first time isa question

fizzysweets

hi im after some advice on isa's as am completely clueless. Myself and my husband have £6000 savings in our normal bank account and would like to make better use of this by putting it into two isa's. Firstly once in an isa can we dip into it when needed or not and also which isa is the best for us to use. We also have £200 a month which we save what can we do with this we like the idea of putting it in some kind of account where we get a lump sum in a few years time if this is possible.
thanks

Cannon_Fodder

You can dip into Cash ISAs, but it's not a good idea. Once you have put £3000 in, which you could both do right now, when you take some out that's it, you can't put more back in during the same tax year, so you reduce the tax efficiency of having the ISA in the first place...

Better, in my opinion, to treat your £200 a month as a "float", when a few months worth have reached an amount more than you would need to "dip", then move some of it into the ISA. NS&I is the ISA of the moment, at 5.80%, start it now and by April 6th (new tax year) your £200 a month should equal £600, so can move some in...

You could look into the Regular Monthly Savers, as the "holding" account for the £200 a month, but be sure to check Ts&Cs for any limits on withdrawls.

Maybe, just go for Regular Monthly Saver and each complete year of that, you drop the end-result into your ISAs...time it so its in the ISA from early April, for maximum tax-free interest...in the meantime, if you need to you can usually dip into the Regular account.

Barclays, A&L, Lloyds - most offer them, you might choose according to your current account location...