Best card that gives best interests

Cpu2007

Hello everyone
I hope this is the right section for the question I am going to ask.
Basically I recently realised, by talking to an operator of th bank, that we can make accounts where we save money and according to the interest rate it we get some profit out of it annually.
I think some of them is called ISA.
Now i was wondering which bank/account gives the best rate?(i know it depends also on how much we are putting inside,so an account will be more advantageous for someone with couple of thousands,and another for someone with more then 10 thousands)
but
which account gives the best rate withouth any kind of charges?
can you guys list some?thankk you

Olipro

do you by any chance have a learning impairment or mental development issue?

I ask because it will greatly affect what sort of answer is most appropriate for you, no offence intended.

Cpu2007

lol i thought it was an insult hehe
I understand what you mean but I don't have any disabilities.

blueberrypie

There are various kinds of accounts - here are the basics, put very briefly:

Current accounts - these are for day-to-day banking. You will almost always get a card which allows you to withdraw cash from an ATM. Usually you can also use this card to make payments in shops and/or on-line, and sometimes you get a chequebook too. In general, these accounts don't pay interest, or pay so little interest that it's not worth mentioning.

Savings accounts - these are the accounts that pay interest, although with interest rates so low at the minute, few of them pay very much.

ISAs - these are a particular kind of savings account which allow you to earn interest on your savings without paying any income tax on it. There are specific conditions on these accounts, such as how much money you can put in during any one tax year.

(There are various other kinds of accounts too, but from what you've written, those seem to be the relevant ones.)

If you provide a bit more information, we might be able to help more. Do you have some savings that you want to earn interest on? Do you want to save a lump sum or a little bit each month? Might you need access to this money at some point? Or are you just hoping to make a bit of interest on the money in the account you use for day-to-day banking? If so, what kind of balance do you usually have in your current account?

Cpu2007

Thank you very much, your answer was really clear.
Well what I am trying to understand here is a long time scenario; it's not like I have alot of money but I want to know the limits of these cards advantages and disadvantages so I know what I can expect on long term.

I am with LLoyds at the moment and just opened a saving account(they send me a card that can be used in cash machines only, therefore I don't really need it as I was expecting of something to be used in shops as well, so I might just close it)
I am interested in the ISA but I heard that they charge if you take the money off which I think it's a downside.

What I want is good interest rate but also have the ability to get the money when needed, so what I can do is put all my money in the ISA account and have just a little in my debit card in order to use it to pay bills etc, so Onca i need more money I can transfer them from the ISA account to the debit card.

I am curious about what you said,how does this work?like I can put around £5000 a year?but what is the maximum limit, like can I keep doing this every year for years or ,given that is tax free,after a certain amount I can't put money in anymore?

How big are the charges to get the money out?

What I have asked here is something just to see the limits of the accounts and to see if there are accounts that offer more then that but in my case it's not like I can put that much;
In my case I can say my saving is around £500-1000 as I am a student.
But if you can clarify also the other points i will appreciate it.

Thank you

blueberrypie

If you want to put money in and take money out, an ISA is probably not the best option - they are intended more for long-term savings. What you need is an instant-access savings account. Have a look at the Savings section of this website: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/?tab=7&dd

Having said that, if you are sure you won't get near the £5100 annual limit (going up to £5340 for 2011/12), it might be that a particular ISA is the best option for you.

There aren't usually any charges for removing money from an ISA unless you have signed up for one which has a fixed term and you want to remove your money before the end of the term. There are plenty of instant-access ISAs around.

You can fund one ISA each tax year, with up to £5100 (for 10/11 - again, it will rise for 11/12). You can keep doing it every year, and there are currently no limits to how much you can accumulate in ISAs in this way.

It's worth bearing in mind that transfers between accounts with the same bank are usually instant, but that transfers between banks often aren't - so if you want to be able to transfer money back and forth between your current and savings accounts, you should have a current account with whoever you have your savings account with. (It doesn't need to be the current account you use for everyday though.)

Cpu2007

Hi thank you
yeah Now that I am checking it says some ISA accounts do not charge for withdraw,unfortunately it seems my bank lloyds does which makes the trasfer from banks to banks( as you said) a longer process.
But the saving account you mentioned they have low interest rate, and are their rate variable?
I mean if I sign in today with one saving account with interest rate 1.6% ,will this change for me or it will stick to that?

blueberrypie

I take it you mean the Lloyds Easy Saver? Its interest rate is variable, so yes, it will change. It tracks the Bank of England base rate, which is currently 0.5% and is likely to rise over the next year or two, but it also has a bonus rate which it only pays for the first year after you open it. You can transfer your money between it and your current account with Lloyds instantly.

If you are sticking with Lloyds, and you do not think you will pay in more than about £5000 in a year, the Cash ISA Saver might be a better option - it also offers instant access, but pays a higher interest rate.

Cpu2007

Thank you, I think i might go for llloyds but another question.
I have checked now that cash isa saver has variable interest rate and that it allows withdwat with no charge
santanders (which i never heard of before) does allow withdraw and is its interest rate higher?ive seen 3.30% so if lets say ,i don't need money to be trasferred instantly from a bank to another and i can be patient for 3-4 working days before it happens then would santanders be better then lloyds ?

blueberrypie

The Lloyds ISA offers 2.65%. Santander does indeed offer 3.3%. If you were to put in the full allowance of £5340 on April 6th, and leave it there for the entire tax year, the difference in interest between the two would be about £34. Deposit less, or later, or leave it there for a shorter time, and the difference would be less. However Santander has a dreadful reputation and I wouldn't recommend Santander to even a very clued-up-about-banks-and-finances person (which, no offence intended, you don't seem to be). I believe also that you can't transfer out of the Santander account on-line unless you also have a current account with them. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people on these forums who would say that £34 does not make it worth dealing with Santander for a year.

Cpu2007

Thank you very much,you have been very helpful as i truly don't know anything about these banking system and how all these things work.
It is really hard to make some money and not having much knowledge on the business and financial area I just go with one thing,if there are not charges and I have to pay nothing and I am getting something then I'll go for that option otherwise I will hardly choose it.
So yeah now that things are more clear I think I'll go for lloyds as it has also a good reputation and got threate well by them anyway.

Thank you