Best way to invest £30K

MrBen_4

leona71 wrote:

Hmmm i've been waiting for this property market to crash for years!! Just seems to be getting stronger...

Leona

Whether it crashes or not, I can't afford to buy at current prices. If it stays like this I'm going to emigrate! Good luck to all those who can afford to live here.

Horasio

Swipe wrote:

Put £3k in an ISA before 5th April and put another £3k in after 6th April. You'll have to be fast though or maybe lend £3k from a relative for 2 weeks if you can't withdraw your PBs in time. I think A&L have the best deal ISA at the moment @ 5.2% including bonus. The rest you should put in the highest paying easy access savings account you can find. The choice's aren't great at the moment, I'm afraid.

Careful, it takes 8 days to set up on A&L account - they don't tell you that

Set up so you can't put it in online till the 6th :mad:

Horasio

OldNelly wrote:

A&L Direct ISA issue 2 applied for on 27th March
Application approved by email late on 28th March
Sent £3000 to ISA via Natwest OLB 28th March
Recieved A&L OLB details (minus PIN) 31st March
Recieved PIN today, 1st April
Logged into A&L OLB 1st April
£3000 credited to ISA 31st March
(within 3 days as promised by Natwest)

All in all a painless experience, except A&L led applicants to expect acceptance email within a few minutes, mine took over 24 hours, I guess they were busy!)

Also tried calling A&L 24 hours after submitting application to see what was going on, no answer after 15 minutes so gave up. I hope I don't need to call them again. Luckily I recieved an amail about an hour later.

Thanks for your advice, maybe the timescales above will be useful for someone else.

No such luck for us - we applied on 27th - hubby still hasn't got PIN number etc but has his isa number.

I have a savings account with A&L but can't get the account to transfer until 6 April.

When I rang them - they said it takes 8 days to set it up which is too late after the clearing time etc.

So we are having to do the mad dash on Monday with cash.

Be wary of them

OldNelly

The second email I got from A&L, titled "Good News" (my application had been accepted) included the ISA number, sort code and account number. That was all I needed to send the funds from my Natwest account.

I didn't wait for my pin number.

lucky really as it only came today. Was glad to see the money had been transferred now that my PIN number has come through! I didn't like waving goodbye to £3000 for a few days.

Horasio

MiserlyMartin wrote:

Well A&L prefer you to use the Direct Debit function via their online banking but you if you are not set up for online banking by about April 4th you could do a BACS transfer from your current account.

From ISA user guide http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/directisauserguide/index.asp?page=page4

"Your bank will need the following information:

Sort Code 72-58-10
Account number 00000000 (yes – eight zeros - this is the Alliance & Leicester account that funds are received in before going in to your Direct ISA)
Reference number – This is your eleven digit Direct ISA number, and can be found on your welcome letter"

How long does a BACS take to clear?

We are having to do a cash dash next week so we are not too late