ISA Problems Continue 4 months on... 23 July 2005 at 12:40PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in ISAs & Tax-free Savings 5 replies 878 views

Dave2012_2

Hi all, any help you can offer would be realy appreciated, I'm getting hopelessly lost in this mess.

I'll begin at the beginning. In April I transferred a Safeway ISA to Abbey. Frustrated at the delays and having been told the transfer request was lost, I requested safeway be transferred to Halifax. On the advice of the HMRC ISA helpdesk I closed the Halifax ISA within 14 day period (I had accidentally put money into two ISAs this year), and cancelled the transfer request with both banks on multiple occasions. According to HMRC this should have ended the matter - the money should have ended up with Abbey, and I was not in breach of ISA rules as the Halifax account would officially "never have existed."

Guess what? It didn't end there.

Halifax and Abbey processed the transfers (3 times by Halifax and 4 times by Abbey I was assured it would not be processed, complaint is already in their system). The money left the Abbey ISA for Halifax. Abbey said as there was no account at Halifax, it would bounce back to Abbey and they'd re-open the account and all would be fine if I left well alone.

Three weeks on I just received a letter from Halifax saying they have opened me another ISA with the money transferred from Abbey. I havent signed and returned the forms yet - I don't know what my situation is

I think (I hope) that this is the end of the matter. As I see it, all my money has been transferred to Halifax and the Abbey account is closed. I have not deposited any money in the Halifax ISA. I have only deposited money into Abbey this tax year. If i do not invest any money into the Halifax I shouldn't be in breach of any ISA rules (Safeway>Abbey>Halifax were all transfers).

Is my interpretation right?

Thanks for any help

Dave

Dave2012_2

I emailed someone who's email address I was given at HMRC over a week and half ago but no reply still. I need to get this sorted so do any of you have any reccommendations for what to do please?


Thanks again,
Dave

Dave2012_2

I'm just gonna keep posting updates on here in case it helps someone else in a similar situation, so:

After a written complaint, Abbey have apologised for "my recent difficulties", said they'd back-date my interest again (so this means my money will have been earning money in two different accounts again!) and even sent me a cheque for £20 for my trouble!

However Halifax told Abbey that they had sent my money back to Abbey! So how did Halifax open an account with it aswell?! Do I now have £20k instead of £10k?

Still no help from advisors at Abbey or Halifax and no word from HMRC.....

Dave

isasmurf

Sorry to keep hearing about your ongoing problems.

I've just noticed whilst looking around for a definitive answer for the TOISA thread, that HMRC had replaced their ISA booklet with a new "ISA factsheet". I think because it's more concise it's a lot clearer than the old booklet. Anyway, the reason that I mention that is a bit in the factsheet is about subscribing to more ISAs than you are allowed.

And it say's about duplicate ISAs

Mistakes do happen. If you do invest in more than one ISA in a tax year, the second ISA will not be tax-free.
If this has happened call our ISA helpline. Have the details of your ISA accounts to hand when you call.

I know you have emailed HMRC, but AFAIK they do not deal with personal tax affairs through email for security reasons (although they could have responded to tell you that!).

The ISA factsheet also says that you can contact the Financial Obudsman to settle a dispute between consumers and financial firms. So this could be another route open to you. Contact details are at the bottom of the ISA factsheet, for which a link is provided earlier in this post.

Dave2012_2

Thanks very much once again ISASmurf!

In the line where the factsheet says:

"you cannot open more than one Mini cash ISA, or more than one Mini stocks and shares ISA in the same tax year"

Transferring from one provider to another is distinct from opening a new ISA isn't it? So you can transfer as often as you like, but must never open or invest in more than one ISA in a year.

Is that right?

Cheers.

competitionscafe

Dave2012 wrote:

Transferring from one provider to another is distinct from opening a new ISA isn't it? So you can transfer as often as you like, but must never open or invest in more than one ISA in a year.

Is that right?

Cheers.

Yes, that's correct. Although you can have a mini cash isa [3k] and mini stocks and shares isa [4k?] in the same year.