What's the rush with ISA's ?

muddyfox470

Now forgive me if i'm wrong, but it seems insane why so many people rush to get their money in at the last minute to save in any sort of ISA i.e. before April 6th.

If you invest at the start of the year, you get your money tax free for the year, instead of having to pay tax on it until you invested in the ISA.

I understand why people would want to surge at the end of the tax year to make sure their applications get in before the end of the tax year so they can get some of their allowance in tax free, so they can get more tax free dosh

Sure there can be problems for people, i.e. they don't have enough money until after Christmas (bonuses etc) but there are so many options with ISA's, be it a regular savers, instant access or ones that allow you to top up to the £3000 limit (for mini cash ISA).

Advertising by the big companies always happens around the end of the tax year and the start of the new tax year. So why aren't people more informed about ISA's and how they can use them? It appears in the papers every year saying the same thing!

What get's my goat though is when people really do leave their application to the last minute, or the submit it late and they complain that their application takes longer or doesn't get actioned!

Avoid the rush and avoid the hassle, there are some great ISA rates out there available so make the most of them now, avoid the rush and stop handing more of your money over to the government!

ISA's are great things, use them wisely and do your research

Cheers (oh and good luck)

Ian

Stealage:

Here's a link that isasmurf posted
Best ISAs for £2000 deposit

dunstonh

You should see the amount of advertising in the financial press for ISAs from about late January onwards. Almost every other page is about ISAs and the push on ISA Season, as its known to in the industry.

You are right that you dont tend to see it direct to public though. Perhaps because cash ISAs dont carry a high profit margin and a high profile advertising campaign would wipe out much of the profit.

tosh

I have to agree with MuddyFox - there are several threads here about A&L problems where transfers are taking longer than people expected. I opened my A&L direct ISA in January and completed the transfer (from M&S money) in a very few days with no apparent loss of interest.
Stress free. The account was the highest rate then and was until 12 April.