Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

dingling68

Good evening my fellow savers.

It has been a long time since I have made the best use of ISA's and have a quick question. I recently opened a couple of cash ISA's, one with current year's money and one that I transferred two older maturing accounts into. Neither of them were fixed term. There is now a higher interest rate available elsewhere, so is it ok to chase the rate? I am used to being a long term saver and feel a bit guilty for transferring out again so soon, but appreciate that that is down to me not the provider. Is being a "rate tart" as common for ISAs as it is for easy access accounts and the like? I am sure I am over thinking this, so thanks for reading 

nomorekids

dingling68 said:

Good evening my fellow savers.

It has been a long time since I have made the best use of ISA's and have a quick question. I recently opened a couple of cash ISA's, one with current year's money and one that I transferred two older maturing accounts into. Neither of them were fixed term. There is now a higher interest rate available elsewhere, so is it ok to chase the rate? I am used to being a long term saver and feel a bit guilty for transferring out again so soon, but appreciate that that is down to me not the provider. Is being a "rate tart" as common for ISAs as it is for easy access accounts and the like? I am sure I am over thinking this, so thanks for reading 

Arn't all we forumites rate tarts on here. Providers have to be used to it. 

pecunianonolet

Charter Savings Bank Easy Access Cash ISA - Issue 44 now 5.03% (£5k min), replacing issue 43 at 5.07%

orange-juice

Transfer to Zopa from Moneybox finally complete, having gone through Santander as an intermediate step.

Zopa seems to have a weird UI. You seem to be able to open as many pots as you'd like, but it's all under one Cash ISA? Any other Zopa Cash ISA users confirm that's how it works?

pecunianonolet

orange-juice said:

Transfer to Zopa from Moneybox finally complete, having gone through Santander as an intermediate step.

Zopa seems to have a weird UI. You seem to be able to open as many pots as you'd like, but it's all under one Cash ISA? Any other Zopa Cash ISA users confirm that's how it works?

May I ask why through Santander as an intermediary? 

I've got a Virgin ISA fix maturing in March and opened a Zopa ISA, but without any funding. I looked at the Zopa transfer in form and found it highly confusing.

refluxer

orange-juice said:

Transfer to Zopa from Moneybox finally complete, having gone through Santander as an intermediate step.

Zopa seems to have a weird UI. You seem to be able to open as many pots as you'd like, but it's all under one Cash ISA? Any other Zopa Cash ISA users confirm that's how it works?

Yes, Zopa allow you to spread your ISA funds across different (easy) 'Access' and 'Fixed Term' ISA pots - this is something that only a small number of ISA providers currently offer, although upcoming changes to the ISA rules will mean that you'll be able to pay new subscriptions into more than one cash ISA (with either the same or different providers) from 6th April this year.

The important thing to note with Zopa is that all of those pots are considered to be part of the same 'Smart ISA' (you get one reference number) and partial transfers out aren't allowed which means that if you ever want to transfer away to a different provider in future, then all the pots would have to be transferred at once and penalties will therefore apply if you have any Fixed Term ISA pots running at the time. 

I've currently got a single Fixed Term ISA pot running with Zopa so this doesn't affect me as such, but it does mean that I probably won't add money from future ISA allowances to an Access pot, as it would then be stuck with Zopa until my Fixed Term pot matures (if I wanted to avoid paying penalties to transfer away).

orange-juice

pecunianonolet said:

orange-juice said:

Transfer to Zopa from Moneybox finally complete, having gone through Santander as an intermediate step.

Zopa seems to have a weird UI. You seem to be able to open as many pots as you'd like, but it's all under one Cash ISA? Any other Zopa Cash ISA users confirm that's how it works?

May I ask why through Santander as an intermediary? 

Zopa didn’t have Moneybox listed as one of the providers that it could transfer a cash isa from, so I had an extra hoop to jump.🙃

I did wonder about transfer outs. Thanks for the clarity @refluxer

harz99

This thread seems to be veering a long way from it's purpose, surely all these questions are better asked in a completely new thread...

pecunianonolet

Just seen in the app Moneybox offers £25 cashback for opening an ISA (Cash or Stocks and Shares ISA) and paying or transferring in at least £500 by 31st January. They say you get £50 if you open both types. An in progress transfer counts.

Debating to transfer some funds from the 5.05% Cash ISA with Coventry to get the £25 cashback and it's a higher rate too with 5.09%, although the interest difference hardly makes a difference, even on 20k

Anyone done it or has experience with Moneybox ISA and transfer? Worth the hassle?

CuparLad

I didn't go with MoneyBox because the funds aren't held by them, but deposited with other financial institutions. Since I wanted to keep within the FSCS limit and I was already close to the limit with one of their partner institutions, it ruled them out.