Isa, Isa Isa

bristolleedsfan

keren29 wrote: »

I've also been looking at the Abbey Direct ISA - any thoughts on it anyone? I've got £3000 plus interest to transfer from NS+I and £3600 for this year.

Abbey backdate interest to date of outgoing transfer cheque so u would lose no interest during transit and banking of cheque. Whether A+L do this is unclear.

Personally I believe Nationwide 6.15% One and Two Year Fix is more prudent, however its not clear how long they will be holding this rate.

Another option is Halifax 4 year fix, ( 6.20%) Halifax also backdate interest as described above.

For this years 3600 IMO Skiptons 6.26% One Year Fix or Bradford and Bingley 6.25% One Year Fix would be prudent choices. ( no transfers)

Burlesque_Babe

I did consider the Nationwide 1 and 2 year fixes and they are still possiblities....hadn't looked at the 4 year one.........hmmm, decisions...(and I'm not the most ISA savvy person in the world by a long way!)

What I do need to do is send my OH up the loft to get my NS+I paperwork with my customer number on it so I have the information when I make the decision!

Scubajay

Right - when it comes to all things figures/money and counting I am a bit mathslexic, so please explain this to me as if I was a martian who understood English but not the language of the banking world.....


I have an ISA with NS&I from 07/08 - the full £3000 plus interest.

I have heard that I can transfer this to an Abbey ISA which has a miles better interest rate and not lose this years allowance of £3600 (which I suppose would be £3200 for me as I saved £400 of my new allowance already)

1) What do I need to do to make this happen?

2) What forms/certificates etc do I need from NS&I to make it all legal and so that I don't get stung by the tax demons that roam this land?

3) Is it true that I can save all of last years money (£3000) and still what's left of this years allowance as well?

4) What happens to the interest I earned from the 07/08 tax year? Can I save that as well or is that just deemed extra?

5) Am I right in thinking that I can only save £3200 in the 08/09 tax year as I already used £400 of my allowance for the new tax year?

Cheers for all help given - and remember I am a bit slow with this stuff so please keep it simple. Pretend like you are telling this to a reasonably intelligent 5 year old.;)

Lavendyr

Scubajay wrote: »

I have an ISA with NS&I from 07/08 - the full £3000 plus interest.

So far so good.

Scubajay wrote: »

I have heard that I can transfer this to an Abbey ISA which has a miles better interest rate and not lose this years allowance of £3600 (which I suppose would be £3200 for me as I saved £400 of my new allowance already)

Correct.

Scubajay wrote: »

1) What do I need to do to make this happen?

All ISA transfers can work slightly differently, but the gist is - you apply to Abbey to open an ISA, and they ask you how you want to open it. Either you want to open it with new money, which is what you don't want to do, or you want to open by transferring in previous' years' ISA allowances. You want to do the latter, because you have already started putting money (the £400) into the NS&I ISA.

Scubajay wrote: »

2) What forms/certificates etc do I need from NS&I to make it all legal and so that I don't get stung by the tax demons that roam this land?

I had a giggle at that part, I must admit. You don't actually need to get the forms from NS&I, it is Abbey who would need to provide you with a transfer form or instructions as to how to transfer your ISA over. Typically, you would open the ISA with Abbey under the conditions above, and then they would send you a transfer form. You fill this in and send it back to Abbey, and they then contact NS&I on your behalf with that form.

NS&I have 30 days from receipt of the form to process the transfer (they need to carry out certain checks etc to make sure that all is above board). When they have done this (typically takes far less than 30 days), they will contact you to tell you that they are transferring your funds as you requested. Shortly after, you will receive a closing statement from NS&I. They will, at the same time, send a cheque for the full amount plus any interest to date, to Abbey. Abbey will receive the cheque, credit it to your account, and presto - ISA all set up and ready to go.

Scubajay wrote: »

3) Is it true that I can save all of last years money (£3000) and still what's left of this years allowance as well?

Yes.

Scubajay wrote: »

4) What happens to the interest I earned from the 07/08 tax year? Can I save that as well or is that just deemed extra?

You can save that as well, do not withdraw it - it will be moved across with everything else.

Scubajay wrote: »

5) Am I right in thinking that I can only save £3200 in the 08/09 tax year as I already used £400 of my allowance for the new tax year?

Yes.

Hope that helps.

Lavendyr

Incidentally, though, I have heard many bad stories about Abbey customer service, both here and on Watchdog, and I would have concerns about allowing them to take control of a transfer. Alliance & Leicester have an equally good rate and, from my understanding (and personal experience), better customer service.

Scubajay

Thanks for the help. I think I might go for the Abbey one - I have an account already with them, and the interest rate is fixed as well, so none of this losing out.....well for this year anyway.


One more question (well.....2 actually):

1) What happens to the £400 I already transferred into the NS&I for this new tax year allocation? Does it get refunded?

earlgrey_3

Scubajay wrote: »

Thanks for the help. I think I might go for the Abbey one - I have an account already with them, and the interest rate is fixed as well, so none of this losing out.....well for this year anyway.

Do you mean fixed? Although the wording is very misleading the Abbey Direct ISA is variable, so could go down. It says in the details: "The Direct ISA gives you a preferential variable rate of interest for 13 months from the date of opening. "

I assume what they mean by "preferential" is that it goes down after 13 months.

One more question (well.....2 actually):

1) What happens to the £400 I already transferred into the NS&I for this new tax year allocation? Does it get refunded?

You need to ask Abbey to transfer your ISA from NS&I. You're only allowed to open one new ISA each year but can transfer it as often as you like. Make sure it is transfered and not closed.

Scubajay

earlgrey wrote: »

Do you mean fixed? Although the wording is very misleading the Abbey Direct ISA is variable, so could go down. It says in the details: "The Direct ISA gives you a preferential variable rate of interest for 13 months from the date of opening. "

I assume what they mean by "preferential" is that it goes down after 13 months.



You need to ask Abbey to transfer your ISA from NS&I. You're only allowed to open one new ISA each year but can transfer it as often as you like. Make sure it is transfered and not closed.

Yeah I prefer that to the other rates I was looking at. My understanding is that it can go down, but is only really likely to plummet after 13 months.

I am going to transfer it, but I was wondering about the £400 of this years allowance. Will that be refunded to me or just transferred over as well?

earlgrey_3

Scubajay wrote: »

Yeah I prefer that to the other rates I was looking at. My understanding is that it can go down, but is only really likely to plummet after 13 months.

I am going to transfer it, but I was wondering about the £400 of this years allowance. Will that be refunded to me or just transferred over as well?

It has to be transferred over. If it isn't that counts as this year's sub and you couldn't open another 'new' one. You could withdraw £399 if you want to and just transfer £1 but you'd only be allowed to add another £3200 this year, not £3599. Hard to say what will happen to current variable savings rates- depends on whether they're as desperate for our money as they are at the moment. The best buys of one year tend not to be the best the next year.