Which one is the best

big_swede

I have had a mini isa for about two and a half years with marks and spensers can i transfer to another provider ?Which one is best and will it cost anything m and s rate is 4.75%.

Kazza242

big_swede wrote:

I have had a mini isa for about two and a half years with marks and spensers can i transfer to another provider ?Which one is best and will it cost anything m and s rate is 4.75%.

1. Yes. You can transfer your mini cash isa to another provider. M&S do not impose a transfer penalty or charge for this.

2. The best rates right now are offered by Halifax and Bradford & Bingley, both paying 5.00% respectively.

As they both pay just 0.25% more than you're currently getting with M&S, I'm not sure transferring would be worth it. Remember, during the transfer your money will not be earning any interest. According to the Banking code, which all Isa providers must abide by, they have 30 days to complete an isa transfer. This is a long time to not be earning interest on your money.

- The M&S mini cash isa has a guarantee to pay the BOE base rate +0.25% (until 5th Apr 2006), which means that M&S won't decrease their rate unless their is a downward change in the BOE base rate. All in all, 4.75% is not a bad rate at the moment.

- B&B guarantee to pay no lower than the BOE base rate until the end of 2006. This means they could reduce their rate to 4.5% or even lower if the BOE base rate goes down again before the end of 2006.

- Halifax doesn't appear to have any rate guarantee, so they could drop the rate at any time, even if their is no change in BOE base rate.

grumbler

Kazza242 wrote:

...they have 30 days to complete an isa transfer. This is a long time to not be earning interest on your money...

As I understand this 30 days are for everithing including preparation. Transfer itself is much faster. See YB's post #142 in Cash ISA Discussion/Question for example. There were many similar posts before...

alared

Get it into Halifax ISA saver direct paying 5% and you won`t lose any interest on the transfer.
Halifax take care of everything for you,call in a branch with your last M&S isa statement and that`s it.

Kazza242

grumbler wrote:

As I understand this 30 days are for everithing including preparation. Transfer itself is much faster. See YB's post #142 in Cash ISA Discussion/Question for example. There were many similar posts before...

Most providers are usually very quick and efficient when handling transfers, but sometimes some providers can really drag their feet over the whole thing. I can remember some threads from last April, where many posters were complaining about having to wait longer than they should have to for their transfers to be completed.

Big swede:
However, as I've said in the paragraph above, transfer delays are not common. Many transfers are completed very quickly for the customer. Don't be put you off from transferring your money to get a better rate. It is good practice to keep an eye on the rates available and to transfer if your isa becomes uncompetitive or if there are better rates offered elsewhere.

The best rates on mini cash isas according to Moneyfacts are:

• Halifax's ISA Saver Direct paying 5.00%.
• Bradford and Bingley's eSavings ISA paying 5.00%.
• Kent Reliance's Direct Mini Cash ISA paying 4.96%.

YorkshireBoy

Kazza242 wrote:

The best rates right now are offered by Halifax and Bradford & Bingley, both paying 5.00% respectively.

As they both pay just 0.25% more than you're currently getting with M&S, I'm not sure transferring would be worth it. Remember, during the transfer your money will not be earning any interest. According to the Banking code, which all Isa providers must abide by, they have 30 days to complete an isa transfer. This is a long time to not be earning interest on your money.

Kazza, whilst the content of your post may be true of B&B, it is factually incorrect for the Halifax.

From the "Savings, The simple guide to transferring your ISA" booklet (Halifax Ref: 1/336294-0(08/05), step 2, paragraph 2 states that...

"You won't lose any interest for the period your money is in transit because the funds are shown as credited to your account from the day after they left your existing provider".

Having moved our ISA's to the Halifax recently, I can confirm that this is exactly what they did for us.

mary

Transferred mine to Halifax as well. No interest was lost.

Kazza242

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Kazza, whilst the content of your post may be true of B&B, it is factually incorrect for the Halifax.

From the "Savings, The simple guide to transferring your ISA" booklet (Halifax Ref: 1/336294-0(08/05), step 2, paragraph 2 states that...

"You won't lose any interest for the period your money is in transit because the funds are shown as credited to your account from the day after they left your existing provider".

Having moved our ISA's to the Halifax recently, I can confirm that this is exactly what they did for us.

YorkshireBoy & Mary - To be fair, in my 1.11pm post I was just highlighting some potential problems that can sometimes occur when transferring in general. I was not saying that if the OP transferred to Halifax they would lose 30 days' worth of interest. I just wanted to let the OP know about some general problems that occasionally happen. I thought I had already clarified that point in my later 8.16pm post, where I said that delays were not typical and rarely occur.

Halifax are indeed good in that they ensure that the customer doesn't lose any interest while funds are in transit, but not all providers do that - that is the point I was highlighting.

Big swede - being only November you've probably chosen the best time to transfer (if you decide to). From February onwards, the isa market gets really busy.