Is it worth transferring this ISA?

wallyUK

I have about £5k in a Standard Life Bank ISA (soon to be Barclays cash savings) which has an interest rate of 2.3% . I am planning to contribute about £4k this tax year - between now and July - at which point I will be leaving work and returning to full time study, so I won't be able to contribute any more ££ this tax year. This savings is our emergency fund so I can't lock it away for any length of time, e.g. as a fixed rate ISA. I've had a look and I could go for something like the Principality ISA at 3.1% but would have to remember transfer next year when the rate drops to 1.8% . I'm just trying to work out if the extra interest is going to be worth it.....*feeling very lazy* .

Thanks!

absolut

wallyUK wrote: »

I have about £5k in a Standard Life Bank ISA (soon to be Barclays cash savings) which has an interest rate of 2.3% . I am planning to contribute about £4k this tax year - between now and July - at which point I will be leaving work and returning to full time study, so I won't be able to contribute any more ££ this tax year. This savings is our emergency fund so I can't lock it away for any length of time, e.g. as a fixed rate ISA. I've had a look and I could go for something like the Principality ISA at 3.1% but would have to remember transfer next year when the rate drops to 1.8% . I'm just trying to work out if the extra interest is going to be worth it.....*feeling very lazy* .

Thanks!

*feeling very lazy*

...

You realise you could have just calculated it in a fraction of the time it took you to write all that? Pretty pathetically lazy tbh...

£9k at 2.3% will give you £207 (assuming you put in the 4k at the start of the term and keep it in there for 12m)

£9k at 3.1% will give you £279 (under the same assumptions)

If you're too lazy to check this for yourself, then i'd stick with the 2.3% as you'll probably be too lazy to transfer it to a new ISA next year when the 3.1% rate drops...

psychic_teabag

I think there are some "clean" ISAs (no bonus) offering more. eg Virgin/Northern Rock might be 2.85% or so. Did I see M&S on 3% ? No sure about that one.

I think even fixed-term ISAs do tend to allow early access, though with a penalty. So you could still consider fixing perhaps some of it for more interest. But that would still require remembering to move it when it matures. And IIRC the best 1-year fix is offering the same interest as the best instant-access, so not really that much benefit. (Except that the fixed-term would allow transfers whereas the instant-access wouldn't.)

wallyUK

Wow, cheers for helping me to remember why I don't bother posting here. I am not putting in 4K straight off so the calculation is not that simple. I did check on a calculator and got your figures so need to decide if it is worth having a potential extra £72 (probably less) for the work of doing the transfer and new ISA paperwork.

Thanks Psychic teabag, I do think the M&S is clean, the Virgin one isn't enough more than my current rate to make me want to transfer. I'll maybe thinking about the fixes too.

I do review my ISA and have transferred it regularly so I am not that 'pathetically lazy', thanks. Meant that bit to be tongue in cheek so perhaps some people need to acquire a sense of humor......

psychic_teabag

You could use the regular-saver calculator to get a better idea of the interest you'd get. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts#calculator, assuming you add the same each month.

But you could just say that the average balance will be around £7k and base the calculations on that. Probably won't be too far wrong.