Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

MarkyMarkD

A link on any website is only good at the second that it's published. If the provider of the product changes the layout of their site, it might end up pointing to a different product from the one originally recommended. Particularly within the forums, that wouldn't be picked up quickly if at all - and if the person who posted it originally happens not to come online, they wouldn't have the opportunity to correct it anyway.

If it's within an editorial part of this site, the same applies to an extent - if something is published on Monday at 9am and the link works then, it might easily stop working at 5pm on Monday when there's nobody available to update it.

As others have said, you have to read what you are signing up to.

tubmog

Re M&S 4% fixed for 3 years

I can confirm that we do accept transfers in from other providers and this does not affect your current subscription allowance. You are also able to transfer a Fixed Rate Cash ISA to another provider at any time. Please note that if the transfer is to be made before the maturity date of the holding, a standard penalty will apply. For the 3 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA, this charge is £100. Once the holding has matured, the funds can be moved with no charge. [/QUOTE]

gwapenut ..... thanks for the reply , much appreciated

PhylPho

Unfortunately even after reading as much as we can on this subject, we are not financial experts. We are with 1st Direct at the moment, a cash ISA for 2009 - 2010 held by my wife and myself. It also "holds" our earlier ISAs which we transferred in.

We understood the rules / rates when we went to 1st Direct and opened our accounts in July last year.

We always seem to be late in trying to sort out our ISAs so this year want to start from April, i.e., to actually have a Cash ISA which is synchronised with the actual financial year.

But we cannot find any details about any 2010-2011 Cash ISAs. Even this website talks only of 2009-2010 ISAs in its main page.

Our position must surely be the same as many, many people who aren't deeply into financial matters or maths or anything else but would just like a straightforward tax free return for a straightforward investment for 2010-2011.

Come next month we will want to leave 1st Direct (it's rate drops then) and go somewhere else, either for one year or two years (at most.)

We want to be able to transfer in our current ISA and we want to be able to operate by the Internet. The last thing we want to do is have to have a bank account with the ISA provider or get involved in any other hassle like having to go into a branch etc etc, it is the age of ther Internet after all.

Trying to find something, anything, which says yes, this is exactly what we have for 2010-2011 is proving very difficult.

I know we're getting on in years but it surely should not be as dfifficult as all this is.

Baldur

PhylPho wrote: »

Unfortunately even after reading as much as we can on this subject, we are not financial experts. We are with 1st Direct at the moment, a cash ISA for 2009 - 2010 held by my wife and myself. It also "holds" our earlier ISAs which we transferred in.

We understood the rules / rates when we went to 1st Direct and opened our accounts in July last year.

We always seem to be late in trying to sort out our ISAs so this year want to start from April, i.e., to actually have a Cash ISA which is synchronised with the actual financial year.

But we cannot find any details about any 2010-2011 Cash ISAs. Even this website talks only of 2009-2010 ISAs in its main page.

Our position must surely be the same as many, many people who aren't deeply into financial matters or maths or anything else but would just like a straightforward tax free return for a straightforward investment for 2010-2011.

Come next month we will want to leave 1st Direct (it's rate drops then) and go somewhere else, either for one year or two years (at most.)

We want to be able to transfer in our current ISA and we want to be able to operate by the Internet. The last thing we want to do is have to have a bank account with the ISA provider or get involved in any other hassle like having to go into a branch etc etc, it is the age of ther Internet after all.

Trying to find something, anything, which says yes, this is exactly what we have for 2010-2011 is proving very difficult.

I know we're getting on in years but it surely should not be as dfifficult as all this is.

There is no such thing as a "2010/11 Cash ISA account".

Your Cash ISA allowance of £5,100 per individual becomes your 2010/11 Cash ISA when it's subscribed to an ISA account on or after 6th April.

The accounts that are available now are likely to be the ones into which most people will deposit their 2010/11 funds on or after 6th April, unless new accounts come along that offer better rates before that date (or, of course, they are withdrawn before that date) - the way that savings rates generally appear to be reducing, that seems fairly unlikely

swagman

KTF wrote: »

Do you know if you can add new money to it each year or is it only the opening amount made up of transfers like the Nationwide and M&S ones?

They tell me that you can transfer ISAs in and/or make new annual subscriptions each April during the first 4 years of the 5 year term.

Froggitt

The way I read it was that you could add to it this April, but thats your lot.

meganerd69

is it worth opening an isa? i want to save until mid november when i head off the NYC for a short trip and just want to have a savings account i can put into every month - my bank is hsbc and they offer a cash e-isa variable 1.75% AER (1.74% tax free).

Baldur

meganerd69 wrote: »

is it worth opening an isa? i want to save until mid november when i head off the NYC for a short trip and just want to have a savings account i can put into every month - my bank is hsbc and they offer a cash e-isa variable 1.75% AER (1.74% tax free).

Why even think of HSBC, when you could earn 3.5% AER with A&L/Santander's Flexible ISA?

One of my main bank accounts is with HSBC but I wouldn't even consider their poor Cash ISA rates.

PhylPho

Baldur wrote: »

There is no such thing as a "2010/11 Cash ISA account".

Your Cash ISA allowance of £5,100 per individual becomes your 2010/11 Cash ISA when it's subscribed to an ISA account on or after 6th April.

The accounts that are available now are likely to be the ones into which most people will deposit their 2010/11 funds on or after 6th April, unless new accounts come along that offer better rates before that date (or, of course, they are withdrawn before that date) - the way that savings rates generally appear to be reducing, that seems fairly unlikely

Sincere thanks, Baldur: much appreciated!

We'll have a look at the various cash ISA offerings after 6th April then.

Thank you again.

swagman

Froggitt wrote: »

The way I read it was that you could add to it this April, but thats your lot.

Yes, that's what I thought so I queried it by phone. Each April you can transfer in an 'old' ISA and / or add that year's cash ISA subscription.

A close reading of the Key features document (can be downloaded) supports this in one sentence, then appears to contradict it in another.

So if this feature would be a deal breaker it may be wise to assume you cannot.