Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

Nijinsky

Santander are taking ages to transfer my ISA across. I requested the fixed rate 4.5% ISA on 19th April, which I thought would go through within a couple of days maximum, because my transfer from Moneybox to Trading 212 last year only took a couple of days.

In contrast, Santander took 8 days to send me letters with my account login details (I don't know why they couldn't have just emailed me the details within a couple of days instead?) It was only when I got my login details, I could then submit a request form for all my funds from my current Trading 212 ISA to be transferred to Santander.

Trading 212 wasn't on their online drop down list, so I had to print out and fill in yet another form and send it off, listing my Trading 212 account details for the transfer. I did this last Monday via first class post, but I still haven't heard anything back nearly a week later. Shall I chase up with Santander to check they've received the form? I would have expected a confirmation they've received it.

Worryingly, Santander say it can take up to 30 days for the funds to transfer across too. My current Trading 212 interest rate has dropped from 4.3% to 3.6% during this waiting period, so I don't suppose Santander will reimburse me for the money I'm losing? Just typing this to warn you that if you wish to switch to Santander, do it a minimum of a month in advance, as it's a very long wait for it to go through.

Dizzycap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81985950#Comment_81985950

The average ISA transfer time seems to be around 2-3 weeks this tax year; at the moment. As Cash Isa providers were inundated with applications end of March for the previous tax year and then again from 6th April for this tax year, there is still a slight backlog, I believe. My new Cash Isa provider requested an ISA transfer from Trading212 on 08/04 and it finally completed on Friday 01/05.

I've also noticed that there are some delays at times with applying for a new Cash Isa with a new subscription funds for this tax year. Close Brothers have yet to send me an activation code to access any potential account whilst Teachers BS is presently reviewing my application. At this rate, I'm more than likely to go with Nationwide as the process seems much more organised, but we'll see.

p1ston

@Dizzycap

When I finally did transfer out they sent me an exceedingly curt email including the instruction: 'Pleasedon'tinvest with us again' 

Did they actually say this in the email?

oliveoyl

The Santander voucher offer ended as of yesterday (I was too late, only just got form printed off!)

oliveoyl

Santander fixed rate has also dropped, now 4.25% for all durations

SirHugo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987051#Comment_81987051

Yes, I annoyingly just found out when I tried to upgrade last years ISA which matures on the 1st June. I've had my eye on this for weeks now but the upgrade option has only finally become available to me today.
I really should have opened the new ISA at 4.5% and then waited to do a transfer, but I didn't want to use new money in this one.

Nijinsky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987039#Comment_81987039

Well I had a notification from Trading 212 this morning and completed the portfolio transfer request. Trading 212 have confirmed the transfer to Santander has gone through, so my Trading 212 funds are now zero.

However, my Santander ISA is still showing as zero as well and I've had no confirmation from Santander yet, so I'm currently sweating over my lifetime savings showing up under my Santander account.

When my transfer hopefully shows up, I hope Santander aren't going to say I won't get the voucher as they pulled it yesterday. They've taken long enough.

refluxer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81985413#Comment_81985413

I've mentioned this before (either in this thread or possibly another) but I've had a number of Santander fixed rate cash ISAs in the past and have managed them all completely online - no branch or phone calls needed. To be honest though, fixed rate products don't really need managing once set up and funded - the only exception I can think of is if you wanted to close the account before maturity and withdraw the money out of the ISA system, in which case yes - there may not be an online option for that and a phone call or branch visit might be needed. I can only presume they're having to be cautious and cover themselves against this eventuality in the T&Cs by removing the 'online' option from the management section when, in reality, the majority of account holders won't be making early withdrawals and can do everything else online.

One aspect of their online management I do like is that they give you an option to 'upgrade' the account to another Santander fixed rate during the final 4 weeks. This allows you to monitor their rates and possibly take advantage of any good offers (the jump to the new rate is immediate) - it's essentially a penalty-free internal transfer before maturity and I haven't come across another ISA provider who allows this. This is only available in the final 28 days of the fixed rate period though - you have to wait until they make the offer and can't transfer without penalty before then.

When it comes to transferring out (whether before or after maturity), you only need to deal with the new provider and not Santander so any supposed lack of online management isn't an issue at that stage either.

That was a cracking deal with the Leek BS - I actually have a couple of longer fixed rate ISAs running with them that I managed to secure at rates that were higher than anything else available. As you say though, if you don't already have an account with them then geographical restrictions are usually in place and will prevent them being available to all.

refluxer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987219#Comment_81987219

Santander have an issue with their banking app where the transfer will show as credited to the account in the list of transactions but the 'available balance' shows as £0 for anything from a few days up to a week. In my case, the balance showed as the correct amount when logging into online banking via a browser so you could try that if you want some reassurance.

Nijinsky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987327#Comment_81987327

Just tried via the browser and my account displays with zero funds and no transactions. I will contact Santander.