Please help me understand my ISA's

MARKMAKAVELI

Hello

I setup a Barclays ISA last year and as I wasn't planning on significant savings, filled it up to the max, withdrew some etc. Left with a total balance of £3500 and I can't put anymore in - maxed out.

I've just taken out a new ISA with Barclays and am starting to put money into it (1k so far). I have a regular saver set up with £750 in it, which I'm thinking of reducing to the minimum £20 monthly payment and putting the rest in the new isa.

I'm trying to work out if this is best for me. I am saving for a house and hope to buy early next year, maybe next summer. I have no idea what rate I am getting on my old ISA now and when I will receive this interest? Is it a one off annual payment? I probably only had it maxed out for the last 2 months of the tax year.

Just a bit confused by it all. I've seen regular savers which I know aren't tax free but I'm struggling to do the calculations to see what I'm best doing. I'm currently saving an absolute minimum of £500 p/m.

Sorry for rambling, can anyone help please?

psychic_teabag

For savings acounts, you just need to compare the interest rates - the higher the better. Assuming you pay tax, you first need to adjust rates on non-ISA accounts before comparing - just multiply by 0.8 or 4/5.

It might be simplest to just ask Barclays what interest rate you are getting and when interest is due. There is a page listing rates, but you'd need to know the exact name (and issue number) of the account.
http://barclays.co.uk/Savings/Savingsinterestratesoverview/P1242557964656

The Loyalty ISA looks like it's paying 3.05%. If your (taxable) regular saver is paying, say, 4%, that would be 4/5 * 4 = 3.2% after tax, which is better than the ISA.

A useful strategy for building up long-term savings is to use a regular saver during a year to build up a lump sum, then pay it into an ISA when it matures.

I like the Monmouthshire BS flexible saver - a reg saver paying 4% on up to £1000 per month, with some flexibility over access - most reg.savers penalise early access to the money.