Help for a financial novice please?

JLeafy

Hi

I wonder if anyone could give me a bit of advice on ISA's.

I opened an NSI ISA last financial year, I only put £1000 in and left it at that.
I've just applied for a Barclays Tax Haven ISA which doesn't allow transfers from other ISA's. I have a couple of questions I'd like help with.

1, Can I pay £3.600 into my new Barclays one this year?
2, Do I have to leave my NSI one alone, ie not pay any money in as I'm paying into Barclays?
3, Would I be better off taking the money out of NSI and closing it?
4, How many ISA providers can you invest with over a long time scale?

I should be able to pay in the full £3,600 this year, if I pay it in as a whole, do I just forget about paying into any ISA's until next April?

I would really appreciate any help/advice.

Thank you in advance xx

Baldur

1. Yes
2 No - you can't pay any more into it BUT you could transfer it to an ISA provider (which accepts transfers) that pays a better rate of interest.
3. NO - you'd lose the tax free status of the funds (see 2 above)
4. I've had in excess of 10 since ISAs started.

If you pay £3,600 into Barclays, then yes, forget it until 06/04/2009 - but remember to transfer it elsewhere if the interest rate drops below what's on offer elsewhere.

JLeafy

Thanks for your speedy reply and very useful information.

J x