Today i walked into my local Lloyds tsb branch to open the isa account.I wanted to transfer 4 seperate ISA accounts over at a total of about 15k( enough for the £9000) minimum for 6.5% rate.I also wanted to open a 08/09 ISA with savings of £3600 and transfer my 07/08 fixed rate ISA on 19th april when it pays interest for the year. The Lloyds tsb advisor explained the best thing to do would be to open a standard variable lloyds tsb ISA currently at 5.15% and then arrange for another day for me to pop into the branch "say 15th April and deposit the £3600 for 08/09 ISA and also transfer the 07/08 ISA when its ends on 19th of April and then transfer the whole account over to the 6.5%. Does this seem the right approach, as i agreed at the time but now wonder why the 6.5% could of not started straight away??.Any comments thanks?

Maybe because you already have a 2007/8 ISA. Rules say one per year. How could they open 2008/9 one while it's still 2007/8?

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Circumstances alters cases!!

I was under the impression they could get the ball rolling so to speak as the 08/09 tax year starts on 6th April and by the time the funds were sorted i would of been the right time.I see your point on the 07/08 ISA being opened already thanks

The advisor said the best thing to do would be to open a variable ISA now? You can't open a 07/08 ISA as you already have one. So let us assume he was therefore talking about a 08/09 variable ISA. Well that seems daft as when you 'pop into the branch on say 15th April" to deposit the £3600 for 08/09 fixed ISA you will need to cancel/transfer the variable one he has already got you to open as you are only allowed one cash ISA a year. The cynic in me thinks he wanted you to sign something there and then.

I was thinking of doing something similar but as my ISA provider (YBS) has the wonderful small print of 'To arrange to transfer your E-ISA savings to a different ISA provider, you will need to write to us' the transfer could take up to 30 days. So I think I might go for the Abbey's 6.25% variable. At least I can open that up with the £3600 for 08/09 and then give the account details to YBS

Re transfers from old ISA they all take about 30 days but interet is paid from old isa till rcd by new >you do not lose out.Even if you open Abbey variable it will still take up to 30 days to transfer to Lloyds.

The danger is the Lloyds rate is so good that unless you open soon you might lose out,very few top rates allow transfers in. NB the Lloyds rate of 6.5% only applies on deposits of£9000 including transfer.

I am opening tomorrow with this years ISA allowance plus transfers.

Best of luck.

Jimbob10

I wonder if someone could advise re: pros and cons of Alliance Leicester Premier ISA Issue 2 paying 10% AER. I have not made my mind yet, I was thinking to choose Lloyds TSB fixed rate at 6.5%... I have not made a final decision yet. Thank you.

All i can say is that if you want the 6.5% Lloydstsb fixed rate apply now they are pulling the plug for this rate from monday 14th April 2008 as its been over subscribed.This was advised by a tsb account manager today over the phone??

6.5% fixed rate ends in 2 days! i.e. Friday 11 Apr. Confirmed by Lloyds local branch today on phone. Customer service are still quoting May 2008! Better book appt if you want this good deal. Only drawback is if you withdraw before end of fixed rate period, you will lose 90 days interest. Hope this info helps

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/isa/IsasDetails.asp?IsasID=3146&Amount=9000

Does the 90 days interest you lose apply to the whole of the amount in the account?

I've tried searching for more info but it's not very forthcoming and the call center didn't know. :-/

Just read your msg re. loss of 90 days interest. Good question - have telephoned my bank - they don't know answer but will find out and ring me back. Will post answer later today.

Bank has just phoned me re. 90 days lost interest. If a withdrawal is made within the 12 month fixed period the 90 days loss is on the whole amount in the account, i.e. If £24,000.00 is in the account the interest for the year would be £1560. However if any amount is drawn out, whether small or large, the interest would only be approx. £1170, the loss being £390.00. Some shock eh. You think you've got a good deal until you dig deeper, but, hey, it's only money!!

I went along to an Abbey branch yesterday to open my Direct ISA account, like I was recommended to by the central customer relations department. After waiting around four minutes for my turn to speak to the person she then said I would need to make an appointment to see their financial advisor who was off sick that day. I pointed out that I didn't want financial advise, but wanted to open the direct ISA. She said I had to see the financial advisor as they needed to take me through the terms and conditions. I said, all I need to do was sign them to show I understood them, which I already did, she said, no the financial advisor needed to go through them. I said that doesn't make sense as if I open the account online all I needed was to tick the box to say I had read and understood them. I also told her that after phoning Abbey's central customer relations department, they had told me that the best and easiest way to open an account as a new customer was to go into a branch as I had one five minutes from work, and that now she (the woman in branch) was showing that this was not the case. She restated her case that I needed to see a financial advisor to open the account. I said, no I don't, and that if she would not open an account for me here and now I would take my custom else where. She said I couldn't, so I told her well I'm taken my business elsewhere (in a loud voice to make sure other customers heard) and walked across the road to LloydsTSB.

Here, after a similar wait, I was asked did I want to make an appointment or do it now. Now please! And did I need/want an explanation of the T&C, to which I smiled and said no, I am fully aware of them having read them online, and he smiled to saying good. Also what was interesting was that LloydsTSB only needed my National Insurance number and EU style passport as a new customer. While chatting I asked how come I only needed one proof, to which he replied, if you use an EU style passport, that covers you for proof fully, despite no address on it! Don't you just love the way different financial organisations interpret the rules differently?!!

So my one piece of advise for you? If you are opening an Abbey ISA in branch make sure you ring ahead and make an appointment with their financial advisor as no one else in branch will allow you to just sign the fact you have read and understood the T&C ... well certainly not in the Tottenham Court Road, London branch!!

And yes the loss of interest is on the entire balance for any withdrawals in the first 12 months. You are right, this is not clear / easily found online, but it is clear in the paper literature.

Oh, and the bit that says "Additional deposits are not permitted once the opening investment has been made."
Well if you write a cheque for this years deposit, £3,600, you can fill in their paperwork for the transfer of old ISAs at the same time and though the other ISA's obviously get credited later on their exact transfer date, they all do count as the opening investment.

I opened one of these on Friday in my local branch. It took ages! I had all my other ISAs to transfer as I'm fed up with keeping tabs on different rates with all those different societies. They had to have details of all the transfers I wanted straight away at the same time as I opened the 6.5 rate isa for this year. They said the rate wouldn't last this week, so be speedy!

If you look on the Lloyds TSB website, it's been withdrawn!