ISA's - Should I stay or should I go???

Bangbox

Hi all,

Right, I'm hoping that someone with a better knowledge of interest calculations than me can help out on this one. Basically I'm trying to decide whether to leave my cash in some previous years ISA's or not. I have three full cash ISA's from April 2008 through to April 2011 each with a different institution. I have used my full personal allowance for the 2011 - 2012 year investing in a stocks & shares ISA, (All £10200 of it) so do not have any allowance left for this year. The older cash ISA's are now paying such a measly rate of interest that it hardly seems worth bothering to keep it in the ISA bracket. I am tempted to move all of this cash into an instant access saving account (e.g. Santanders eSaver currently @ 2.75% apr) in order to earn something for the rest of this year. Obviously I understand that by doing this I loose the tax haven of the ISA but as I'm earning next to nothing at the moment where they are it hardly seems worth keeping them. I should point out that I work offshore and overseas for most of the year and therefore am able to claim back most, if not all of any income tax that I pay on an annual basis. What I'm trying to figure out is should I move my money or wait until the next tax year and try to transfer them into a new 2012-2013 cash ISA? Any help gratefully received!

Thanks, Bangbox.

Suarez

I would have a look around for the best rates and transfer all of them into one. Just remember not to go over 85k.

System

In the future, if your employment changes and you start to be liable for more UK tax, then you may want to take advantage of the Tax Free wrapper to reduce your tax burden.

You could search for a Cash ISA account with a better interest rate that allows transfers in.

You can open more than one Cash ISA in a year (the restriction is you can only subscribe new money to one Cash ISA account per year).

When you open the new account, do not deposit any new cash into it, complete a Cash ISA Transfer form from the new account provider - (one form for each old account you wish to transfer).

Then you will receive a better return of interest on all your cash without having to declare as income for tax purposes.