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  • Lokolo
    Lokolo Posts: 20,861
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    kennybick wrote: »
    I have two seperate ISA's that I have not put anymore cash into this year, I now wish to use the new allowance of £5,340 after 6th April to top them up. My question is this,
    Can I put say £3,000 into one of them and the remaining £2,340 into the other one, or do I have to put the whole of the £5,340 into just one of them.

    The bold bit.

    If one of the ISA allows transfers you could transfer the other one to it. Saves having more than one ISA.
  • psychic_teabag
    psychic_teabag Posts: 2,865
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    You can't split the money, since you can only put new money into one ISA during a tax year.

    If they are old ISAs the chances are that neither of them are getting a good rate - you'd probably be best to transfer them to a new provider which accepts transfers in - eg Halifax is offering 3% and accepts transfers.

    You could pay your new £5340 into that same ISA, but you can get slightly more if you open a different ISA for the new money - some ISAs allow new money only (no transfers) but pay a slightly higher rate. Check the best-buy tables (eg here. But maybe you'd rather give up a little bit of interest for the convenience of amalgamating them all.
  • itstomhi
    itstomhi Posts: 14 Forumite
    As far as I can see, this issue hasn't been answered before - sorry if I'm mistaken.

    I have £5000 in previous year's ISAs and have not used an of m 2010/2011 allowance (and don't have any new money to invest before April 5th).
    I was thinking of closing my old accounts (rather than transferring) so I can invest it into a Santander flexible ISA as new money, because they pay a higher interest rate than accounts that allow transfers. However, the advisor in Santander said this would be illegal. If it is, why is it? What is the difference between me closing the old accounts and reinvesting the money in a new ISA, and spending the money and investing 'new' money (if I had any!)?
    If I just transfer thx old money, is it worth going into my overdraft to invest some money this tax year? (I do have a job so could get out of the overdraft afterwards)
    Thanks in advance!
  • Lokolo_2
    Lokolo_2 Posts: 1,005
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    itstomhi wrote: »
    As far as I can see, this issue hasn't been answered before - sorry if I'm mistaken.

    I have £5000 in previous year's ISAs and have not used an of m 2010/2011 allowance (and don't have any new money to invest before April 5th).
    I was thinking of closing my old accounts (rather than transferring) so I can invest it into a Santander flexible ISA as new money, because they pay a higher interest rate than accounts that allow transfers. However, the advisor in Santander said this would be illegal. If it is, why is it? What is the difference between me closing the old accounts and reinvesting the money in a new ISA, and spending the money and investing 'new' money (if I had any!)?
    If I just transfer thx old money, is it worth going into my overdraft to invest some money this tax year? (I do have a job so could get out of the overdraft afterwards)
    Thanks in advance!

    Withdrawing and re-depositing money from an ISA certainly isn't illegal, so seeing as you've not used any of your allowance this tax year you can do it, but you'd have to be quick as there's only a few days left!

    Seems like that Santander advisor was incompetant :rotfl:
  • when is the intrest added & is ok to use as a saveing account
  • chanty_2
    chanty_2 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Hi, sorry this isn't a reply. This is a new question but i couldn't see where to click for "new posts". I have a flexible cash isa with santander for 2010-2011. There has been nothing saved into this account, is there any benefit in trying to pay in £5100 today ( today is the last day i can pay into it?) and then withdrawing it in a couple of weeks ( as i am having work done to the house and will need access to it). I have never had a ISA before and am unsure of what i should do to be honest. Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.
  • Baldur
    Baldur Posts: 6,565 Forumite
    chanty wrote: »
    Hi, sorry this isn't a reply. This is a new question but i couldn't see where to click for "new posts". I have a flexible cash isa with santander for 2010-2011. There has been nothing saved into this account, is there any benefit in trying to pay in £5100 today ( today is the last day i can pay into it?) and then withdrawing it in a couple of weeks ( as i am having work done to the house and will need access to it). I have never had a ISA before and am unsure of what i should do to be honest. Any advice would be gratefully received.
    Tomorrow (5th April) is the last day that subscriptions can be made to a 2010/11 ISA.

    If you pay into it today/tomorrow, the only interest that you will receive is for the number of days that it's in the account (e.g. £5,100 @ 3.2% for 14 days would earn you around £6.26 in interest.

    At least paying it into an ISA before midnight tomorrow, rather than later, would leave your full 2011/12 ISA allowance intact in case you have a windfall in the next tax year.
  • Hi, i would like to make the most of the 2011 tax allowance with a Cash ISA. I opened one with HSBC in 2006, zero balance. I also have one with Lloyds TSB opened last year, £2000 balance. For my savings this year, if wanting to use my new 2011 ISA allowance, would i need to open a new ISA account? I don't want to use HSBC and will be getting that account closed soon. I find if very hard to find info on starting new ISA's while having current ISA's in place. Asking Lloyds for another Cash ISA account doesn't seem to make sense or is that what i should be doing? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)
  • Baldur
    Baldur Posts: 6,565 Forumite
    RefugeeT wrote: »
    Hi, i would like to make the most of the 2011 tax allowance with a Cash ISA. I opened one with HSBC in 2006, zero balance. I also have one with Lloyds TSB opened last year, £2000 balance. For my savings this year, if wanting to use my new 2011 ISA allowance, would i need to open a new ISA account? I don't want to use HSBC and will be getting that account closed soon. I find if very hard to find info on starting new ISA's while having current ISA's in place. Asking Lloyds for another Cash ISA account doesn't seem to make sense or is that what i should be doing? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    There's no need to close the HSBC account, if no new subscriptions are made to a Cash ISA account for a full year, it becomes dormant anyway and would have to be reactivated in order to pay any new subscriptions into it - just forget it.

    You can just choose whichever ISA offering offers the best rate/suits your needs and open it with whichever ISA provider you choose.

    Knowing LTSB, it's likely that your £2,000 with them is now earning a very small level of interest if it was a variable rate ISA - if so, you may wish to transfer it to a new ISA provider.

    ISA transfers simply involve completing the chosen new rovider's ISA transfer form and letting them arrange the transfer with your old provider - you must not do so yourself.

    The current ISA 'best buys', including those which accept Cash ISA transfers are listed in this post.
  • Hi, thanks for the reply.

    Will my transfered £2000 form LTSB reduce my 2011/12 allowance? Or will the balance be £2000 and 2011/12 allowance remain at £5340 with my new ISA ?

    Also could i transfer my shares from 'sharcentre' to a ISA Shares account?
    If so will that reduce my 2011/12 limit and any recommendations?

    I'm trying to make the most of the allowances this year.

    Thanks again. :beer:
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