Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

My existing ISA is coming to the end of its bonus period and the interest rate is about to plummet. I do not want to lock the money into a fixed account at the moment, so I have decided to transfer it to Nationwide's e-ISA. Here is a bit more information about the account - it may be useful to others who are considering the account.

Apart from ISA transfers, you can only pay money into or out of the e-ISA via a Nationwide card account (a CashBuilder Card savings account or a FlexAccount current account). This has to be done online, so you must register for Nationwide's internet banking to use your account.

Opening and funding this ISA is a long-winded process. Unless you are already a Nationwide customer, you probably won't be able to open this account in time to use your ISA allowance for 2009-10.

Internet banking

To register for Nationwide's internet banking you will need to know the account code for at least one of your accounts, so you cannot register until the accounts have been opened. When you register they will send you a letter with your customer number, which you will need to receive before you can log in.

CashBuilder Card

I didn't want to open another current account, so I chose the CashBuilder Card account which is a savings account with a Link cash card. You need £100 to open the account, but as the interest rate is only 0.1% I will be quickly reducing my balance to the £1 minimum. The account does not accept faster payments.

I applied for this account online on Tuesday and received the card on Friday. I already have a Nationwide mortgage, the process could take longer if you are a new customer. The Cashbuilder card has the account number and sort code on it, so you can register for internet banking once you receive it.

e-ISA

When you apply for this account online, you are asked whether you want to transfer an existing ISA as part of the application process. If you say No, you can continue the application online (you will need to enter the sort code and account number of your Nationwide card account).

If you say Yes you are told to apply by completing an ISA transfer form - you can enter your address online and they'll post one to you, or you can get one from a Nationwide branch. The ISA transfer form does not ask for the details of your card account.

Froggitt wrote: »

How bizarre is that? It costs them fractions of a penny to get you to do the work online and set up your account, and yet they force you into the branch to open this account, taking up valuable staff time.

Talk about putting up barriers to entry!!!!!

It's pretty obvious that their systems (if they have any, knowing Santander) were being swamped by the popularity of the product via online applications, so reverting to 'quill pen banking' for the last few weeks of the tax year reduces the load on their Glasgow ISA centre which, from past experience, is incompetent even when not under pressure.

First Direct have achieved the same effect for the last two years by restricting applications to current account holders at the tail-end of the tax year.

Froggitt wrote: »

If all they are doing is trying to restrict demand, why put up a leading rate.

If they didn't advertise a 'must have' headline rate, rather than a similar rate to those offered elsewhere, nobody with past experience of A&L/Santander would go anywhere near them, whether online or in-branch.

Eh?

I opened my wife a Barclays Regular Saver online. No paperwork involved.

rb10 wrote: »

It's probably simply because of the way that their system works.

I imagine that when you open an account online, it then requires their ISA centre to do some work to it manually to actually open it. They then can't be certain to get it done before the deadline.

Plenty of places work in a similar way to this - e.g. you can't ever apply for a Barclays Regular Saver online.

Online is not always as automated as you'd expect.

nope, it was only a couple of days ago that the online application was withdrawn. it's as already said, Santander have got inefficient systems and/or they can't cope with the demand!