Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

Eirambler

I'd still bank with Virgin every day of the week before I'd go near Metro. 85k protection is a useful backup to have for peace of mind, but you could be waiting a while to be paid back so I'd much rather bank with an organisation where I'm confident that it will never be needed. Which therefore instantly rules out Metro for me.

duckson

Gatehouse 5.15% not available, under review.

subjecttocontract

Eirambler said:

I'd still bank with Virgin every day of the week before I'd go near Metro. 85k protection is a useful backup to have for peace of mind, but you could be waiting a while to be paid back so I'd much rather bank with an organisation where I'm confident that it will never be needed. Which therefore instantly rules out Metro for me.

No UK bank or building society has ever gone bust but if they did the FSCS says that they aim to pay out within 7 days. The guarantee is £170K for joint accounts. I feel so negative about Virgin that I would prefer to bank with virtually anyone before choosing them.....I wouldn't touch Virgin with your bargepole.

Dustykitten

I have a Coventry fixed isa at 3.9% not maturing until February 2025.  Obviously not great now.  I know there is a 180 interest penalty fee.  Does this mean I would still get interest on the days since last interest paid (May 2023) but would then lose it plus a little or that you don't get the interest and pay the penalty - hope this makes sense. Trying to work out how much higher the potential new isa would need to be paying to make it worthwhile, thanks.

lucky77

Hinckley & Rugby 5 year 4.9% FR ISA - If you are thinking of transferring isa to H&R please note they do not allow transfers in from other organisations:

"At the time of opening you may add existing Hinckley & Rugby ISA funds.

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society does not accept the transfer of ISAs from other savings organisations."

Ocelot

Dustykitten said:

I have a Coventry fixed isa at 3.9% not maturing until February 2025.  Obviously not great now.  I know there is a 180 interest penalty fee.  Does this mean I would still get interest on the days since last interest paid (May 2023) but would then lose it plus a little or that you don't get the interest and pay the penalty - hope this makes sense. Trying to work out how much higher the potential new isa would need to be paying to make it worthwhile, thanks.

You would lose a sum commensurate to 180 day's interest if transferring. You would not additionally lose other interest.

For example if you had 10,000 at 4%, with an 180 day penalty, you'd pay 197.26 only (180/365 * 400), irrespective of how much interest you may or may not have already earned on the ISA.

subjecttocontract

Dustykitten said:

I have a Coventry fixed isa at 3.9% not maturing until February 2025.  Obviously not great now.  I know there is a 180 interest penalty fee.  Does this mean I would still get interest on the days since last interest paid (May 2023) but would then lose it plus a little or that you don't get the interest and pay the penalty - hope this makes sense. Trying to work out how much higher the potential new isa would need to be paying to make it worthwhile, thanks.

Assuming you are 9 months into a 2 year ISA @3.9%pa with a 180 day penalty and starting with £50K you'd  need a new ISA paying around 5.5% to break even at 24 months.

Reed_Richards

Ocelot said:

You would lose a sum commensurate to 180 day's interest if transferring. You would not additionally lose other interest.

For example if you had 10,000 at 4%, with an 180 day penalty, you'd pay 197.26 only (180/365 * 400), irrespective of how much interest you may or may not have already earned on the ISA.

But the calculation is usually made from the date of closure so the £10,000 in the above example would be the amount in your account after all accrued interest up until the date of closure had been added.

kjs31

I would like to transfer my cash ISA into Metro Bank’s 12 month fix. I can’t work out whether I need to subscribe for the current year or not but assuming I need to can I just not pay anything in for this year and take out another cash ISA later if I want to? I have a sharesave maturing in January that I’m going to put into my stocks and shares ISA to avoid capital gains tax so I won’t know how much of my current year’s subscription I have left until that’s done so can’t subscribe to the current year yet. 

“Save as little as £1 and as much as £20,000 in your Fixed Rate Cash ISA. Plus, you can transfer in money from previous years’ ISAs.”

The above implies that I need to pay in this year. It’s an open in branch thing so I can’t just go through an online application to check. Anyone opened one in branch and did you need to pay something in from the get go? 

refluxer

kjs31 said:

I would like to transfer my cash ISA into Metro Bank’s 12 month fix. I can’t work out whether I need to subscribe for the current year or not but assuming I need to can I just not pay anything in for this year and take out another cash ISA later if I want to? I have a sharesave maturing in January that I’m going to put into my stocks and shares ISA to avoid capital gains tax so I won’t know how much of my current year’s subscription I have left until that’s done so can’t subscribe to the current year yet. 

“Save as little as £1 and as much as £20,000 in your Fixed Rate Cash ISA. Plus, you can transfer in money from previous years’ ISAs.”

The above implies that I need to pay in this year. It’s an open in branch thing so I can’t just go through an online application to check. Anyone opened one in branch and did you need to pay something in from the get go? 

I'm not familiar with Metro but, provided they work in the same way as all other ISA providers who accept transfers (and I couldn't see anything in the account terms that suggests otherwise), then a transfer-in should be sufficient to fund the account and there shouldn't be a requirement to pay in anything from the current tax year's ISA allowance.

If that's the case, then the statement you quoted could be reworded like this in order to make things a bit clearer... “Save as little as £1 and as much as £20,000 in your Fixed Rate Cash ISA and/or you can transfer in money from previous years’ ISAs.”

If you need further reassurance, their fixed rate ISA T&Cs actually state "There is no minimum amount required to open a Fixed Rate Cash ISA".