NatWest ISA Query

cwcw

I signed up for a NatWest ISA last November and qualified for the +1.75%ish bonus on top of the normal rate because I transferred in (from IceSave!). I had already used my annual allowance so have not yet put any fresh funds in. The question is, when I dump £3,600 in tomorrow, will it qualify for the bonus rate, or is it only the transferred balance that does? If the latter, I'd be better off opening a new ISA for this year's allowance - any suggestions are welcome.

PS. My online account for NatWest ISA has been showing that I'm allowed to put in £3,600 THIS tax year (08-09) - I think this was a glitch due to my transfer being from IceSave and I never took advantage of my 08-09 allowance being doubled for fear of being caught out later on.

chissy252

I'm in exactly the same situation, hope someone posts an answer for you!

Baldur

If you mean the Natwest Cash ISA, the rates, including the bonus, are shown HERE.

Unless you have £27,000+ in the account, you are receiving significantly less than their e-ISA currently offers - so I certainly wouldn't be paying new money into the Cash ISA.

I'd be opening the e-ISA with the 2009/10 allowance and, probably, looking to transfer the Cash ISA to a provider that accepts transfers and offers a better rate.

castle96

IS there any better variable rate than Nat Wests 3.51% (which accepts transfers), other than Barclays 3.61% (that doesnt accept transfers)

????

oldfella

I put the new tax year ISA into the Natwest CAsh ISA with a 2% bonus. They told me the payments qualified for the bonus, and it pushed me into £27k+.

If you are going to get less than 3.51%, work out whether the loss of interest is worth the hassle of opening another account, causing more work when you come to transfer it. Its probably only a few pounds a year difference.

funkyhitman

castle96 wrote: »

IS there any better variable rate than Nat Wests 3.51% (which accepts transfers), other than Barclays 3.61% (that doesnt accept transfers)

????

I'd wait and see when the rate drops, which it will, because the current 3.51% still has not dropped since the last two base rate drops!

A lot of people are jumping the gun and doing exactly what Natwest want, by transferring into this high paying ISA but i'm certain, very soon, Natwest will send the rate plummeting.

To put this into perspective, I currently have a Scottish Widows ISA that pays 2.1% (including a bonus of 1.5%!) and is up to date with the last base rate drop.

This Natwest ISA doesn't even have a bonus so, in theory, it could drop even lower right?

cwcw

Just to clarify, I am currently getting 2.95% on my ISA (transferred in between 10 Nov and 18 Dec), qualifying for the 1.76% bonus.

My current ISA balance is just under £26k, so if I dump in my £3,600 it will go above the £27k. This makes it even more confusing because it seems like, from the table on the NatWest website, that I could get 3 different interest rates for different amounts within my one ISA account:

1) My transferred balance of £26k at 2.95%
2) The £1k between the £26k transferred and the £27k threshold at 1.2%
3) The amount above £27k at 2%

Surely it can't be this complicated? Or do I just get 2.95% on the whole lot?

oldfella

you should get 3.8% AER on the lot

willo65

You can transfer Cash ISA at Natwest to Natwest E-isa which is paying 3.25% upto 10k and 3.51 above 10k. If you don't want to do online banking then any new monies would be better in Cash ISA Plus paying 3.51% or 4.2% with advantage gold account on anything over £1. But if you are on a bonus rate and close to £27k then probs best to stick with this.