Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

bristolleedsfan

Virgin Money 2 Year Fixed Rate Cash E-ISA Issue 561  - 4.26%

2010

Shawbrook ISA`s

• We're temporarily removing our ISA range from sale at 3pm on Monday 3 April
• Deposits for the current 2022/23 tax year need to be received by 3pm on Wednesday 5 April in order to be credited this tax year. Deposits must be sent from your nominated account
• Deposits for the 2023/24 tax year should be sent on or after April 6 2023

flobbalobbalob

Why do Santander need to send me a cash card to open an eISA

refluxer

flobbalobbalob said:

Why do Santander need to send me a cash card to open an eISA

I've not come across that with an ISA before, but it does say that "a cash card can be requested or the account can be linked to an existing Santander card".

Considering that the eISA isn't flexible, I'm not sure how useful a card with it would actually be but there must be people who presumably like to use it as a normal bank account ? That would seem like a bit of a waste of the £20k ISA allowance to me, though.

flobbalobbalob

Yes Santander say it can be requested when applying, but will not let you proceed without checking that option or linking to an existing card. I already have the eSaver with no card or link.

Nick_C

flobbalobbalob said:

Why do Santander need to send me a cash card to open an eISA

I'll see your Santander, and raise you  Yorkshire Building Society, who insisted on giving me a passbook (!) for a new ISA that I had to open in branch because their IT system didn't recognise that I have been with them for 15 years when I tried to open it on line.  Very 19th Century. 

pookey

So many ISA options that I'm not sure which to choose. I have 20k, I don't think I'll need it so happy to fix it with Santander at 4.15%. 
However tempted with Yorkshire BS variable which is going up to 4.25%, it allows 6 withdrawal per year. It has flexibility but the rate might drop so I'm trying to decide which is best. Realistically I wouldn't need to touch the money and if I did, Santander penalises with 120 days loss of interest.
Can anyone give me their thoughts please? 😊

Nick_C

@Pookey

I went with Yorkshire because cash is there for emergencies.  (Money that I'm certain I don't need in the short term is invested.)

With YBS, I can get the money if I need it.  And because it is a flexible ISA, I can replace any funds that I withdraw.

refluxer

pookey said:

So many ISA options that I'm not sure which to choose. I have 20k, I don't think I'll need it so happy to fix it with Santander at 4.15%. 
However tempted with Yorkshire BS variable which is going up to 4.25%, it allows 6 withdrawal per year. It has flexibility but the rate might drop so I'm trying to decide which is best. Realistically I wouldn't need to touch the money and if I did, Santander penalises with 120 days loss of interest.
Can anyone give me their thoughts please? 😊

Presumably that's the Yorkshire Six Access Saver eISA you're talking about ? You'd need to have been an existing member for a year to qualify for that one but if you do then that's a great deal, with a rate similar to fixing but with some access and flexibility. It's accounts like that that make me think it would be worth joining the Yorkshire now so that I'd qualify for something similar in a year's time.

Saying that - I do tend to favour fixed rate ISAs so that's probably the option I would choose now that interest rates seem to be topping off, but I only lock money away that I know I definitely won't need access to because the penalties for doing so are usually pretty severe. When going down the fixed route, I think it's important that you have enough accessible funds elsewhere to ensure you won't need access to the ISA money.

If you think there's even a small chance that you might need to access the money, then the Yorkshire ISA would seem to be the way to go. The only downside is, as you say, that the rate could drop but I don't get the impression that any big BoE rate decreases are on the cards just yet. If the rate did drop then you'd obviously lose out compared to fixing for a year, but you'll almost certainly be better off with that Yorkshire account than if you'd put it in another (instant access) Easy Access Cash ISA, the best of which are currently around 1% lower than the rate you say that Yorkshire Six Access ISA is due to rise to. 

It's a gamble whatever you do, so the key is just to make the best-informed decision you can at the time and accept there's no guarantee that it'll turn out to be the best one !

pecunianonolet

The YBS one is great but if you're not qualified due to membership I would look into Coventry. Flexible ISA with 3.25% from 4th April and you have 6 withdrawals there too.