Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

Kazza242

stuartw101 wrote: »

Hopefully i will open an account with Barclays in the next couple of days....I have a card plus account with Natwest which is a pretty basic account as i can't use cheques and can only withdraw around £250 from a cash machine. Any ideas how i can go about this?

The Barclays ISA terms and conditions state:-

2.2 The minimum deposit is £1 by transfer from another account, standing order, cheque, or by paying a cash amount into any barclays branch.

Pop into your local Barclays branch with relevant ID documents and a printout of the completed application form. According to the T&C's it should be possible to pay in an initial deposit of a minimum £1 in cash. Once your ISA is open you will be given an account number and sort code. The T&C's seem to indicate that it should be possible to create a standing order from your Natwest current account to pay funds into your Barclays ISA. *Please check this with a Barclays personal banker when you visit a branch.

stuartw101 wrote:

Does NS&I accept transfers to their ISA's?

No, they don't accept transfers.

Kazza242

groverjoe wrote: »

I've always found this ISA rule a little confusing - say for example in 07/08 I open a brand new ISA and deposit £2000, yet later decide I need to withdraw £500 for spending. Can a transfer to a new provider take place within the same tax year, as I now only have a balance of £1500, or would they only accept a transfer if I had the full £2000 originally deposited?

Making a withdrawal from your ISA won't prevent you from transferring it to another provider. Here's an example of how the rule I referred to works:

Assume we are in the new tax year for 2007/08:

You have an existing ISA worth £3K from 2006/07 tax year and you open a new one after April 6th 2007 with an initial £2,500. As we would be in the 2007/08 tax year you would be allowed to transfer all or part of your 2006/07 existing ISA because it will no longer have been opened in the current tax year. If you wished to transfer your 2007/08 ISA (during the 07/08 tax year) you could, but you would have to transfer it whole (i.e. £2,500) not just part of it.

ukdutypaid

Sorry Kazza,
Did you miss this one, or is there a catch I haven't seen?
FirstDirect 5.75% AER, fixed until March 1st 08. Transfers in and transfers out fee free. So I'm taking an old issue A&L ISA into it, then I'll watch n wait....

http://firstdirect.com/saveinvest/mini_cash_isa.shtml?WT.ac=ISA0124

Kazza242

ukdutypaid wrote: »

Sorry Kazza,
Did you miss this one, or is there a catch I haven't seen?
FirstDirect 5.75% AER, fixed until March 1st 08. Transfers in and transfers out fee free. So I'm taking an old issue A&L ISA into it, then I'll watch n wait....

http://firstdirect.com/saveinvest/mini_cash_isa.shtml?WT.ac=ISA0124

Hi ukdutypaid - There's no need to apologise. Thanks for your suggestion. I had seen the First Direct fixed ISA, but I didn't include it in the list because the rate has to be at least 5.80%, for it to be worthwhile fixing. As a number of variable rate ISAs are now paying in the region of 5.71%+ and the best 1 year fixes range from 5.85% - 6.01% I decided not to include it.

Also as the First Direct ISA is only fixed until 1st March it doesn't quite make it into the list because its only fixed for 11 months. Cheshire Building society offer a 12 month fixed rate ISA paying 5.75%.

ukdutypaid

Ahhh yes, got you... Suppose it was the flexibility of the FD one that appealed. No min deposit, instant access, instant penalty free withdrawals....
Think there are a few restrictions to the Coventry one and the Northern Rock one is 30 days notice also..

No reply necessary here now though. I think you've done enough hard work to be honest. "Nuff respec", as they say...

stuartw101

Finally decided to go with NS&I mainly because they don't accept transfer from other isa's which would mean if i went with barclays i wouldn't be able to move the amount to NS&I. Also save the hassle of transferring etc.

Thanks to everyone's help, been looking at investing in an isa for a long time now but finally have due to the help from MSE

Kimberley

Kazza242 wrote: »

The Barclays 6.50% Tax Beater ISA is definitely a good one to look into. It allows you to operate it via any Barclays branch:

Barclays ISA terms and conditions:-


Also, at 6.50% your money will be earning a very high rate of (tax-free) interest, paid on the first working day of each month.

Thank you, do i apply on the 5 April or before?

Kazza242

Kimberley wrote: »

Thank you, do i apply on the 5 April or before?

I would open it before the 5th April (if possible), then from Apr 6th '07 to Apr 5th '08 you could deposit up to another £3,000. Also, as the Barclays ISA had been very popular with savers, it could be withdrawn at any time, so I wouldn't delay.

gelato_cat

I was having the same dilemma (NS&I for 2006-7) but have decided to go with Barclays for 2007-8.

Reasoning:
- Barclays pays more interest at this moment
- We'd need another two 0.25 percentage point increases in base rate for the NS&I rate to be better than the Barclays one
- If this happens, NS&I will be 0.15% better than Barclays. I won't lose too much sleep over that (the rest of my cash is with YBS at 5.65%)
- If base goes even higher and looks like staying there for a while, I can transfer out of Barclays

If there's one thing I've learnt from this website, it's that the flavour of the month is constantly changing and I can't afford to snooze (I left my money with Halifax WAY too long). Therefore my strategy is generally to go for the highest rate when faced with a group of similar accounts. The exception is when I'm switching for a low amount and/or I have heard horror stories about bad service, hence why I am not going to switch my YBS ISA to an Abbey one for the sake of 0.10%. I have heard good and bad things about opening the Barclays ISA and will take my chances.

If base rate goes through the ceiling, there is bound to be a bank or BS who raises their ISA rate above what Barclays is offering today and lets you transfer in.

Could be wrong though - be interested to hear others' views.

Suze

stuartw101 wrote:

Finally decided to go with NS&I mainly because they don't accept transfer from other isa's which would mean if i went with barclays i wouldn't be able to move the amount to NS&I. Also save the hassle of transferring etc.

clare_r21

your advice is really great..what do you think about the Abbey super ISA 8.1% ? I think i could at a stretch be able to invest £3k in this as well as the £3k in the ISA in a year,but is this the best place to stick £3k for a minimum of 3 years,or would i be better off putting it in a high interest account? It's just that the 8.1% is so tempting! If I don't go with that I think I'll prob put 'new money' into the barclays ISA...i currently have a NS&I ISA