What is a flexible ISA?
With a flexible ISA, you can withdraw money and replace it in the same tax year without the replacement money counting as an additional subscription towards that tax year’s ISA subscription limit. You can also withdraw money from previous tax years and replace this, provided the money is replaced in the same tax year that the withdrawal is made and with the same provider that the withdrawal was made from.
Aldermore's Cash ISAs are flexible. Help to Buy: ISAs are excluded from flexibility under the scheme rules.
As our Fixed Rate Cash ISAs don't allow additional deposits, if you want to replace money withdrawn from a Fixed Rate Cash ISA you would need to open a new Cash ISA product with us at the interest rate available at the time, or you could pay the money into another Cash ISA product already held with us that allows additional deposits.
If you withdraw money from a Notice Cash ISA or Easy Access Cash ISA, you can replace this by paying it back in to the same account. You can also pay it into any other Cash ISA product you hold with us that allows additional deposits or open another Cash ISA product with us at the rates available at the time, if you’d prefer to do so.
Can I transfer a flexible ISA?
You can transfer an ISA by following the usual transfer process. All our Cash ISAs (excluding Help to Buy ISAs) are flexible but if you transfer them to another provider, the provider that you transfer to may not offer flexibility in which case your ISA will no longer be flexible when it moves to them.
If you transfer an ISA from another provider into one of our Fixed Rate, Easy Access or Notice Cash ISAs, it will automatically become flexible. If you’ve transferred previous years subscriptions, you will be able to withdraw these and replace them, provided you replace them in the same tax year that you made the withdrawal.
How does flexibility affect my annual ISA limit?
You still have an annual ISA allowance. Flexibility just means that if you withdraw some of your subscriptions, you can replace them again so that you can make full use of your allowance.
I’m a foreign resident, does ISA flexibility apply to me?
Yes. Any amounts withdrawn can be replaced, however no new subscriptions can be made. Replacements and withdrawals are subject to product terms and conditions.
If I’ve withdrawn money from my flexible ISA and not replaced it, and then transfer my ISA to another provider, can I still replace the withdrawn money with them?
If your new provider isn’t a flexible ISA provider, you won’t be able to replace any withdrawn funds without this counting towards your annual ISA allowance. If your new provider is a flexible ISA provider, you will not be able to replace any funds you’ve withdrawn from previous tax years. You will be able to replace any withdrawals you’ve made from your current tax year allowance and we’ll let your new provider know how much of your ISA allowance remains, including any withdrawals which have not yet been repaid.
The interest from my ISA is paid to another account, does ISA flexibility apply to that?
Yes. Any interest paid away from your account counts as a flexible withdrawal. The replacement of the withdrawal can be made in line with product terms and conditions.