Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

hgt

adindas wrote: »

I have seenthat the best option fro cash ISA if you want to put it for at least one year is Newcastle Big-home saver

http://www.newcastle.co.uk/savings/big-home-saver.aspx

It is to be dripped fed from a current account which pays 3% interest.

Is there any better option available out there ?

Also my understanding is that this cash ISA is instant access just did not get the bonus of one percent if you close it earlier ?

Will I still get the 1% bonus even I do not take take their mortgage as long as I keep up with monthly payment ??

Could you please have a look on it whether I have missed something or there is something I am not aware of ....

Yes you are correct on all counts.... this is an instant access account - you just loose the 1% bonus in any month where you make a withdrawal. Also there is no obligation to take a mortgage etc, you'll still get the 1% bonus (making 3% in total), the interest is actually paid monthly. The only possible downside is the max monthly deposit is £500 - so that's a maximum of £6000 over the tax year, so no good if you were planning to use the new max £15000 ISA allowance.

However Newcastle BS have recently taken all their ISA range off-sale including the Big Home ISA Saver. So it will be interesting to see if it it returns after 6th April, and if they may change the maximum monthly deposit in light of the changes to the annual ISA allowance.

But yes - presuming this account goes back on-sale at the same rate, then a good account I'd say. Much better than the new Nationwide regular ISA, as with Newcastle, the account doesn't close after 12 months, meaning you can keep on building up your savings and earning 3% on the whole lot.

DragonQ

Just withdrew money from my ISA for the first time ever, had to confirm the little tax-free wrapper warning on the website which was a bit scary!

Basically once my Club Lloyds and TSB Plus accounts are full I'll have ~£5,500 left which is an awkward amount for my remaining two Lloyds Vantage accounts so an extra £1000 will let me use those to their full potential.

No idea what I'll do come July when the Vantage rates drop and the new ISAs start. Maybe there'll be a half-decent account I can use then. If not, I could just transfer the money back into my ISA - this is the first year since I started working that I definitely won't be able to utilise the full ISA allowance anyway!

dosh37

dosh37 wrote: »

Even though I was not an existing customer, My 1yr 2% fixed account was opened without a hitch. I sent in the ISA transfer form but stupidly failed to sign it. They sent the form back pretty quickly and I signed and returned it a couple of days ago. Assuming it goes through ok I am hoping to add my 2014/2015 ISA allowance to the same account in April.

It took a while but my cash ISA transfer from Julian Hodge Bank (1.6%) to the Virgin Money 1yr fixed ISA (2%) has now gone through .

KTF

The link on the first page to the Newcastle BS Regular Saver Big Home Saver appears to be linking to a non-ISA product:

http://www.newcastle.co.uk/savings/big-home-saver.aspx

ctdctd

KTF wrote: »

The link on the first page to the Newcastle BS Regular Saver Big Home Saver appears to be linking to a non-ISA product:

http://www.newcastle.co.uk/savings/big-home-saver.aspx

That's because the Newcastle pulled all their ISA products prior to the tax year end. Their ISA page currently says check back on the 6th so hopefully all will be revealed today or tomorrow.

Edit - Account is back as of 09:22 Sunday 6th. Still says £500 PCM though - I was hoping it would change to £1250.

marathonic

KTF wrote: »

The link on the first page to the Newcastle BS Regular Saver Big Home Saver appears to be linking to a non-ISA product:

http://www.newcastle.co.uk/savings/big-home-saver.aspx

The new ISA's are up. The rate and maximum permitted monthly deposit remains the same for the above product.

Edit: sorry, just saw the edit in the above post

dfurn

dosh37 wrote: »

It took a while but my cash ISA transfer from Julian Hodge Bank (1.6%) to the Virgin Money 1yr fixed ISA (2%) has now gone through .

Hi I'm just doing this transfer now. Can I ask now your money has arrived does the Virgin account show as 2% when you view it online? Currently mine says 0.1% but I imagine that's due to the funding not arriving yet.

purplestar133

dfurn wrote: »

Hi I'm just doing this transfer now. Can I ask now your money has arrived does the Virgin account show as 2% when you view it online? Currently mine says 0.1% but I imagine that's due to the funding not arriving yet.

Mine said that, then updated to 1.98% when my transfer funds had arrived and cleared. They showed in my account for a day before they showed as cleared.

While I'm talking about the interest...I'm going to ask a silly question again, why is the monthly interest rate 1.98% when it is 2% when paid annually? I know the APR is 2%, but can anyone just humour me and spell out why they are different?

DragonQ

If the interest is paid monthly it's compounded, so the actual rate will be lower to compensate. The AER rate is the important one, as it tells you what you'd get after a year including compounding.

The same is true of all accounts: Lloyds/BoS/TSB Vantage are 2.96% IIRC, which works out as 3% AER when compounded.

purplestar133

DragonQ wrote: »

If they interest is paid monthly it's compounded, so the actual rate will be lower to compensate. The AER rate is the important one, as it tells you what you'd get after a year including compounding.

The same is true of all accounts: Lloyds/BoS/TSB Vantage are 2.96% IIRC, which works out as 3% AER when compounded.

Thank you!