Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

martinman3

Anyone who is currently considering the Chelsea BS 1 year fixed rate ISA at 3.50% should read the T&Cs very carefully.
http://www.thechelsea.co.uk/savings/invest_fixedcashisa_terms.html

As you might expect, transfers out and withdrawals during the fixed rate period are not allowed. But after the fixed rate period is over you can make immediate penalty free withdrawals - but transfers out incur a 180 days interest penalty. :eek:

Baldur

martinman3 wrote: »

As you might expect, transfers out and withdrawals during the fixed rate period are not allowed. But after the fixed rate period is over you can make immediate penalty free withdrawals - but transfers out incur a 180 days interest penalty.

The 180 penalty only relates to withdrawals or transfers during the fixed rate period.

If you read paragraph 6.1a, on maturity the account becomes a Chelsea Branch Instant Cash ISA (unless you choose otherwise), which permits penalty-free transfers at any time.

Lokolo

Baldur wrote: »

The 180 penalty only relates to withdrawals or transfers during the fixed rate period.

If you read paragraph 6.1a, on maturity the account becomes a Chelsea Branch Instant Cash ISA (unless you choose otherwise), which permits penalty-free transfers at any time.

Why on Earth were you up at 4.30am!?

Baldur

Lokolo wrote: »

Why on Earth were you up at 4.30am!?

Had a lie in, for a change................

martinman3

Baldur wrote: »

The 180 penalty only relates to withdrawals or transfers during the fixed rate period.

If you read paragraph 6.1a, on maturity the account becomes a Chelsea Branch Instant Cash ISA (unless you choose otherwise), which permits penalty-free transfers at any time.

Thanks for clearing that up. The trouble with reading T&Cs very carefully is that you realise how badly written they are.

The part

1. During the fixed rate period you are not entitled to make any withdrawals (including closure) or transfers from the Fixed Cash ISA.

must refer to transfers to another account not ISA transfers.

MarkyMarkD

I think that they are trying (very badly) to get across the point that if they launch a different ISA which you might prefer, you can't transfer into it. In other words, internal transfers are prohibited, whilst external transfers are allowed, with 180 days' loss of interest.

I can't honestly see why they have that confusing wording. Nobody sensible is going to switch accounts internally and accept 180 days' loss of interest.

The_Enforcer

I've often wondered why this very useful thread hasn't been made into a 'Sticky'.

Over the last few days, I'm also wondering whether it would be worth splitting the thread up into Cash ISA sub-category threads, with the sub-categories being started and therefore maintained by a small group of Original Posters, which would take some of the demands of this work away from Kazza and enable the OPs to update more regularly and to provide more specific details on the accounts on their respective list.
Each thread would operate in the same way as this thread, with suggestions and discussions being added at the bottom and the first post being adjusted accordingly, but with a focus on the particular type of ISA.

As a suggestion, the sub-categories could be:

1. "Instant Access ISAs" - incorporating lists for 'new money only', 'accepts transfers' and 'age restrictions'.

2. "Notice ISAs" - could have separate lists for the period of notice required.

3. "Fixed Rate ISAs" - incorporating lists for 'new money only', 'accepts transfers', 'no further payments/allows further payments' and 'age restrictions' - Here, I was unsure whether to suggest 5 separate threads for each of the fixed rate periods.

4. "Regular Saver ISAs"

5. "Strict Conditions ISAs" - Like the Standard Life one on the current list.

6. "ISA vs Savings" - best buy comparison. Unlike the others, this is not from the first post, I compiled this with some help from Baldur on another thread - I'll copy it in below so that you can see it here.


Obviously, if Kazza doesn't want the thread splitting up, then in my view her word should be final. On the other hand, if she is finding it an onerous task to keep it up to date with an appropriate amount of information, then this might be a way of spreading the work around a little - provided there are sufficient people prepared to take ownership of the sub-categories.

I thought that as it is relatively quiet at the moment, it might be a good time to get this up and running, before the end/start of tax year approaches and/or rates start rising again to give a new set-up time to bed in. And to come full-circle to my first point, in my opinion, all of these sub-threads should also be 'Stickys'.


OK, hard-hat time...

TE

The_Enforcer

I've just done a quick comparison of several ISA/savings types available (ISA product is first and minimum investment [range for regular savers] is in brackets then courtesy of Baldur the net saving follows in red - all of the ISAs cited can be new or transfer and I have ignored any top rates that are limited to existing customers or require accounts that charge to be opened):

Instant Access: 3% First Direct (£1) vs 3.3% Citibank (£1) (2.64%/1.98%)

5 Year Fixed: 4.6% Leeds (£1) vs 5.3% Yorkshire Bank (£100) (4.24%/3.18%)

2 Year Fixed: 3.75% C+G (£100) vs 4.35% AA/Halifax/HBOS (£500) (3.48%/2.61%)

120-days Notice: 3% Newcastle/Chesham (£500) vs 3.1% Chelsea (£1)* (2.48%/1.86%)

Regular Saver: 5.07% Principality (£20-300p/m)** vs 5% Numerous RS (£1-500p/m) (4%/3%)


The one area where savings accounts look most attractive for lower rate taxpayers, is the fixed-rate regular saver option. Typically these run for a year and usually have tight restrictions on withdrawls and also missing a monthly payment.

Thus, if you were a lower rate taxpayer and confident of being able to commit to such an account for a year, say, from a portion of your monthly income, then this presents a more profitable option than drip-feeding the same amount of cash into an ISA over the same period (obviously not if you were able to subscribe a large lump-sum at the beginning of the tax year). The comparison here would be:

3% First Direct (£1) vs 5% Numerous RS (4%)

However, if you're able to commit to drip-feeding for a year without withdrawals, then some 1 year fixed rate ISAs permit this (as opposed to simply one lump sum at the start and no further payments), so to compare the best of those currently gives:

3.2% Kent Reliance vs 5% Numerous RS (4%)

harz99

The_Enforcer wrote: »

I've often wondered why this very useful thread hasn't been made into a 'Sticky'.

Over the last few days, I'm also wondering whether it would be worth splitting the thread up into Cash ISA sub-category threads, with the sub-categories being started and therefore maintained by a small group of Original Posters, which would take some of the demands of this work away from Kazza and enable the OPs to update more regularly and to provide more specific details on the accounts on their respective list.
Each thread would operate in the same way as this thread, with suggestions and discussions being added at the bottom and the first post being adjusted accordingly, but with a focus on the particular type of ISA.

As a suggestion, the sub-categories could be:

1. "Instant Access ISAs" - incorporating lists for 'new money only', 'accepts transfers' and 'age restrictions'.

2. "Notice ISAs" - could have separate lists for the period of notice required.

3. "Fixed Rate ISAs" - incorporating lists for 'new money only', 'accepts transfers', 'no further payments/allows further payments' and 'age restrictions' - Here, I was unsure whether to suggest 5 separate threads for each of the fixed rate periods.

4. "Regular Saver ISAs"

5. "Strict Conditions ISAs" - Like the Standard Life one on the current list.

6. "ISA vs Savings" - best buy comparison. Unlike the others, this is not from the first post, I compiled this with some help from Baldur on another thread - I'll copy it in below so that you can see it here.


Obviously, if Kazza doesn't want the thread splitting up, then in my view her word should be final. On the other hand, if she is finding it an onerous task to keep it up to date with an appropriate amount of information, then this might be a way of spreading the work around a little - provided there are sufficient people prepared to take ownership of the sub-categories.

I thought that as it is relatively quiet at the moment, it might be a good time to get this up and running, before the end/start of tax year approaches and/or rates start rising again to give a new set-up time to bed in. And to come full-circle to my first point, in my opinion, all of these sub-threads should also be 'Stickys'.


OK, hard-hat time...

TE

I think the above is an excellent idea and wish you luck with it!

The only comment I would add is that, to many of us oldies it would be very useful to have a section that listed only those Cash Isa accounts of any category, which offer a paid away monthly income option........

The_Enforcer

harz99 wrote: »

I think the above is an excellent idea and wish you luck with it!

The only comment I would add is that, to many of us oldies it would be very useful to have a section that listed only those Cash Isa accounts of any category, which offer a paid away monthly income option........

Thanks for the support. This is where it starts to get more complicated, because 'your list' starts to overlap with other lists. However, it's not impossible and at this stage, all suggestions must be welcomed and considered.