Opening new halifax ISA to transfer First Direct

robert_h_2

same thing here wrt B&B shooting themselves in the foot. u have to open and deposit min of £1k, so if u've reached the limit for the current year, u are stuck. plus u cant open a new mini cash and deposit if you still have another, say 1st direct, waiting to be transferred, and this contravenes the 1 concurrent mini cash isa rule. i.e. u've opened and invested into a 2nd mini cash. so basically B&B is for new subscriptions for this tax year only.

was trying to get my 1st direct -> halifax transfer sorted before my holiday. did all the forms b4 i went away, opened on the 'phone, went to local branch to show ID, signed and returned a form they sent. i came back after 2 weeks, and they'd sent a form to affect the transfer, which i posted back to them a couple of days ago. no idea how long this will take to complete, but good news if halifax backdate the interest, i assume to the date when u requested the transfer? anyway will post back when it's done, so u can see how long they typically take to complete.
regards
robert

YorkshireBoy

oldagetraveller wrote:

They must be losing potential customers because of this rule?

Maybe so, but they're able to remain at the top of the best-buy tables without exposing themselves to "over-subscription". Clever marketing?

klondyke

Mr K and I tried to transfer last tax year FD ISA to Halifax. Everything seemed to be going ok, but I wasn't sure the chappie was taking in that it was a 2004/5 ISA being transferred. Sure enough, letter arrived thanking us for subscribing to Halifax 2005/6 and wanting signature that we wouldn't subscribe to another in this tax year - we already have. We thought it was an admin error and they should have sent a differently worded letter/form in the circs, but when we rang, they said there was no way they could change the wording or send out another and if we didn't want to sign (we couldn't) - then tough. The woman indicated that they had been getting several calls on this - so beware if you were trying to transfer an earlier ISA to Halifax and check that you aren't stuffed for this year if you sign anything.

FL

When i last posted on here I though my move to Halifax would be easy once all the paper work was completed. I took my transfer form and evidence to a branch of the Halifax in Milton Keynes for them to send to the correct department. When I rang up Halifax yesterday, after no communication for 10days, after about 30 mins on an 0845 number it turned out that they had not received the form. What a surprise!

The lady on the phone told me that the branch in MK would phone me back - but of course no call materialised. Today I have completed another form and sent more evidence in the post- but in the meantime my transfer sits in that the FD account.

Should phone and complain but of course I will spend more of my time and phone bill without resolving so it was just quicker to resend.

dc2447

I'm obviously being thick. I have nearly 5k in my DF cash ISA - last years and this money. If I leave my money in FD I am getting interest on the 5k but if I transfer then I won't be ab;e to pay any more in. Or are the halifax clver enough to know that 3k of that cash is last years money?

<confused>

robert_h_2

robert_h wrote:

no idea how long this will take to complete, but good news if halifax backdate the interest, i assume to the date when u requested the transfer? anyway will post back when it's done, so u can see how long they typically take to complete.
regards
robert

still ongoing.
fd mini cash is now closed, i think happened on monday 24 october, or before.
hfax mini cash is open, with my first deposit of £250 only.
the money transferred from fd is somewhere in between .....

schander

Hi,

Don't know if this is relevant but I have just looked on the First Direct website and they now have a FD mini cash e-ISA which pays 5.50% AER (5.37% tax free) unitl 15 Feb 2006, is this the same as the normal Cash ISA??.

What I don't understand is how come they are giving a tax-free interest rate as I though that mini cash isa were never liable for tax so we should be getting the full 5.5%??

Also In Martins article about Cash ISA's says that FD will accept upto £10,000, when I tried to transfer 2 previous ISA's to this account and open a new one from this tax year, FD told me that I could on transfer in 1 old ISA and open one for this tax year, So I'm a little confused on this point.

So am I getting 4% or 5.5% on my cash ISA's , if I'm getting 4% then i will be transfering to Halifax.

I think I'll have to phone them at lunch to get better info on all of this.

Thanks
satpal

Mr_Mumble

schander wrote:

Hi,

Don't know if this is relevant but I have just looked on the First Direct website and they now have a FD mini cash e-ISA which pays 5.50% AER (5.37% tax free) unitl 15 Feb 2006, is this the same as the normal Cash ISA??.

What I don't understand is how come they are giving a tax-free interest rate as I though that mini cash isa were never liable for tax so we should be getting the full 5.5%??

It is a "normal" Cash ISA and the First Direct blurb is confusing.

The 5.37% is the gross interest rate, since the interest is paid monthly (whereas most cash ISAs are paid yearly) the compounding of interest means the Annual Equivalent Rate is 5.50%. This is still "tax free".

Halifax meanwhile, since it pays interest yearly, has a rate of 5.00% gross and 5.00% AER.

Also In Martins article about Cash ISA's says that FD will accept upto £10,000, when I tried to transfer 2 previous ISA's to this account and open a new one from this tax year, FD told me that I could on transfer in 1 old ISA and open one for this tax year, So I'm a little confused on this point.

The FD website uses the plural: "transfer any ISA balances from previous tax years". You should complain, though if you transfer now you'll only be paid 4% from February 15th, is it worth the hassle, when you could go straight to the Halifax?

So am I getting 4% or 5.5% on my cash ISA's , if I'm getting 4% then i will be transfering to Halifax.

If you opened the account on August 15th or later you'll be getting 5.5%, any earlier and you'll be getting 4%.

I think I'll have to phone them at lunch to get better info on all of this.

Thanks
satpal

Tell us what they said :beer:

schander

Hi,

After phoning them I worked it out:
The 10,00 pounds allowance is only for the newer 5.5% ISA, the one I opened back in April only allowed 1 previous ISA to brought it. I can't open one of the new mini cash ISA's that pay 5.5 .

I'm only getting 4% on my ISA right now _pale_, so I think that I'll phone Halifax and get them to transfer it all across, having just opened a account with them and transferred another ISA I had.

Before I go and look it up does anyone know if Halifax has a limit how many can be brought in?

Also when opening an account with Halifax did anyone else have to take photo id and a bill with current address on it to the local branch??

Thanks for the help.
Satpal

Mr_Mumble

An FD ISA opened in April willl have paid interest of 6.25% until October 6th and 4% since. Halifax don't have restrictions on transfers, it should be hassle free.