Cash ISAs from previous years

[Unijourney]

Can I ask how best to manage ISAs?

I have been investing for a number of years and have a few in different banks.

Bank A 20k
Bank B 20k - from previous years

I want to add 20k to Bank A which is my allowance for new tax year. I want to move Bank B to another provider..am I OK to do this and still retain the tax free status?

How do people manage if you have a few maturing, just afraid I will screw up and lose tax status.

Once they are in the ISA wrapper you can move them around to different providers without loosing tax free status. There is a limit of £20k new ISA investment each year.

Thank you, so is this done on a trust basis as no proof? I would close the previous accounts

You have to make the transfer through the bank, do not withdraw the money yourself and move it through any other kind of account or it loses its tax free status immediately.

Fill in a transfer form with the bank you want to transfer in to.

You apply to the new bank and give them details of the existing ISA you want to transfer. They do the rest, i.e. contact your previous bank to ask for the transfer. DONT close the account yourself or withdraw any money to transfer - you WILL lose the tax free status if you do it yourself.

You open the account with the receiving institution. They ask if it’s a transfer in and you need to give the old isa details including bank details and account number. I move my ISAs around frequently as I get the closing interest credited to the new account. It is very simple and usually takes 3 or 4 days.

No definitely don’t do this. As pp have said open a new ISA and then ask the new provider to request a transfer from the old one. Check your maturity dates first to make sure the transfer doesn’t happen too soon.

Don’t close the account without having the receiving ISA opened as you will loose the tax free status. It is not done on trust as you need. Your NI number. If you accidentally open two ISAs they will write to you to close it.

Am in a similar position. Can I ask … my Bank A have said they will transfer my maturing money from previous ISA into one with a low rate of interest. I’m fine with this as long as it’s just seen as a holding ISA whilst I decide which next product to transfer into but not if its status is seen as a new ISA as I didn’t open it myself - they will have transferred it automatically when my old ISA expired. Am assuming I’m right in thinking this?

My FRISA matures on Monday. I'll apply to my new ISA bank to transfer from the matured ISA. This is my first time doing this as I'm fairly new to ISAs. As I've maxed out 24/25 allowance, I have to wait another week to pay in to my ISA.

There is no such thing as a "holding ISA" . Just open another cash ISA, you can open multiple ISAs as long as you stay wiin the £20k limit total.

www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/blog/savings/understanding-the-new-ISA-rules#:~:text=While%20you%20can%20save%20a%20total%20of,any%20other%20ISA%20product%20that%20financial%20year).&text=You%20can%20now%20make%20partial%20transfers.

It sounds like the bank mean that when a fixed rate ISA matures the rate reverts to their standard easy access rate not that the money is being transferred anywhere, they won't have used the term holding isa

Its only counts towards your £20K limit if its completely new money. Its quite usual for fixed rate isas to be moved to low rate isas on maturity, these will not be counted as new money as long as its then moved directly to where you want it to eventually go, by the banks involved. Don't withdraw it and do it yourself.

You don't personally close anything..choose who you want as the new provider, they'll be a box saying do u want to transfer an old isa then u out thr details of it there (not all companies accept transfers in so just check).

Don't close it yourself else you'll lose the tax free status

U can combine multiple at once

No, the bank mean they will transfer the cash into another ISA.

The PP is worried that she then cannot transfer to a third ISA, that she chooses herself, as until last year there was a rule that you could only open one ISA per tax year - if the bank has already opened a new ISA on her behalf then that would be an issue. However, as the rules changed last year, she can in fact open a new ISA and transfer the funds into it as often as she likes.

There is no such thing as a "holding ISA", however the thing that the PP is worried about isn't something to worry about.

as until last year there was a rule that you could only open one ISA per tax year - if the bank has already opened a new ISA on her behalf then that would be an issue. However, as the rules changed last year, she can in fact open a new ISA and transfer the funds into it as often as she likes

You've misunderstood the difference between transferring existing ISA funds to a new account and putting 'new' money into a new ISA.

Transferring ISA money from previous years' allowances into a new ISA has never counted as 'opening a new ISA' in terms of the rule about only opening one cash ISA a year with 'new' money. Maturing fixed term ISAs could be transferred into new accounts or you could transfer immediate access ISA funds to a new account, and that wouldn't affect your ability to open a new ISA with 'new' money for that year's allowance.

The rule change now means you can open more than one cash ISA in a financial year as long as you're still within the £20k total allowance.

@Nessanewyear Yes, the money will still be an ISA as long as it is transferred into a new ISA, and not withdrawn and deposited.

You can transfer it to a better paying rate later.

You can continue to hold the funds in the ISA wrapper . Maturing ISAs don’t count as new.

I have not misunderstood anything. You have misunderstood both the question and the answer.

@Nessanewyear is worried that her bank will be transferring her existing ISA funds into a new ISA account that the bank opens on her behalf, as she is concerned that this will prevent her from opening another new ISA account that she chooses herself, to then transfer those same funds into. She is asking whether that account which the bank opens for her, counts as a "proper" ISA or is deemed a "holding ISA".

I am pointing out that there is no such thing as a "holding ISA", but that that doesn't matter - she can still do what she wants to do (research and find a cash ISA account that suits her) and open it, then transfer the existing funds into that.

I don't know what you think I was saying, but the point of the question was whether the new account that the bank opens will prevent her from opening another new account. And yes, it is opening a new account to move existing funds into - that doesn't stop it being a new account!

@LordEmsworth I didn't misunderstand @Nessanewyear's question, although I may have misunderstood your answer.

You seemed to be saying that, before the rule change about opening only one cash ISA per year, that if a previous ISA matured and was transferred into a new ISA account, that it would count as the 'only' ISA you could open that year. That wasn't the case. The 'only open one ISA a year' rule applied to new money being deposited, not existing ISA money deposited in previous tax years being transferred to a new ISA account.

Anyway, we're both in agreement that @Nessanewyear is allowed to transfer the old ISA money to another account, despite the bank already having transferred it to a new account.