New guidelines for ISAs
28th August 2008
New guidelines have been issued to "speed up the transfer of cash Isas between providers and to improve the efficiency of the process".
The British Bankers' Association, the Building Societies Association and the Tax Incentivised Savings Association issued the guidelines yesterday (August 27th).
BBA chief executive, Angela Knight, explained the reason behind the changes: "Isas have been an enormously popular means of saving so collectively the industry has taken decisive action to resolve some of the immediate issues facing customers.
"Now we are moving our focus to the longer term to ensure the Isa transfer process is robust and efficient for customers."
Halifax today responded to the announcement by confirming that it supports the new guidelines and will be re-launching its 'Isa rate promise'.
Under the new best practice standards, Halifax has promised to process and action all transfer requests within six working days of receiving information.
Any funds not received from an existing provider within fourteen days will be chased.
They have also promised to ensure that funds received are credited to an Isa within five working days.