Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

lisyloo

Ok, thanks for the correction guys.
My situation is different as I've completed this years subscription.

lisyloo

colsten wrote: »

What would be the benefit of keeping the account open?

To use from April 2017 without having to open a new ISA account if the Leeds is closed to new money.

I have a mortgage with FD also which I need to pay off Nov 2018 so it's highly convenient to have it in the same bank and DH hates form filling with a passion.

Obviously if there is something massively better in April then I'll review.

Why? Is there a reason I shouldn't keep it open for future use?

I appreciate your time.

colsten

It's already a dreadful rate, and there no doubt will be many better places to put money into next April than a cash ISA. I'd save outside an ISA and only put money into an ISA at the end of March 2018.

lisyloo

I see what you are saying.
Most of our money goes in equities, most of it into pensions via salary sacrifice (so 20+12+13.8=45.8% uplift).
However we do need to keep a little in cash for outgoings.
I agree ISA rates are poor, but there are long term lifetime tax benefits and it can be moved to equities inside the tax free wrapper.
I agree there are higher cash rates, but IMO I don't think they are better, but that depends of course on what is better for an individual.

For example if I get an inheritance I might move my cash ISAs into an equity ISA and they are then tax free for life.

Thanks for taking the time to explain though.
I appreciate that it could go into an ISA at the end of a tax year.

masonic

lisyloo wrote: »

I agree ISA rates are poor, but there are long term lifetime tax benefits and it can be moved to equities inside the tax free wrapper.
I agree there are higher cash rates, but IMO I don't think they are better, but that depends of course on what is better for an individual.

One can get the best of both worlds by flexibly withdrawing from a cash ISA for the majority of each tax year.

Chippy

Thank you all for your advice. We have already exhausted the higher rate bank accounts so happy to keep it in an ISA for now.
I'm a little confused by the advice to leave £1 in the account as I'm pretty sure the other advice is to leave the £200+ there or I would be investing this years money into the fixed rate account which would prevent me adding the remaining £15000+ later in the year?

masonic

Chippy wrote: »

I'm a little confused by the advice to leave £1 in the account as I'm pretty sure the other advice is to leave the £200+ there or I would be investing this years money into the fixed rate account which would prevent me adding the remaining £15000+ later in the year?

On your transfer form, you should say no to transferring current year subscriptions. Leaving those behind will allow you to continue contributing to the FD ISA.

1kevfp

I have been an FD customer since they were set up and always had great service and choice of products but feel they are losing their direction when it comes to value. The bulk of our savings WERE with FD but now with Santander * .I still have 20k in an ISA with FD @1.30% - until October when it drops to a "competetive?" (Ha) 0.90% = .15% more than the base rate cut which I feel is grossly unfair so will probably ditch it for a years punt in Premium Bonds to see if I fair any better

* Santander have stated on their web they will only apply the base rate cut to ALL products

lisyloo

masonic wrote: »

One can get the best of both worlds by flexibly withdrawing from a cash ISA for the majority of each tax year.

Thanks for the info.
My priorities are liquidity (I haven't wanted to sell any equities for about 12 months but did yesterday - for me that was a bit of a lesson. I knew they weren't liquid but I didn't expect to have to wait one year for a good opportunity).
My other priority is maintaining the ISA allowances which whilst they don't appear terribly useful right now can be transferred to equities and may be useful over the rest of my/our lifetime especially if our circumstances changed - for example we came into an inheritance.
Making a few pennies from cash is a fairly low priority for me/us, but useful indeed to know you can have the best of both worlds.

Froggitt

1kevfp wrote: »

I have been an FD customer since they were set up and always had great service and choice of products but feel they are losing their direction when it comes to value. The bulk of our savings WERE with FD but now with Santander * .I still have 20k in an ISA with FD @1.30% - until October when it drops to a "competetive?" (Ha) 0.90% = .15% more than the base rate cut which I feel is grossly unfair so will probably ditch it for a years punt in Premium Bonds to see if I fair any better

* Santander have stated on their web they will only apply the base rate cut to ALL products

Apart from the regular saver, FD savings products have been shoite for the past ten to fifteen years. They have never been close to having my yearly ISA allowance, despite me being a customer there for 20+ years.