Toissa to Isa?

Last finacial year I possesed a fully subscribed MAXI ISA and a TOISSA.
Because the interest rate on the TOISSA (with IF) had been severely reduced,
I wished to transfer it elsewhere, the obvious place being the Halifax. But
the Halifax do not advertise a TOISSA.

Upon getting Halifax to ring me (yes, they will), I was informed that TOISSA
money could be moved into a Mini cash ISA but/and I would require to open
one with them first. I thought I had made it abundantly clear that I
already had a fully subscribed MAXI stocks and share ISA, and intended to
keep it fully subscribed in the future, but was informed that that would be
no problem.

Then, before I had actually made such a transfer, I read in the Sunday Times
financial agony column (in an answer to someone else) that, if one moved a
TOISSA into an ISA, one would forfeit the option to also open or possess a
MAXI ISA in the same year. Oops? So I did nothing about it.

Q 1: Having not put any money into the Mini cash ISA, may I assume that my
MAXI ISA has not been compromised and I won't land in the clink?

Q 2: Could I, in fact, have made the transfer without getting up Mr Brown's
nostrils?

Q 3: If I make the transfer now, will I still be able to subscribe to my
valuable MAXI ISA in this tax year?

Q 4: If my ISA status has been compromised, would I be able to 'have' the
Halifax for giving me false advise?

It's all a bit worrying.

--
GPG

Re: Toissa to Isa?

On Sun, 7 May 2006 15:50:09 +0100, "GPG"
<> wrote:

>Last finacial year I possesed a fully subscribed MAXI ISA and a TOISSA.
>Because the interest rate on the TOISSA (with IF) had been severely reduced,
>I wished to transfer it elsewhere, the obvious place being the Halifax. But
>the Halifax do not advertise a TOISSA.

That's because the Halifax doesn't discriminate between the two. Both
are ISAs.

>Upon getting Halifax to ring me (yes, they will), I was informed that TOISSA
>money could be moved into a Mini cash ISA but/and I would require to open
>one with them first. I thought I had made it abundantly clear that I
>already had a fully subscribed MAXI stocks and share ISA, and intended to
>keep it fully subscribed in the future, but was informed that that would be
>no problem.

There isn't a problem.

>Then, before I had actually made such a transfer, I read in the Sunday Times
>financial agony column (in an answer to someone else) that, if one moved a
>TOISSA into an ISA, one would forfeit the option to also open or possess a
>MAXI ISA in the same year. Oops? So I did nothing about it.
>
>Q 1: Having not put any money into the Mini cash ISA, may I assume that my
>MAXI ISA has not been compromised and I won't land in the clink?

You are not allowed to contribute to a mini-cash ISA and a maxi ISA in
any one year. You are not contributing, you are transferring funds
from an ISA opened some years ago.

>Q 2: Could I, in fact, have made the transfer without getting up Mr Brown's
>nostrils?

See above

>Q 3: If I make the transfer now, will I still be able to subscribe to my
>valuable MAXI ISA in this tax year?

See above

>Q 4: If my ISA status has been compromised, would I be able to 'have' the
>Halifax for giving me false advise?

It hasn't been

>It's all a bit worrying.

Stop worrying. Read the rules. Tick the box on the form that says you
will fund the ISA "by transfer".
--
Terry Harper
URL:

Re: Toissa to Isa?

GPG wrote:
<snip>
>
> It's all a bit worrying.
>

I concur with the good advice you are already getting from Terry.

Your TOISA is, as far as ISA rules are concerned, a Cash ISA already,
and can therefore be transferred to any other Cash ISA provider who is
willing to take it. If, perchance, Halifax are insisting that you make a
new subscription into their Cash ISA, as a condition of opening it,
then you have a problem, but it doesn't sound as though they are.

As far as the financial press is concerned, they are very good at
attempting to state ISA rules, to show us plebs how simple it really is,
and then making a slight hash of it themselves!

Re: Toissa to Isa?

What's a TOISSA? Do you mean Tessa-Only ISA?

Re: Toissa to Isa?

What's a TOISSA? Do you mean Tessa-Only ISA?

Re: Toissa to Isa?

Many thanks to all who replied to this.

It seems that all are agreed on the validity of Halfax's advice, so perhaps
I should sue the Sunday Times <s>.
Anyway, I shall transfer my TOISA to someone else based on this advice.
Sorry if I mis-spelt it as TOISSA- looked better that way.

GPG

"GPG" <> wrote in message
news:445e092a$0$5919$
> Last finacial year I possesed a fully subscribed MAXI ISA and a TOISSA.
> Because the interest rate on the TOISSA (with IF) had been severely
> reduced,
> I wished to transfer it elsewhere, the obvious place being the Halifax.
> But
> the Halifax do not advertise a TOISSA.
>
> Upon getting Halifax to ring me (yes, they will), I was informed that
> TOISSA
> money could be moved into a Mini cash ISA but/and I would require to open
> one with them first. I thought I had made it abundantly clear that I
> already had a fully subscribed MAXI stocks and share ISA, and intended to
> keep it fully subscribed in the future, but was informed that that would
> be
> no problem.
>
> Then, before I had actually made such a transfer, I read in the Sunday
> Times
> financial agony column (in an answer to someone else) that, if one moved a
> TOISSA into an ISA, one would forfeit the option to also open or possess a
> MAXI ISA in the same year. Oops? So I did nothing about it.
>
> Q 1: Having not put any money into the Mini cash ISA, may I assume that
> my
> MAXI ISA has not been compromised and I won't land in the clink?
>
> Q 2: Could I, in fact, have made the transfer without getting up Mr
> Brown's
> nostrils?
>
> Q 3: If I make the transfer now, will I still be able to subscribe to my
> valuable MAXI ISA in this tax year?
>
> Q 4: If my ISA status has been compromised, would I be able to 'have' the
> Halifax for giving me false advise?
>
> It's all a bit worrying.
>
> --
> GPG
>
>
>

Re: Toissa to Isa?

"GPG" <> wrote in message
news:445e092a$0$5919$
> Last finacial year I possesed a fully subscribed MAXI ISA and a TOISSA.
> Because the interest rate on the TOISSA (with IF) had been severely
> reduced,
> I wished to transfer it elsewhere, the obvious place being the Halifax.
> But
> the Halifax do not advertise a TOISSA.
>
> Upon getting Halifax to ring me (yes, they will), I was informed that
> TOISSA
> money could be moved into a Mini cash ISA but/and I would require to open
> one with them first. I thought I had made it abundantly clear that I
> already had a fully subscribed MAXI stocks and share ISA, and intended to
> keep it fully subscribed in the future, but was informed that that would
> be
> no problem.
>
> Then, before I had actually made such a transfer, I read in the Sunday
> Times
> financial agony column (in an answer to someone else) that, if one moved a
> TOISSA into an ISA, one would forfeit the option to also open or possess a
> MAXI ISA in the same year. Oops? So I did nothing about it.
>
> Q 1: Having not put any money into the Mini cash ISA, may I assume that
> my
> MAXI ISA has not been compromised and I won't land in the clink?
>
> Q 2: Could I, in fact, have made the transfer without getting up Mr
> Brown's
> nostrils?
>
> Q 3: If I make the transfer now, will I still be able to subscribe to my
> valuable MAXI ISA in this tax year?
>
> Q 4: If my ISA status has been compromised, would I be able to 'have' the
> Halifax for giving me false advise?
>
> It's all a bit worrying.
>
> --
> GPG
>
>
Mark you, here is a statement from Bradford and Bingley - are they just
havering?

Please be advised that we are unable to accept the transfer in of TESSA only
ISA's - you can only transfer in mini-cash or consolidated mini-cash/TOISA
holdings into our eISA.

Under ISA regulations, you cannot subscribe to both a mini-cash and a maxi
ISA within a given tax year.

GPG

Re: Toissa to Isa?

GPG wrote:
<snip>
> Mark you, here is a statement from Bradford and Bingley - are they just
> havering?
>
> Please be advised that we are unable to accept the transfer in of TESSA only
> ISA's - you can only transfer in mini-cash or consolidated mini-cash/TOISA
> holdings into our eISA.
>
<snip>

They are clearly being silly, and need to be challenged.

They are attempting to make a distinction which is pointless insofar as
it can even be said to exist at all. It is absurd on several levels:

1) Mini, maxi and 'Tessa-only' tags are only significant for current
year subscriptions. So technically you wouldn't be transferring a
Tessa-only anyway. This would be the point on which to attack their daft
rule.

2) They seem to be saying that if an account derived from a mix of, say,
£1 of 'mini' subscription and £8999 of historic 'Tessa' subscription,
they would take it, but not if it was just derived from £9000 of Tessa
subscription. But, also, that if you went via a third provider to lose
the 'Tessa-only' stigma, it would be perfectly acceptable. That's just daft.

3) How are they going to police this absurdity? What information does
the transfer application ask for? The only thing that might upset B&B is
the 'marketing name' of the source account, assuming it's even required
to be stated, and I doubt that the old provider would care about an
innocent mistake or omission, because only the account number is key.
And while the rules will oblige the old provider to identify the funds
as coming from a 'cash' component, they won't include anything that ties
it to a historic Tessa-only classification. It would be unreasonable of
B&B to deny transfers from certain cash ISAs solely on the basis of
their marketing names.

If I had an ISA which was (historically) a TOISA, I would certainly be
tempted to try it on with B&B.

Ironically, I transferred my TESSA capital straight to normal 'mini'
cash ISA precisely to avoid this type of apartheid!


--
Cliff