How to transfer an ISA with sodding Hargreave Lansdown

[MagpiePi]

A couple of months ago I opened an account with Hargreaves Lansdown as I wanted to transfer a cash ISA of £12k that matured at the beginning of May to one that was being offered through their platform. As far as I understood, you had to transfer it to a stocks and shares isa and then you could transfer to a cash isa.
When the 5th April rolled around I put £20k from an inheritance into a new cash ISA through HL.

When the matured ISA had been transferred I was unable to turn it into the cash ISA that I want. Apparently I have to first open a cash isa and then transfer the S&S one to it but I am being told I’ve used up my ISA allowance, which I have, so I can’t open a cash ISA.

I recently got an email from HL saying they have a new ‘move money’ tab on the app and website where you can easily move money between S&S ISAs and cash ISAs.
I’m damned if I can find this magical ‘move money’ tab!

I haven’t got time to sit and wait for their phone helpline atm. Can anyone help?

Just phone them! They are always really helpful and clear and usually answer the phone quickly. Or message them through the app.

On the app click Add Money,
it then gives you 4 options the bottom one being move available cash from a S&S ISA.

Why don't you just sell all the S&S in the existing ISA and transfer as cash to the HL cash ISA?

At least once I’ve been told I’m on the wrong browser for a financial institution - try a different device or download Chrome maybe.

I agree though that they are good on the phone.

Would t that count as another payment into an ISA? I did t think that was allowed if you’ve already paid the maximum in?

They charge quite a bit for their platform fees -I would be quite pissed off to have to wait a long time. You get what you pay for but sometimes you get tipped off! Move your money to a cheaper platform on a cash only basis

Because then it loses its ISA status, and I've used up this year's ISA allowance so wouldn't be able to open another case ISA anyway.

They don't charge fees for cash ISAs.

I'll have to give them a call I think

AI suggests - the source was HL - hope it helps
Log in to your Hargreaves Lansdown app or online dashboard.
Select 'Cash ISA' from your list of active accounts.
Find the 'Move money' tab located within that specific Cash ISA view.
Choose 'Move money into your Cash ISA' to initiate the internal transfer.

Crucial Checklist Before Transferring

• Open account: You must already have an active HL Cash ISA open.
• Default product: An easy-access or limited-access savings product must be set as your Cash ISA default.
• Uninvested cash: You can only move money held as uninvested cash in your Stocks & Shares ISA.
• Settled cash: If you recently sold investments to free up funds, you must wait 2 working days for shares and 4 working days for funds for the cash to clear.
• Pending requests: Ensure you do not have any other transfers or withdrawals currently in progress. 1,

Moving money through this tab preserves

OP has stated that she isn't able to open a Cash ISA account, in which case there won't be one there. If she's only got a S&S ISA, there won't be an option to 'move money', surely.

OP, if you can't (or don't have time) to hang on the phone, maybe there's a messaging facility on the app? I don't use HL, but sending them a message explaining what you want to do should surely result in them fixing it.

An S&S ISA always has to be turned into cash to move it to a cash ISA, it is held as cash within the S&S ISA wrapper until it is moved. You probably don't see it happen as it's done between the companies doing the transfer, don't cash it in yourself or you will lose the ISA status.

The op said they opened a cash ISA with this year's allowance, so they do have one. They can't open another one, but there would be no reason they can't add to the one they have.

No, I wasn't going to cash it in

I can't transfer any more into the new ISA that I opened as it is beyond the 14 day limit for adding funds

(BTW, I am a 'she', not a 'they'. I would rather you called me 'he' than 'they'. Thanks)

I found the 'Move money' tab on the S&S ISA and have managed to open a basic cash ISA with a really crappy rate, but I will phone up and see if this can then be transferred to the product I actually want.

No, you don't lose the ISA status when you sell your S&S in a S&S ISA.

You have to initiate a transfer through the new provider then it retains its ISA status.

I've done this before - taken cash out of S&S ISA to put in a cash ISA< and it never leaves the ISA wrapper and is pulled to the new ISA by the new ISA provider.

However, the new ISA provider must allow transfers - does the new provider allow this? They don't all - if not then you won't be able to do it. Choose a different ISA provider - you are allowed to open as many isas as you like in a year, and you can transfer as much cash as you like between ISAs, the only limit is the amount of NEW cash you can put it. But the S&S ISA Is already an ISA, so there' s no limit.

They can open another one. YOu can open as many ISAs as you like in a tax year. The limit is on the amount of NEW money that you put into it. You can transfer hundreds of thousands of pounds between different types of ISAs in the same day if you like, as long as it's done as a transfer and you never withdraw it from an ISA yourself. Always ask the destination ISA provider to transfer from the old one.

So I have tried opening a new ISA and am being blocked with a message saying I have used up my annual allowance.

Who have you opened tried to open the new one with? HL again? If so you can probably only have 1 cash ISA with any provider, so just use a new provider. Lots of good cash ISAs out there

Yes, but not as good as the one through HL which is why I opened an account with them.

And I’m sure you can have more than 1 cash isa with the same provider. I could have 2 that had £10k each in.

Try calling them. I had something similar and they managed to sort it over the phone when I couldn’t do it online. It was similar with it looking like I had used up my allowance, so I agree that it isn’t that intuitive.

saying that, I have just transferred some saving to interactive investor and finding their platform much worse than HL, I guess to some extent you get what you pay for.

Well, I’ve solved the problem by opening an isa with a different provider and a better interest rate.
So that’s that!
thanks to everyone who responded 🙂