between two institutions under the same financial "umbrella". I presume this "cheque only" rule still applies, if not then it would be useful to know which institutions are able to transfer ISA funds electronically.

I feel better having got that off my chest!

Binham

I have a cash ISA with Santander already, that dropped to a really lousy rate recently. I want to open the new Santander ISA that offers 3.3% with an opening deposit of £2,500 (the total amount currently in my old Santander cash ISA). However, it says I can't do a transfer online, but have to go into a branch. Why is this do you think? Are they just trying to make it difficult for existing customers to transfer to a better rate?

evenasus

decker27 wrote: »

I have two cash ISAs (both 1 year fixed) with Barclays, one for the 2011-2012 year and one for the 2010-2011 year both have around £5000 in them. Can somebody confirm if the following is possible?

Transfer the 2010-2011 ISA into a new Santander 3.5% 1 year fixed rate ISA before 6th April. Then pay in £5,640 into the Same Santander ISA after 6th April and also transfere the 2011-2012 ISA (once it has completed its 1 year fixed period) into the same Santander ISA. So I would have around £15,640 pounds (2x transfers of around £5,000 + 1x £5640 payment)

The Satander ISA says the amount deposited must be at least £2500 but I did not know if this needed to be new cash or could be a transfer from my 2010-2011 ISA.

Thanks in advance

You can certainly open the Santander fixed ISA and transfer both Barclays ISAs as long as Santander receive your transfer form within 14 days of opening the Santander ISA.
You then have between the 6th and 14th April to deposit your 2012/2013 allowance.

It does say on their website, that you have to initiate your transfer within 14 days of opening. This I believe would not allow you to transfer after this timescale.

Are you sure that the Barclays ISA is fixed - term wise?
If not, you could fill out two forms and transfer both at the same time.

I've had a Barclays Golden ISA, Barclays Golden ISA 2 & Barclays Golden ISA 3.
The only thing fixed about them was the interest rate/bonus.

I transferred the Golden ISA & Golden ISA 2 last year before the ISA 2 had been in there for 12 months.

This year I've transferred the Golden ISA 3 to Santander.