How long should an ISA transfer take?

Key takeaways

• Cash ISA to Cash ISA transfers should complete within 15 working days
• All other ISA transfers (including Lifetime ISA transfers) must be completed within 30 calendar days
• Transfers can be delayed if there are errors in your application details - double-check names, personal details and account numbers
• Help to Buy ISA to Lifetime ISA transfers work differently. At Tembo, you'll need to withdraw funds from your Help to Buy ISA and deposit these yourself into your Tembo LISA (up to £4,000 per tax year).

How long does an ISA transfer take?

ISA transfers shouldn’t drag on forever. Government guidelines say they must be completed within 15 working days for a Cash-to-Cash ISA switch, and within 30 calendar days for every other type of ISA transfer. The exact timing can still vary depending on your current provider, the type of ISA you’re moving, and whether the money has to be disinvested first, so a little wiggle room is perfectly normal.

• Cash ISA ➜ Cash ISA: up to 15 working days
• Any other ISA transfer: up to 30 calendar days

Transferring to a Tembo Cash ISA typically takes up to 15 working days. However, the process of your Cash ISA being switched from your current provider to us can take up to 30 days if there are delays. Don't worry - we'll handle our part of the process as quickly as possible!

Your old provider needs to send us both your funds and the Transfer History Form, a document that tells us how much you've deposited in your ISA with that previous provider. We need both of these from your old provider before the transfer can complete, and we can allocate your funds to your new Tembo account.

If your provider takes a while to send over your funds or the Transfer History Form, this can cause a delay in the transfer.

Compare interest rates: The best Cash ISAs in the UK right now

How long does a Lifetime ISA to Lifetime ISA transfer take?

A Lifetime ISA transfer should be wrapped up within 30 calendar days under HMRC rules, but it’s often quicker. Your old provider’s admin speed is the biggest variable. Give them a helping hand by double-checking every detail on the digital transfer form (names, account numbers, even tiny typos can cause hold-ups). How long a LISA transfer takes is dependent on how quickly the previous provider processes the request. The process can be sped up by ensuring that the correct details are input into the new ISA application. The most common cause of LISA transfer delays? Simple typos in names or account details.

Let’s say you’ve got a LISA with Moneybox, Skipton, or Hargreaves Lansdown, for example, and you want to transfer to our market-leading Cash Lifetime ISA. A transfer can be requested in as little as 5 minutes on the Tembo app. You will then need to fill out the details for a transfer form in the Tembo app, which needs to be filled out with information like your current provider's details and your account details. There’s no need to print out any forms or hunt down stamps and envelopes - it's all done digitally!

Please note: Some providers may require you to download the form and complete it outside of the Tembo app.

Once the transfer form has been completed, Tembo will take care of the rest. This includes requesting your funds from your current provider. We’ll keep you posted on the progress, and you can see where your transfer is up to in the Tembo app. This process works the same whether you have a Stocks & Shares Lifetime ISA or aCash Lifetime ISA.

How long does it take to transfer a Help to Buy ISA to a Lifetime ISA?

The money held in a Help to Buy ISA can usually be transferred to a Lifetime ISA within a matter of days, but it depends on your chosen provider. At Tembo we can't do direct Help to Buy to Lifetime ISA transfers. Instead, you would need to withdraw the money from your Help to Buy ISA and deposit it in a tembo Lifetime ISA yourself.

This is fairly straightforward if you’ve got less than £4,000 to move across (and you won’t pay a withdrawal penalty like you would if moving money out of a LISA), but check with your current provider first to see if any rules or government conditions apply.

If you’ve got more than £4,000 in your Help to Buy ISA, you’ll have to spread the transfer across multiple tax years due to the £4,000 per tax year LISA limit.

1. Withdraw your funds from your existing Help to Buy ISA (check first with your current provider on any rules or government conditions regarding the withdrawal)
2. Open a Tembo Lifetime ISA in minutes by downloading our savings app.
3. Deposit your savings into your LISA, up to £4,000 per tax year.
4. Wait for your funds to appear in your LISA. This can take between 1 to 3 working days, depending on your chosen payment method.

Perfect for you: How to transfer a Help to Buy ISA to a Lifetime ISA