Transfer to natwest e-ISA

funkyhitman

Kavanne wrote: »

When is the rate changing? I can't see anything on their site.

I'm predicting that they, along with Barclay's, will cut their rates within the next month because if you look at the account information page, it states that the last time the rates were cut was 2nd Feb when the BofE base rate was at least 1% higher than it is now. I would be very surprised if Natwest keeps this high rate of 3.51% when the BofE base rate is currently sitting at a tiddly 0.5%!

Compare this with my Scottish Widows ISA (which includes a 1.5% bonus rate). They have been cutting their rates consistently each month whenever the base rate is cut and it now offers 2.1% including bonus. Without bonus, that's 0.6%! Correct me if I'm wrong but this Natwest ISA does not include a bonus so I honestly cannot see them keeping this high rate for much longer.

I can only conclude that Natwest will cut their rates once they deem enough punters have transferred into their ISA.

alared

funkyhitman wrote: »

I'm predicting that they, along with Barclay's, will cut their rates within the next month because if you look at the account information page, it states that the last time the rates were cut was 2nd Feb when the BofE base rate was at least 1% higher than it is now. I would be very surprised if Natwest keeps this high rate of 3.51% when the BofE base rate is currently sitting at a tiddly 0.5%!
I can only conclude that Natwest will cut their rates once they deem enough punters have transferred into their ISA.

You may well be correct.
But the amount of time it`s taken me to open a Esaver account (still not done and going on 3 weeks) which you must have before you can get an ISA account, your "predicted" rate change will have come about and I can tell them to stuff it.
My current ISA provider is paying a miserly 1.42%.

digivate

funkyhitman wrote: »

I would be very surprised if Natwest keeps this high rate of 3.51% when the BofE base rate is currently sitting at a tiddly 0.5%!

Correct me if I'm wrong but this Natwest ISA does not include a bonus so I honestly cannot see them keeping this high rate for much longer.

I can only conclude that Natwest will cut their rates once they deem enough punters have transferred into their ISA.

I honestly don't believe that Natwest can justifiably reduce the rate of their e-ISA now, based on reductions in the base rate several months ago. Customers who take out ISAs now are doing so on the basis that the variable rate is dependent on the base rate as it stands at this point in time.

On the 1st of December 2008 the Natwest e-ISA was paying 3.49% so given that there's been plenty of drops in the base rate since then the e-ISA has remained consistent.

3.51% may be well above the 0.5% base rate, but it's lower than most mortgage rates and it's a LOT lower than current rates for loans. Banks take our money as deposits so that they can lend the money out at a higher rate of interest. There's plenty of opportunity for Natwest to pay a rate of 3.51% without losing money, and the vast sums of moeny that this rate brings in helps to give them a healthy balance sheet.

I'm sorry, but opting for a far lower rate of interest on another ISA on the basis that you predict that the Natwest ISA rate will drop just seems a bit daft to me.

funkyhitman

digivate wrote: »

I'm sorry, but opting for a far lower rate of interest on another ISA on the basis that you predict that the Natwest ISA rate will drop just seems a bit daft to me.

I should have mentioned I opted for a new 3.1% fixed ISA (i'm no longer with Scottish Widows) which is only 0.41% lower. To me, that's not much of a difference and a safer bet if Natwest do cut their rates.

I can understand your point and it will be interesting to see what happens.

rjl89

I've just switched my ISA to Natwest's e-ISA. I had one with barclays where the 12 month 1% bonus had expired, leaving it at 1.1%, so i would have switched anyway.

As well as being a much better rate, I already use Natwest's online banking for my current account, so it's much easier to manage online than having to go to a barclays branch.

If they drop the rate enough then i'll just switch again.

bagsacash

WOW! Finally after so many weeks the tranfer from A&L to Natwest has been finalized. It was a very big effort to get to this stage, but I feel such releaf thats its over, at least for now.:T

When, if, natwest should drop their rates then it will all start again.:eek:

doberryfirkin

hebron wrote: »

I applied on-line a month ago and yesterday got a letter saying my websaver account(that I didn't want) is now open: although I can't use it yet as they still have to send my login details. No sign of my Isa yet and that is before I transfer into it.

I started the process 4 weeks ago and am now totally confused/lost as to where my application currently stands. Based on comment suggesting that Natwest may soon drop rates (which I think is a fair bet) I am about to give up and cancel everything. I guess being a mostly publicly owned bank it now has a customer service to match.

Kavanne

doberryfirkin wrote: »

I started the process 4 weeks ago and am now totally confused/lost as to where my application currently stands. Based on comment suggesting that Natwest may soon drop rates (which I think is a fair bet) I am about to give up and cancel everything. I guess being a mostly publicly owned bank it now has a customer service to match.

If it's over 30 days you can call and log a complaint.

Ninja_Seb

Just been told by someone at RBS that they wont transfer my ISA to a NatWest e-ISA because it's the same banking group.. is this true?

Kavanne

Ninja_Seb wrote: »

Just been told by someone at RBS that they wont transfer my ISA to a NatWest e-ISA because it's the same banking group.. is this true?

you can transfer from natwest's OWN cash isa into its e-ISA.... if they won't let you do it from RBS then that seems a little weird to me. Maybe phone natwest and ask if they will accept?