National savings isa 5.55%

trademark

im looking to invest £6k (wife and i's allowance for this year)

whats the difference between their direct isa and their mini cash isa ?

can this rate be beaten and am i best waiting until the new interest rate kicks in

thanks

Gordon_the_Moron

The cash mini ISA can be operated by post or through the post office and accepts transfers from other providers, the direct ISA is online or by phone only and doesn't accept transfer from other ISAs, the rate can't be beaten except by Ruffler which is a tiny bank with one branch, whether you choose to take this route is up to you but customer service will likely be limited and large investments may be unwise in case it went bust.

If you are transferring money in from other ISAs, your best option is to transfer to Kent Reliance (5.21% postal operated) or Bradford and Bingley (5.15% phone/online)

If this money is only from previous years don't use any of this years allowance and you can open an NS&I direct ISA too.

david78

Hi trademark,

The rate on the direct isa is 5.55%. This is from today (i.e. the new rate has just kicked in). There's a bank rate+0.55% guarantee until 5th April 2008.

The rate on the mini isa is 4.45%. This "might" be increased to reflect yesterdays change in bank rate.

The difference is: the direct isa is better!

trademark

thanks for the reply , are these normally limited offers ? i need to use my allowance but i wont have the money until a week or so .

trademark

Can this be beaten yet ?????/

mad

trademark wrote:

Can this be beaten yet ?????/

I can't see anything that beats it other than Ruffler. I went to the nsandi link to see for myself (below) as could not see in earlier threads

http://www.nsandi.com/products/disa/rates.jsp

It looks worth a punt for use of my current year's allowance. however now that interest rates have gone up and there could be more in the new year, the competition may well increase their rates too.

On the Ruffler Bank apart from the fact that it is small has anyone got any other reasons not to use it as at 5.75% it's another 0.2% better

ManAtHome

The NS&I offer will be limited at some point, but quite late in the year now - I'd be surprised if it was withdrawn in the next few weeks (or even this tax year...). Plus point is that they have been VERY quick to raise their rates after the last 2 BoE decisions.