Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

nomorekids

Shawbrook new rates up

5yr 5.25%

2yr 4.97%

1yr 4.81%

gwapenut

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82138968#Comment_82138968

Can you still add to a shawbrook fixed rate cash ISA every tax year of its term with new ISA money (not transfers)?

If so, sticking 1k into a 5 year fix isn't a bad hedge against rates going down.

nomorekids

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82138974#Comment_82138974

I recall they pulled the ability to do this some time ago. T & C's indicate first 90 days only

CeliaSeas

I've applied for the west brom 5.05% 18 month. The funding window is 14 days or for as long as the account is still on offer (which ever is the longer) so anyone opening it speculatively doesnt have too long to decide.

(unless I've misunderstood the T&Cs)

Growingold

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82138828#Comment_82138828

Their ISA is not flexible so any money withdrawn cannot be replaced without it counting towards your Annual ISA Allowance

J63320

Aldermore have upped their 3 year fix from 4.8% to 4.85%. It’s less than a week since I switched my 4.75% to the 4.8%, just within the cooling off period. Now it looks as if I’ll have to do it again.
I would have preferred to simply cancel the 4.75%, but they would have returned the funds to my nominated account, and because the money was actually a transfer, it would have lost its ISA status. I accepted this at the time. But now I’ve had time to think about it, I’ve realised that because it was a partial transfer from a flexible ISA I might have been able to put that money back. Does the ability to put money back into a flexible ISA apply even if the withdrawal was a transfer out?

2010

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82139636#Comment_82139636

Is 0.05% going to be worth the hassle?

Cant you open the 4.85% one and do an internal transfer.

If you're inside the cooling off period there shouldn't be a penalty.

.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82139680#Comment_82139680

Agree, unless talking a very large 6 figure sum, the differential in return wouldn't warrant a complicated game of 'musical chairs' to squeeze out a few quid annually.

J63320

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82139680#Comment_82139680

Aldermore.

The process for switching was indeed to open the new one and do an internal transfer.

For the amount involved, the difference is about £30 over the three years. Not a lot, I agree, but better than nowt.

But please, what about my question? With rates rising, I might be better off sticking with the easy access ISA that the (partial) transfer came from, and waiting to see what happens. On gov.uk there is a page about ISA withdrawals which talks about “withdrawing cash” and explains about flexible ISAs, but there is also a page on transfers which doesn’t mention flexible ISAs at all. So if I were to close the Aldermore account and get the money returned to my nominated account, could I then pay that money back into the flexible ISA I transferred it from (and to which I have already subscribed £20,000 in this tax year)?

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82139719#Comment_82139719

No.

You would have to transfer your non flexible Aldermore isa back to your exsisting flexible one. Closing the Aldermore ISA in favour of your current account, kills those accumulated ISA funds at a stroke and turns them into non isa protected savings. This is because your original transfer out of the flexible one does not constitute a withdrawal for the purposes of the flexible isa rules, a nuance that perhaps is not appreciated.

https://www.transact-online.co.uk/adviser/adviser-support/technical-centre/flexibility-and-isas-current-rules-and-planning-opportunities/

Just a general observation, by all means play ' musical chairs' with non ISA savings accounts where the consequences of messing up are unlikely to be terrible, but be extremely careful about your interactions between flexible and non flexible ISAs.

We have seen more than once on this forum the kind of rookie error you have suggested. A sad outcome if its only 1 year allowance lost in this way, but nothing short of tragic if multiple years.

I confine my withdrawals ( of interest) and reimbursement to my dedicated flexible cash ISA rather than try a juggling act amongst a number of different ISAs. My ISAs are simply too valuable a component of my retirement income, to inadvertently lose any aspect of it by trying to be too clever.