Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

Kazza242

Hi everyone. This post is to let you know about the latest updates that have been made to the first post:

Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank have both launched four year fixed rate ISAs, paying 4.40%.

Halifax, the Post Office, National Counties Building society, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland, are offering three year fixed rate ISAs, paying 3.70% respectively.

Halifax and The Bank of Scotland are now offering two year fixed rate ISAs, paying 3.70%. Two year fixed rate ISAs paying 3.50% by Governor Money, NatWest, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander have also been added.

In the 14 months+ section, ISAs from Governor Money paying 3.50% and 3.20% respectively have been added.

In the one year section, the Nationwide fixed rate ISA paying 3.10% (for balances of £50,000+) has also been added along with the Santander ISA paying 3.00%.

On the variable rate ISAs front, offerings by Virgin Money and Sainsburys, paying 2.85% and 2.80% have been added.

I expect the ISAs market to get very busy in the coming weeks. Look out for further updates.

david78

Thanks for these updates and for all the hard work keeping the first post up to date Kazza. Things will certainly get busy now as the end of the tax year approaches and this thread will be very useful to me in deciding what to do next year.

PotatoPotato

I'm interested in the 2yr fixed rate ones, however disappointed with the lack of addition deposits allowed to be made

Dustykitten

Thanks Kaz - thinking of moving my Natwest variable old Isa 3.26 to Halifax fixed for 2 year 3.7% just slightly put off that the rate may change during the transfer period. Anybody have experience of how quickly these two usually get their acts together?

LG88_2

Evening all,

Quick question, coming from a bit of "lacking financial knowledge" person...

I have a bit of money (£3k+) sitting around in my current account, and I haven't opened as ISA as of yet, and I was wondering whether opening one now, and sticking it into ideally a flexible/easy acess ISA for this year leading to April would be worth it? And what happens comes, and do I have to do come the new FY in April?

Thanks in advance all.

LG

MoneySaverLog

Well you can stick upto £5,340 before the end of this tax year and a further £5,640 in the new tax year in terms of cash isa's. If you wait until the New Tax Year to put your £3k+ in, you'll only be able to invest another £2,640 into the cash ISA in the rest of the tax year.

So from that point of view it would be best to get it in before the 5th April deadline, then look at transferring if you can find a better deal later and you're not tied it up and assuming the new provider accepts transfers in.

Kazza242

PotatoPotato wrote: »

I'm interested in the 2yr fixed rate ones, however disappointed with the lack of addition deposits allowed to be made

Of the 2 year fixed rate ISAs listed, seven of them allow additional deposits to be made up to your ISA allowance limit. They are:

- Buckinghamshire BS - 3.60%: "You can pay money into the account while the issue is still open."

- Birmingham Midshires - 3.60%: "3.1 You can pay all or part of your yearly cash ISA allowance into your Account until we stop selling it."

- NatWest - 3.50%: "Top ups - are allowed up until 28th February 2012 to ensure you maximise your current tax year's allowance before the start date. No additional deposits are allowed after this date".

- Royal Bank of Scotland - 3.50%: Same as NatWest - see above.

- Barnsley BS - 3.35%:"Deposits for the 2011-2012 tax year's unused ISA allowance, and internal transfers from other Barnsley Building Society accounts, are permitted until the Fixed Rate ISA is withdrawn from sale."

- Chelsea BS - 3.35%:"ISA transfers in† from other providers and deposits up to your 2011/2012 ISA limit, can be made whilst the product remains on sale."

- Yorkshire BS - 3.35%:"You can only make current ISA deposits and previous ISA transfers into this account whilst the product is available to new investors. Once this product has been withdrawn from sale, any additional deposits will be returned to you."

Fixed rate ISAs are more tailored to savers who have a lump sum to deposit or savers able to top up to their ISA allowance limit soon after account opening.

If you haven't yet used up your ISA allowance for 2011/12, but you think that you'll top it up to the limit (£5340) by 5 April 2012, then it might be better to opt for a variable rate ISA for now and then you can transfer the full ISA to a fixed rate ISA later.

Kazza242

Dustykitten wrote: »

Thanks Kaz - thinking of moving my Natwest variable old Isa 3.26 to Halifax fixed for 2 year 3.7% just slightly put off that the rate may change during the transfer period. Anybody have experience of how quickly these two usually get their acts together?

I haven't had any dealings with NatWest, but I have transferred ISAs from other providers to Halifax. Halifax have always been very professional and efficient when they've handled my transfers. I transferred an ISA to them in November 2011 and it was all done within 10 days.

Halifax also start paying interest from day one of receiving your completed transfer application, see here. Before I instructed Halifax to transfer my ISA, I opened a variable rate ISA with them first (as I'm an existing customer it only took a few minutes). If you do the same, once your funds have arrived you can check the Halifax fixed rates available and then decide whether to go ahead with the fix.

LGG_2

when i transfered my old ISA from natwest to halifax it was done very quickly.prob around the same time as kazza. very impressive considering the mess natwest made when i transfered to them the year before

was the birmingham midshires fixed shown above always 3.6 %? not sure if i saw it before at 3.80 over the last couple of weeks or if im confusing it with something else

also i have a direct issue 4 isa with halifax .the bounus runs out in the middle of march and im looking for a 2 year fixed deal. so thinking of going in tomorrow and asking them about transfering it to a the new fixed rate. with the accounts both being with halifax could they transfer it at the touch of a button or is it more complicated with it being an ISA. ill be away for a week or 2 around the time my ISA is due to mature so it might be difficult transfering it to another company if all the paper work comes at the time im away and getting everything done quickly if the rates change etc so this looks like a good deal.would people advise to transfer early? obviously it saves me the hassle of sorting a new account out while im away

also im correct in thinking that when i transfer my isa to the fixed (have used up this years allowance already) at the begining of the new tax year i can open up a brand new ISA somewhere else and deposit my 5K plus into that as the halifax account doesnt allow any deposits

curlygirl1971

LGG wrote: »

also i have a direct issue 4 isa with halifax .the bounus runs out in the middle of march and im looking for a 2 year fixed deal. so thinking of going in tomorrow and asking them about transfering it to a the new fixed rate. with the accounts both being with halifax could they transfer it at the touch of a button or is it more complicated with it being an isa

I've been with the Halifax for donkeys, and have moved ISAs to them, from them (no problems with the Halifax) and I've also moved ISA money between Halifax products and I'm sure that in those cases I've done it over the phone and in branch very easily. Now you need to sign a form and it goes off to the relevant department with a warning to allow 5-10 days.

I've done it twice in the last month, gone into branch on a Saturday, queued for ages, signed the forms - the first transfer hit my account on the following Wednesday and the second happened the following Thursday - so more hassle than it used to be, but still quick considering the procedure.

I also noticed from ther maturity letter that they no longer guarantee a rate, ie. "your isa is going to mature, here are the rates we currently offer, we need 5 days notice to transfer but the rate may change before your go live date". I was on the verge of going to BMS for their 3.8% but when Halifax announced 3.7% on the 9th I decided to stick for ease.