Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

refluxer

andyhicks88 said:

Also whilst I'm here I will ask about this, I currently have a 2 year Barclays Fixed ISA at 4.1%, which is flexible, obviously there are way better rates now so I'm wanting to move but there is the 180 day penalty to transfer. Would I be correct in thinking that it would be wise then to take advantage of the fact you make 3 penalty free withdrawals of 10% of the current balance before i transfer so that the balance is lower therefor the 180day charge will be lower? I can then just add what I have withdrawn back into the new ISA?   Is that correct or am I missing something?   Btw I only have about £2000 taken up of this years allowance, the full 20k from last year.

Yes, you can make the 3 x 10% withdrawals which would lower the balance and therefore presumably the transfer penalty but (as mentioned above) if you then transferred that ISA elsewhere, you'd lose the ISA status of those withdrawn funds and so paying them back into a different ISA would count towards your 2023-24 ISA allowance.

This would obviously be undesirable to someone who maxes out their ISA allowance each year because (depending on the sums we're talking about) you'd stand to lose a fairly big chunk of this year's £20k allowance. If you were OK with that though, then making those withdrawals would seem to be a way to reduce the penalty but, as always, make sure you do your calculations carefully to ensure you don't lose out. I would probably start with using the MSE 'ditch and switch' calculator to work out how much better or worse off you'd be with both the full balance and the balance less those withdrawals.

Speaking of this year's allowance - is this tax year's £2k in that same Barclays ISA or elsewhere ? If it's in the same ISA, then I'm not sure where you'd stand once you start making your 10% withdrawals - ie. can you withdraw 3 x ~£2k and claim that the 2023-24 £2k is still in the ISA and therefore you're going to transfer that money (along with the previous tax year subscriptions) to a new ISA and can continue to add the remainder of your 2023-24 allowance to it ? When you make partial transfers, you're often able to state whether the transfer includes this year's subscriptions or not but I don't know how this works with withdrawals, as I've no experience of making one. As you'd stand to lose the ISA status of those withdrawn funds anyway, then it may not make any difference one way of the other I guess but it's a possible complication that you'll at least need to consider in order to ensure you don't break any ISA rules.

pecunianonolet

Charter Easy Access ISA 4.75%
Charter 1 year fixed ISA 5.78%

Source: Moneyfacts

2010

Charter 1yr fix ISA has actually gone down from 5.80%.

The top one is still Virgin but it`s an exclusive at 5.85%.

andyhicks88

I think Shawbrook have slashed their rates now anyway so it's not worth me transferring from Barclays now I don't think. It's important that the ISA allows further additions because I won't have all the funds at one time.  Some have said Kent Reliance allow further deposits over the term but SavingsGuru seem to say no, so I'm not sure.

SickGroove

Typical, Shawbrook maturity email due today, just as they cut their rates!!!

bristolleedsfan

andyhicks88 said:

  Some have said Kent Reliance allow further deposits over the term but SavingsGuru seem to say no, so I'm not sure.

"Top up anytime within ISA limits"  - Key Facts

https://www.kentreliance.co.uk/isas/cash-isa-fixed-rate-1-year

pecunianonolet

SickGroove said:

Typical, Shawbrook maturity email due today, just as they cut their rates!!!

Quite a significant cut as well :-(

savit4l8er

Pleased I opened the 5.83 fix yesterday, had been mulling it over for a while, noticed a couple on here had opened one and it spurred me on. 

I called Shawbrook to check something, the person who answered my call was exceptional, a very easy conversation, didn't have to repeat anything. That's the second time I've called shawbrook as a relatively new customer, both calls have been greeted with the same quality, they seem select the correct people. They make opening 2nd or 3rd accounts so easy online. 

tillycat123

SickGroove said:

Typical, Shawbrook maturity email due today, just as they cut their rates!!!

Mine is due to mature 9th October - just logged into my account, clicked the 3 dots to see maturity options and the 5.83% rate is there for me to select a what I want it moved to at maturity 

MDMD

I know Virgin CS can be hit or miss but Ive had my fastest ever ISA transfer with them, from applying for the ISA exclusive at 5.85% at 10:50 (was about to apply for Shawbrook 5.83% but saw it got pulled) the money was in the account from RBS at 13:32.

i didn’t even have a VM CA this morning so even got that set up in 15 mins.