Exciting ISA's

[Jugglering]

OK, help required ! I've been investing in cash ISA's for a few years now and have a few quid stashed away but I know that I could get a higher interest rate with other building societies. Am I allowed to move my current savings from my existing ISA provider and plonk it all in a new ISA or do I have to close my existing ISA and then re-open a new one ? Example - I have 3 years of investments with BS1 at x% but now BS2 are offering a higher rate of interest... what do I do with my savings which are already in BS1 ? Do I just close down the cash ISA in BS1 and start another in BS2 so that both ISA's carry on earning interest (tax free)... TIA

[Jugglering]

Thanks Kirk and Redhead... I didn't know you could transfer all previous ISA savings into a current one ... woot !!!!! problem solved... brilliant, thank you !

[buildersmate]

But does anyone know if you have the right to transfer PART of an existing Cash ISA into an account from another Cash ISA provider?

[pug100]

Buildersmate,

From MSE website

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cash- isa-transfers

The rules

Like ISAs themselves, the transfer rules are unnecessarily complicated. The two key ones are:


Transfers must be like for like. In other words a mini-cash ISA must stay a mini-cash ISA.

Only past year's ISAs can be split. Current year's cash ISAs must be moved whole, but previous years' allowances may be split between different providers.

[dasherman]

You will be able to transfer your cash ISA into a shares ISA from April 6th 2008. But not the other way round.

[factor-fiction]

Good luck with transferring all your cash ISA. Just a word of caution though:
(A) When you transfer it the old provider closes your account and posts a cheque to new provider. The new provider may have a backlog and can't process it straight away. And then it takes a week for money to clear. I transferred to A&L for a better rate but lost 3 weeks interest while all this happened, so for a while I'll be worse off overall. To make it worthwhile you need an interest rate of maybe 0.3% pa better.
b) Make sure the current provider doesn't charge transfer fees - some charge �25 which may cancel out interest rate gains
(c) Check whether the new provider will charge if you transfer again. This is important in case they suddenly lower their rate after they have sucked you in.

[buildersmate]

Hmmmm. Sounds like they make it deliberately hard then.

[wolf63]

I saw the title of this thread and rushed over from Animals and Nature.

But nah - the ISAs weren't all that exciting. Bah!