Confused as to what to do?

mumx3

I am still very confused as to what to do, I have £16,500.00 which matured with Lloyds ISA and has now been put into their easy access ISA paying £2%, I have left it there because I was planning to take out half of it, but after seeing this

"Never, ever, ever, ever withdraw money from a cash ISA!
You'll immediately lose all the tax benefits."

on the site now do not know what to do, should I leave it all there as I don't HAVE to have the money, or should I take out what I want (about half) and then leave the rest there as I was thinking about opening another ISA with A&L with new money at the 3.5% rate?

What should I do??

Thanks.

OneADay

Think you are confusing withdrawing money from an ISA account with transferring an ISA account to another organisation.

If you withdraw money (i.e. take it out of the ISA into your pocket or into another non isa account), it becomes taxable or you spend it or whatever.

But if you transfer it to another ISA account, you can move part of it or all of it, without losing the tax free status on that money.

So you can transfer whatever amount of your £16k+ to another organisation's ISA account for a better rate.

Lokolo_2

To add to what OneDay has said above, Remember that the A&L and Santander 3.5% ISA's DON'T accept transfers in, only new money, which you could use your 2010/2011 allowance on.
If you don't need access to the money then why not look at longer term fixed rate ISA accounts that offer a good rate :j
Have a look at Kazza's thread, Mini Cash ISA's best currently available http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=401374