Full ISA Guide Discussion Area

p_natalia

thank you ever so much for the reply - has been very clear and helpful:j

aleksrothis

I am soon going to need to withdraw money from my ISA to pay for my house deposit and would like some advice on whether or not I should close the account.

I have paid in approx £1500 of this year's allowance which obviously I will lose the tax-free status on regardless. If I close my ISA will I be able to open another one in this financial year and pay in the remaining £2000 or so of my annual allowance or does closing the account annul my entire year's allowance?

I would prefer to close the account if possible so I am paid the interest now rather than leaving the account open with a £1 and waiting until the normal due date comes around but at the same time I don't really want to lose the whole year's allowance since I will hopefully still be putting aside some monthly savings even after my house purchase...

If it makes any difference, the ISA in question is an A+L "EasyISA"

Thanks

KingL

You can only subscribe to one cash ISA a year, so your allowance would effectively be blown. Theoretically and if A&L allow it (which I'm told they don't) you could open a second ISA with the same ISA provider and it could be considered by HMRC as being the same ISA, so allowing the subsequent addition of funds.

I'd say keep it open with £1 in. 5 months interest on £1500 is £20 !

aleksrothis

KingL wrote: »

I'd say keep it open with £1 in. 5 months interest on £1500 is £20 !

If it were only that I wouldn't object but interest is paid in December and I have previous year's money in there too so it's a little more substantial...

Don't really want to lose the rest of my allowance though so I may just have to wait for it.

Thanks

Biggles84

I wouldn't recommend going with IF - just had a nightmare with them. I opened an ISA, got all the forms and asked if I could take my ID docs into Halifax as I wasn't happy sending them away. They said this was fine. I also sent off my 3 ISA transfer forms and my cheque for £3,600. A week later I got a letter syaing they wanted me to send them my passport and 3 months' worth of bank statements - originals only! I called up and said I had already taken my documents into Halifax as instructed. They said they still needed my original passport. I would never send this away (especially as I am going on holiday in 4 weeks), so that was that, I can't have an ISA with IF.
It was such a waste of my time, when I had specifically checked that they would accept copies if I took the originals into a Halifax branch.
I now don't know where the photocopy of my passport is and haven't had my cheque returned yet!
And the best bit...you can't email IF unless you're a customer. You can only call or write...not very intelligent!

bigup7 wrote: »

just a quick question

i am started my first ever Cash ISA soon, putting £1500 into firstly, the rate with IF is 2.75% Variable.

if this rate were to magically go down to say 1%, could i transfer this cash into another ISA say a fixed rate one? or would i only be allowed to add £2100 to the fixed rate ISA so maxing my £3600 limit?

Biggles84

As you can see from my post above, I've had difficulties opening an IF ISA. Can anyone recommend an instant access ISA that accepts transfers? AND doesn't ask you to send your passport away!

niceday999

My son has around £1000 in a savings account getting virtually no interest at all and another £1000 gathered up lately from birthday and working ( summer job)and given from relatives for getting good exam results. We were thinking of opening an ISA for him but he will be going back to school in Sept and if working will only have a part time job ( say 10 hours per week ) i assume he will not pay tax on his job , so would as ISA be best for him or a savings account . When he puts in this £1500 out of the above money he will not be lifting it for at least a year. I see Intelligent Finance CAsh ISA is offering 2.75%
He is 16, will be 17 in DEcember...

JimmyTheWig

niceday999 wrote: »

My son ... will not pay tax on his job , so would as ISA be best for him or a savings account . When he puts in this £1500 out of the above money he will not be lifting it for at least a year. I see Intelligent Finance CAsh ISA is offering 2.75%
He is 16, will be 17 in DEcember...

To some extent the answer depends on what your son expects to be doing in the coming years.

The simple answer is that, as a non-tax payer, an ISA is no different to a savings account to your son. Therefore pick the best rate (e.g. 3.25% instant access with Egg or better elsewhere if he is happy to tie the money in for a year - see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest).
When your son starts full time work (i.e. paying tax) he can pay the money in the savings account into an ISA.

But here it gets more complicated. You can only do this up to the yearly limit. So there is a risk that by going for a non-ISA now, if your son continues to save well over the coming years, he may end up paying tax on his savings in the future.
If you think that that's unlikely (who comes out of university with significant savings!) then go for the top savings account. A half percent increase in interest rates (e.g. getting 3.25 rather than 2.75) is worth £7.50 over the year on £1500.

Mr.C_7

Can anyone explain whether I have to pay the £25 annual admin charge on a single stock PEP taken out quite a few years ago with TR (now Henderson Global). I don't use their dealing service. All I get is an annual statement, which just sits in a file.

RayWolfe

Because that's what you agreed to. If you don't like it, move the ISA to another provider. Shimple!