Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

harz99

refluxer said:

Shawbrook have had poor fixed cash ISA rates for a while now but they've recently upped their 1 year fix to 4.14% and 5 year fix to 4.17%, making them pretty-much the best rates currently available for those durations.

Obviously fixing for 5 years is a pretty big gamble but, as you can add new subscriptions throughout the duration of the fixed term, I'm thinking a 5 year fix at >4% could be a good insurance policy against further base rate drops in the coming years. 

You can hold multiple cash ISAs with Shawbrook but can only pay new subscriptions into one in any one tax year. If you already hold an ISA with them, then I think you have to send a secure message in order to be able to open a second as there is no option to do this while logged in to online banking (an annoying quirk which affects other banks like Cynergy).

My wife has just transferred her ISA from Paragon double access to Shawbrook 1 year fixed due to an impending rate reduction, the transfer took less than 48 hours!

otherwayup

refluxer said:

...
Obviously fixing for 5 years is a pretty big gamble but, as you can add new subscriptions throughout the duration of the fixed term, ...

Can you please clarify what you mean by this.  Ignoring possible gov. changes to Cash ISA rules, do you mean you can add another 20k to the ISA every year for example and those deposits will receive 4.17%?

I can't see that written anywhere.

refluxer

otherwayup said:

refluxer said:

...
Obviously fixing for 5 years is a pretty big gamble but, as you can add new subscriptions throughout the duration of the fixed term, ...

Can you please clarify what you mean by this.  Ignoring possible gov. changes to Cash ISA rules, do you mean you can add another 20k to the ISA every year for example and those deposits will receive 4.17%?

I can't see that written anywhere.

Yes, that's right - you can add your ISA allowance for each tax year until the fixed period ends. 

I did this myself late last year - added my 2025-26 ISA allowance to a fixed rate ISA I opened in the 2024-25 tax year.

The key phrase is in the 'Terms and conditions' section at the bottom of the Summary Box...

"Please note that the Bank reserves the right to withdraw this product at any time. If the product is withdrawn, you can continue to put more money into your account until the expiry of the fixed term."

andyhicks88

The Shawbrook 5 yr is an interesting option, I can see you can pay in your allowance every year but what about transfers? Can you transfer an ISA in at any point or just within the opening window? Because if you can it makes it a very good option where I can just add £1k or something now (I still have some allowance left) and then have the Shawbrook ISA available to start paying into and transfer into when the rates start going down elsewhere? I'm not sure if that's possible but it'smy idea anyway

Gambler

andyhicks88 said:

The Shawbrook 5 yr is an interesting option, I can see you can pay in your allowance every year but what about transfers? Can you transfer an ISA in at any point or just within the opening window? Because if you can it makes it a very good option where I can just add £1k or something now (I still have some allowance left) and then have the Shawbrook ISA available to start paying into and transfer into when the rates start going down elsewhere? I'm not sure if that's possible but it'smy idea anyway

I think it's new money only.

CuparLad

Shawbrook Fixed ISA Maturity Transfer

When considering Shawbrook for a fixed ISA, be aware of a "quirk" of their maturity process if you intend to transfer the matured funds to another ISA Manager at maturity (the "wait" option on the transfer form). 

Shawbrook will hold the transfer request until the maturity date, at which point your ISA funds will move to the default easy access account that pays a derisory 0.1% APR. Shawbrook will only then start the transfer process, meaning your matured funds may earn only 0.1% for up to 15 business days, depending on how long the transfer process takes.

This is unlike other ISA managers e.g. Skipton, who transfer the matured funds on or just after the date of maturity, so there is no/minimal loss of interest.

harz99

CuparLad said:

Shawbrook Fixed ISA Maturity Transfer

When considering Shawbrook for a fixed ISA, be aware of a "quirk" of their maturity process if you intend to transfer the matured funds to another ISA Manager at maturity (the "wait" option on the transfer form). 

Shawbrook will hold the transfer request until the maturity date, at which point your ISA funds will move to the default easy access account that pays a derisory 0.1% APR. Shawbrook will only then start the transfer process, meaning your matured funds may earn only 0.1% for up to 15 business days, depending on how long the transfer process takes.

This is unlike other ISA managers e.g. Skipton, who transfer the matured funds on or just after the date of maturity, so there is no/minimal loss of interest.

Well if that is a concern just elect to move the matured funds into their normal easy access ISA account which currently pays 3% and transfer out from there?

akh43

I am looking for best options for splitting a maturing ISA of just over £60k, currently in a fixed until 2/2/26, want to put, for example, £40k in a fixed (not sure how long for) and the rest in an EA/Flexible ISA so I can access as will potentially need to access at some point over the next 12 months.  

Am I best to transfer it all to the EA/Flexible ISA and then transfer the £40k to a fixed ISA elsewhere? 

Best fix ATM seems to be Shawbrook @ 4.14% and then maybe Atom @ 4.25% unless someone know better. Not really interested in Moneybox or the others with a higher EA rate as probably moving within the year and losing any bonus,  

Thanks

refluxer

andyhicks88 said:

The Shawbrook 5 yr is an interesting option, I can see you can pay in your allowance every year but what about transfers? Can you transfer an ISA in at any point or just within the opening window? Because if you can it makes it a very good option where I can just add £1k or something now (I still have some allowance left) and then have the Shawbrook ISA available to start paying into and transfer into when the rates start going down elsewhere? I'm not sure if that's possible but it'smy idea anyway

The relevant bit from Shawbrook's fixed rate ISA T&Cs is...

"Requests to transfer funds into an account from another ISA provider can be made at the same time as your initial account application. Transfer requests received after your initial account application may be refused"

There were a few reports on the forum of Shawbrook allowing this a few years ago but they have been refusing transfer-in requests for at least the last 12 months (and possibly longer), which isn't too surprising considering the base rate has only been heading downwards during that time.

By limiting this ability to new subscriptions only, I guess they're limiting their liability in this respect (not forgetting that the cash ISA allowance is decreasing next year, too)

refluxer

CuparLad said:

Shawbrook Fixed ISA Maturity Transfer

When considering Shawbrook for a fixed ISA, be aware of a "quirk" of their maturity process if you intend to transfer the matured funds to another ISA Manager at maturity (the "wait" option on the transfer form). 

Shawbrook will hold the transfer request until the maturity date, at which point your ISA funds will move to the default easy access account that pays a derisory 0.1% APR. Shawbrook will only then start the transfer process, meaning your matured funds may earn only 0.1% for up to 15 business days, depending on how long the transfer process takes.

This is unlike other ISA managers e.g. Skipton, who transfer the matured funds on or just after the date of maturity, so there is no/minimal loss of interest.

Yes, some have been caught out by this. I've had a Shawbrook fixed ISA in the past and would always recommend choosing an internal transfer to their easy access cash ISA on maturity to avoid this scenario, as suggested above.

In reality, you'd expect using the 'wait' option should only delay things by a day or two if you choose another provider who does electronic transfers, but you're still at the mercy of how fast the humans involved at either end actually process the request, meaning that a day or two is actually the best-case scenario and it may take longer.