Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

Shedman

qbadger said:

4.85%, limited access, flexible, existing customers only
https://www.monbs.com/savings/exclusive-one-access-cash-isa/

4.90%, limited access, flexible
Coventry building society, Four Access ISA (Online)

Where are you seeing the CovBS one..all I can see (even logged in) is 4.35% for Four Access ISA?

ColdIron

Available from mid-day

savit4l8er

pecunianonolet said:

dc_scotland said:

The Virgin Money Easy Access Cash ISA Exclusive (issue 2) is now paying 4.76%, up from 4.51%

I hope somebody can answer this question:

OH has opened a flexible ISA with Coventry last tax year and put the full 20k in. On the 6th of April £19.999 were taken out to use in other "open market" accounts, some was spent, etc. Aim was to max out PSA with higher rates before we pay back in to the ISA.

Since it is technically old money, OH should be able to transfer to a different provider at any point. 

The question is now, do the £19.999 need to be paid in to Coventry first and then a switch would be initiated to e.g. Virgin (flexible) or could the current balance of £1 be transferred and as part of that transfer the £19.999 allowance would transfer as well? 

Meaning that OH would just need to pay back the £19.999 now to Virgin instead of Coventry by the end of the tax year to keep the protection status.

From a HMRC perspective, 20k were under ISA protection on 5th April 2023 land all they care about is the balance on 5th April 2024. What happened in between with a flexible ISA  doesn't concern HMRC. 

However, do the banks work the same way?

The rule is the money must be paid back into the account it was withdrawn from. It must be paid back to Coventry before the transfer. 
If not, any repayment of funds that were withdrawn under the flexible ISA rules becomes impossible and funds paid in to the new provider will count towards the remaining ISA allowance.

pecunianonolet

Thanks all, looks like it's clear that funds need to go back first before moving to a new provider. However, would be interesting if moving from the current 4 access ISA @4.35% to the supposedly newly launched 4.9% with Coventry the same rules apply as it would be an internal transfer.

Expotter

savit4l8er said:

pecunianonolet said:

dc_scotland said:

The Virgin Money Easy Access Cash ISA Exclusive (issue 2) is now paying 4.76%, up from 4.51%

I hope somebody can answer this question:

OH has opened a flexible ISA with Coventry last tax year and put the full 20k in. On the 6th of April £19.999 were taken out to use in other "open market" accounts, some was spent, etc. Aim was to max out PSA with higher rates before we pay back in to the ISA.

Since it is technically old money, OH should be able to transfer to a different provider at any point. 

The question is now, do the £19.999 need to be paid in to Coventry first and then a switch would be initiated to e.g. Virgin (flexible) or could the current balance of £1 be transferred and as part of that transfer the £19.999 allowance would transfer as well? 

Meaning that OH would just need to pay back the £19.999 now to Virgin instead of Coventry by the end of the tax year to keep the protection status.

From a HMRC perspective, 20k were under ISA protection on 5th April 2023 land all they care about is the balance on 5th April 2024. What happened in between with a flexible ISA  doesn't concern HMRC. 

However, do the banks work the same way?

The rule is the money must be paid back into the account it was withdrawn from. It must be paid back to Coventry before the transfer. 
If not, any repayment of funds that were withdrawn under the flexible ISA rules becomes impossible and funds paid in to the new provider will count towards the remaining ISA allowance.

Correct.
The rules say "Replacement of flexible ISA previous year funds must be made to the account from which the withdrawal was made, and in the same tax year."

From https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-isa-subscriptions-for-your-investors#flexible-isas

r6mile

pecunianonolet said:

Thanks all, looks like it's clear that funds need to go back first before moving to a new provider. However, would be interesting if moving from the current 4 access ISA @4.35% to the supposedly newly launched 4.9% with Coventry the same rules apply as it would be an internal transfer.

Within the same provider things are different. Coventry says: 

You can’t transfer your flexible ISA allowance to another provider

If your ISA is flexible, you create a ‘flexible ISA allowance’ when you take out money from your previous year's savings - this allowance only applies to that ISA.

If you transfer the ISA to another provider and close the account, you lose any flexible ISA allowance you've created. 

To me that implies that if you move to another account within the same provider, you will keep the allowance - but might be worth calling Coventry to check.

pecunianonolet

r6mile said:

pecunianonolet said:

Thanks all, looks like it's clear that funds need to go back first before moving to a new provider. However, would be interesting if moving from the current 4 access ISA @4.35% to the supposedly newly launched 4.9% with Coventry the same rules apply as it would be an internal transfer.

Within the same provider things are different. Coventry says: 

You can’t transfer your flexible ISA allowance to another provider

If your ISA is flexible, you create a ‘flexible ISA allowance’ when you take out money from your previous year's savings - this allowance only applies to that ISA.

If you transfer the ISA to another provider and close the account, you lose any flexible ISA allowance you've created. 

To me that implies that if you move to another account within the same provider, you will keep the allowance - but might be worth calling Coventry to check.

Thanks, I am waiting for the new one to be online and we'll inquire about that. 

jpsman

Just opened a Coventry Four Access 4.9% ISA and noticed they've set my existing Limited Access ISA 4.35% as 'inactive' - I only opened it in July! And transferred in and out just last week. Strange, but not sure if they've set it that way before or since I opened the Four Access ISA. Just thought I'd mention it in case this has happened to anyone else and might indicate they're about to make the Limited Access ISA closed to new deposits?

cadguy77

jpsman said:

Just opened a Coventry Four Access 4.9% ISA and noticed they've set my existing Limited Access ISA 4.35% as 'inactive' - I only opened it in July! And transferred in and out just last week. Strange, but not sure if they've set it that way before or since I opened the Four Access ISA. Just thought I'd mention it in case this has happened to anyone else and might indicate they're about to make the Limited Access ISA closed to new deposits?

This is due to only being allowed 1 'ACTIVE' cash ISA per year

pecunianonolet

savit4l8er said:

pecunianonolet said:

dc_scotland said:

The Virgin Money Easy Access Cash ISA Exclusive (issue 2) is now paying 4.76%, up from 4.51%

I hope somebody can answer this question:

OH has opened a flexible ISA with Coventry last tax year and put the full 20k in. On the 6th of April £19.999 were taken out to use in other "open market" accounts, some was spent, etc. Aim was to max out PSA with higher rates before we pay back in to the ISA.

Since it is technically old money, OH should be able to transfer to a different provider at any point. 

The question is now, do the £19.999 need to be paid in to Coventry first and then a switch would be initiated to e.g. Virgin (flexible) or could the current balance of £1 be transferred and as part of that transfer the £19.999 allowance would transfer as well? 

Meaning that OH would just need to pay back the £19.999 now to Virgin instead of Coventry by the end of the tax year to keep the protection status.

From a HMRC perspective, 20k were under ISA protection on 5th April 2023 land all they care about is the balance on 5th April 2024. What happened in between with a flexible ISA  doesn't concern HMRC. 

However, do the banks work the same way?

The rule is the money must be paid back into the account it was withdrawn from. It must be paid back to Coventry before the transfer. 
If not, any repayment of funds that were withdrawn under the flexible ISA rules becomes impossible and funds paid in to the new provider will count towards the remaining ISA allowance.

Right, phoned Coventry and they looked up the T&C's for me. They state that funds need to be repaid when transferring to a different provider. On the question if the flexible element would also transfer between accounts internally they had to double check with back office.

The only option is:

Pay back in the sum which has been taken out, in this case into the old 4.35% account, to reach the original funding level (20k plus any interest gained since opening). Once paid back in a transfer and close could be arranged and the old ISA at 4.35% would close and it all would move into the new 4.9% account. Once done we could withdraw again and a new flexible agreement would be created. Any funds taken out would again need to be repaid by the end of the tax year to remain ISA protected. The current tax year allowance remains untouched (not used yet).

Probably have to leave it and hope this account will be around for a bit as all the cash is tied up in much higher paying regular savers and fixes at the moment.

Obviously, the easiest would be if the rate on the old account would increase