Does anybody else here find Isas a joke?

guitarman001

Yes, absolute jokes they are. Such hassle when trying to change, and the rates are p***-poor. I honestly don't see the point anymore, especially when you consider the fact that cash does worse longer-term than shares. I am considering now taking all my ISA money out of Lloyds and moving it into my interactive investor trading account. Only recently got my interest paid in my ISA and as I expected, it was just below 1% - pitiful. I know you can shop around etc but the returns are just ridiculous. It doesn't make financial sense to me anymore - stocks and shares ISA all the way.

lightSwitch_3

Inforapennyinforapound wrote: »

Lightswitch take no notice of that moron.

Take a peek at other posts he/she has made.Nothing useful just sarcasm and mickey taking.

I think your query has been sufficiently covered so have nothing to add,just defending you.

Thanks Infora,

I didn't realise he was bating me. Anyway I kept it short and his post has been deleted and I've deleted my response.

lightSwitch_3

guitarman001 wrote: »

Yes, absolute jokes they are. Such hassle when trying to change, and the rates are p***-poor. I honestly don't see the point anymore, especially when you consider the fact that cash does worse longer-term than shares. I am considering now taking all my ISA money out of Lloyds and moving it into my interactive investor trading account. Only recently got my interest paid in my ISA and as I expected, it was just below 1% - pitiful. I know you can shop around etc but the returns are just ridiculous. It doesn't make financial sense to me anymore - stocks and shares ISA all the way.

Don't give them your money, buy your own shares. They are going to tie your money up for 4 years and at the end, they are going to say that they didn't perform very well. They did that to our endowment when the stock market was going up. We were still getting red letters to increase our contributions, even though the stock market had been going up for three years after its 2000/02 dip. We took them to the ombudsman and were rewarded a hefty compensation.
Really, do your own share buying my friend.

noh

lightSwitch wrote: »

Don't give them your money, buy your own shares. They are going to tie your money up for 4 years and at the end, they are going to say that they didn't perform very well. They did that to our endowment when the stock market was going up. We were still getting red letters to increase our contributions, even though the stock market had been going up for three years after its 2000/02 dip. We took them to the ombudsman and were rewarded a hefty compensation.
Really, do your own share buying my friend.

That's what he is doing.
An interactive investor trading account is self select share dealing account. They also offer self select ISAs.

http://www.iii.co.uk/isas/?type=secure

guitarman001

Yes, picking the shares myself

lightSwitch_3

@noh,

I didn't realise it could work like that aswell, but what about the time element they put on stock ISAs - the banks will tell you, if you sell them before x amount of time you will lose capital. Does that still apply to this type of stock ISA?

C_Mababejive

Agree with the OP.

ISAs are a joke now.

I wouldnt get involved in a cash ISA for sure. The rates are rubbish.

Even the best rates usually involve some kind of strings attached such as bonus rates/lock ins of various kinds.

The industry is making a mockery of the system and just see mug punters as sheep to be shorn.

I am at a loss to see how anyone could see the current crop of cash isas to be a good deal.

Take the money instead and invest in life. Go on a decent holiday or spend it elsewhere i.e pay down your mortgage...spend it on quality of life issues.

Why deny yourself in order to rake in a miserly 2% when your money is being ravaged by inflation?

Aegis

lightSwitch wrote: »

@noh,

I didn't realise it could work like that aswell, but what about the time element they put on stock ISAs - the banks will tell you, if you sell them before x amount of time you will lose capital. Does that still apply to this type of stock ISA?

That would be a feature of the investment you put into the ISA, not the ISA itself.

unitedwestand

Think ISAs in principal are good however I feel idiotic banking procedures & lack of sensible government regulation help make them unnecessarily complicated.

opinions4u

unitedwestand wrote: »

Think ISAs in principal are good however I feel idiotic banking procedures & lack of sensible government regulation help make them unnecessarily complicated.

A lot of the idiotic procedures are laid down by the government. Banks have no choice but to comply.

Here's a couple of suggestions I would make:

1) Make the term ISA relate to cash deposit/savings accounts only.

2) Change the name of stocks and shares ISA to an innovative new name that clearly differentiates it from a cash ISA. "Personal Equity Plan" or "PEP" seems like an original idea!

3) Give cash ISA and my newly named PEP their own specfic limits that cannot be transferred from one to the other - to avoid confusion.

4) Change the cash ISA transfer procedure so that a bank customer can withdraw a cheque and receive a certificate of ISAness from their old provider. This can then be walked round to a new provider who can open the new account there and then, without having to go through the sometimes painful process that currently exists for transferring ISAs from one bank to another.

Any thoughts?