Looks like ISAs may be made fairer

moana

Or so reports The Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/savings/article7082138.ece

We may get a better deal.

Hope it won't take too long to sort.

Aegis

moana wrote: »

Or so reports The Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/savings/article7082138.ece

We may get a better deal.

Hope it won't take too long to sort.

The article itself is interesting, and maybe something good will come of it. Transfers of ISAs badly need to be updated, as the long-winded process makes it so much harder to vote with your feet. However, I'd be surprised if any major changes were made any time soon to the rules governing ISA transfers.

The comments beneath the main article are hilariously wrong in pretty much all cases. Gordon Brown is blamed directly for the low interest rates, others announce that they recommend people stay away from all financial products offered by any provider, others recommend direct investment in equities as a substitute for cash but don't understand the taxation of the income they receive from those shares... All in all, it's scary stuff!

digivate

I'm sure the banks will drag out any changes to current practice as long as they can, so don't expect things to change for the better any time soon.

I'm sure there is genuine anger though. I'm sick of going through this pallaver every year, and the fact that most banks still use cheques to transfer the money is an absolute joke.

I've already subscribed my full cash allowance to this year's ISA, and I've got cash sitting ansd waiting to go into next years ISA but I think I might take the gamble of putting all my money into a S&S ISA next year. With cash ISA rates so low there's not a great deal to be lost.

ses6jwg

One practice which needs to be stopped is the insistence on "new money" - a ridiculous practice.

digivate

ses6jwg wrote: »

One practice which needs to be stopped is the insistence on "new money" - a ridiculous practice.

Yep agreed. It should be made compulsory that any bank offering an ISA product should accept transfers into that product and not just new money.

It should also be made compulsory that all transfers between institutions are made electronically and should take no more than a week to transfer after the request is received.

Finally, the current rate of interest you receive on your ISA should always be made completely clear on statements and online account summary pages.

home_alone

I am so annoyed with the return on not only ISAs but savings accounts in general that I am looking at Premium Bonds wonder what 50K would bring in could be worth a try all my other cash is fixed.

rb10

home_alone wrote: »

I am so annoyed with the return on not only ISAs but savings accounts in general that I am looking at Premium Bonds wonder what 50K would bring in could be worth a try all my other cash is fixed.

Unfortunately the rate on Premium Bonds is lower than most savings accounts.

If you've used up your ISAs, then you can get 2.8% with instant access on normal accounts from the AA https://www.theaa.com/savings or 3% from Halifax (http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/websaverextra.asp) (if you have a current account)

digivate

home_alone wrote: »

I am so annoyed with the return on not only ISAs but savings accounts in general that I am looking at Premium Bonds wonder what 50K would bring in could be worth a try all my other cash is fixed.

Premium bonds are just as bad.

For every person that gets a big win they'll be 1000 people who get nothing.

p00hsticks

home_alone wrote: »

I am so annoyed with the return on not only ISAs but savings accounts in general that I am looking at Premium Bonds wonder what 50K would bring in could be worth a try all my other cash is fixed.

Maximum permitted holding for Premium bonds is 30K - and unless you're luckier than average and you're a higher rate tax payer the effective interest rate is unlikely to match that of a decent savings account.

hallmark

Even higher rate taxpayers can easily beat PBs last time I looked.

home_alone

p00hsticks wrote: »

Maximum permitted holding for Premium bonds is 30K - and unless you're luckier than average and you're a higher rate tax payer the effective interest rate is unlikely to match that of a decent savings account.

Would this be double that for a couple - £60K