Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

keep_it_simple

Kazza242 wrote: »

Mini Cash ISAs: The Best ISAs Currently Available List

I don't know about anyone else, but with all the cash ISA launches it's getting more difficult to decide which one(s) to choose. I thought it might be useful to list the options available in one place, as it makes it easier to compare them and make the right choice(s):

**Please note: The list of ISAs I have compiled below is continually updated. New ISAs are added as they launch and withdrawn ISAs will be removed from the list.**

You should be aware that Moneysupermarket* provides a daily updated list of all ISAs (over 450) across the entire market, though be aware that Moneysupermarket's listings may be affected by its commercial links (unlike Moneysavingexpert.com) so for the most up-to-date results, please also consult Martin's article: The Best Mini-Cash ISA. *This link helps the site - For more details read how this site is financed.

Also, check out Moneyfacts' New Mini Cash ISAs Savings Search and their Transfer an existing ISA Search. Simply input your search criteria and Moneyfacts will return a list of ISAs for you. For further information on mini cash ISAs, check out the following factsheet, here.

The mini cash ISA limit is now £3,600 per tax year.


Mini cash isa's for 'new money' only (i.e. they don't accept transfers in):

• Barclays Tax Haven ISA - 6.25%
  Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Telephone or Branch.
  Important: Includes a 12 month introductory bonus of 1%.
• HSBC Cash e-ISA - 6.25%
  Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Internet.
• Egg cash ISA - 6.05%
  Rate guarantee? Yes, but not at the current rate. Will be at least equal to BOE base rate until 05.04.09.
  Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Internet.
• Derbyshire Loyalty ISA - 5.75%
  Rate guarantee? Yes, but not at the current rate. Guarantees to pay BOE base rate + 0.75% until 5th April 2009 and then track base rate. Minimum deposit: £10. Operated via: Internet and Telephone.
  Notes: No withdrawals allowed.
  Important: To qualify for the 5.75% rate you must be a Derbyshire BS member of at least 120 months.
• NS&I Direct ISA - 5.30%
  Rate guarantee? Yes. Guarantees to pay BOE base rate + 0.30% until 5th April 2009. Minimum deposit: £1,000. Minimum further deposit £250 (£100 by standing order).
  Operated via: Internet and Telephone.
  
  
  Fixed rate mini cash isa's for 'new money' only (i.e. they don't accept transfers in):
  
  
  1 Year Fixes:
• Darlington BS 1 Year Fixed Rate ISA 2 - 6.00% AER :starmod: NEW :starmod:
  Minimum deposit: £3,600.
  Notes: Pays 6.50% gross fixed until 31 January 2009 and then reverts to 5.50% gross fixed until 31 July 2009. The Annual Equivalent Rate is 6.00%.
• Bradford & Bingley 1 Year Fixed Rate ISA - 6.25%
  Minimum deposit: £3,600.
  Notes: Fixed for one year from account opening.
• Birmingham Midshires 1 Year Fixed Rate ISA - 6.15%
  Minimum deposit: £1.
  Notes: Fixed for one year following the first deposit. Annual and monthly interest options available.
• Coventry BS Call Save 1 Year Fixed Rate ISA - 6.00%
  Minimum deposit: £3,600.
  Notes: Fixed until 31st May 2009.
  
  
  
  Variable rate mini cash isa's that accept transfers in:
• Post Office Cash ISA - 6.25% :starmod: NEW :starmod:
  Rate guarantee? Yes, but not at the current rate. Guaranteed to track changes in Base Rate until 01.01.2010. Also guaranteed not to be more than 1% below base rate for the life of the account.
  Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Branch, Post or Telephone.
  Notes: Rate includes a 1.50% bonus payable for 12 months.
• Alliance & Leicester Easy ISA - 6.00%
  Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Internet and Telephone.
  Notes: Rate includes a 1.00% bonus payable to 31.09.2009.
• IceSave Easy Access ISA - 6.10%
  Rate guarantee? Yes, but not at the current rate. Guarantees to be at least 0.30% above BOE base rate until 31st January 2011 and then at least BOE base rate until 31st January 2013.
  Minimum deposit: £1,000. Operated via: Internet.
• Abbey Direct ISA (issue 2) - 6.00%
  Rate guarantee? Yes. Enhanced rate for 13 months following which the rate will reduce depending on amount invested.
  Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Internet and Telephone and Post.
  Notes: Can be opened but not operated via an Abbey branch.
• Birmingham Midshires Direct ISA (issue 3) - 6.00%
  Rate guarantee? Yes, but not at the current rate. Rate guaranteed to beat AER on ING Direct Cash ISA by at least 0.25% until 01.01.2010.
  No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Post.
  Notes: Your interest is calculated daily and credited annually on the anniversary of your first deposit.
• Principality BS e-ISA - 6.00%
  Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Internet.
  Important: Initial deposit must be by cheque. Transfers in are permitted subject to a deposit for 2007/08 ISA year being made simultaneously.
• Kent Reliance BS Direct mini cash ISA - 5.76%
  Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Post.
• Leek BS Tax Friendly ISA - 5.25%
  Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £10. Operated via: Branch.
  
  
  Variable rate mini cash isa's requiring notice to be given & accepting transfers in:
  
  In order to withdraw from or transfer a notice mini cash ISA you do need to give the required number of days notice. Failing to do so, usually incurs a loss of interest penalty. If you are choosing a notice ISA please ensure you are able to meet the notice period.
• Ruffler Bank (30 days notice) cash ISA - 6.25% AER
  Rate guarantee? No.
  Minimum deposit: Now reduced to £3,600 see here. Operated via: Post.
  Important: Have not subscribed to the Banking Code, but is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
• Saffron BS (180 days notice) mini cash ISA 2 - 5.55%
  Rate guarantee? Yes. Guarantees to pay BOE base rate + 0.55% for balances over £1,000. Minimum deposit: £1,000. Operated via: Branch or Post.
  Important: As it's name states, this isa required 180 days notice to be given.
  
  
  Fixed rate mini cash isa's that accept transfers in:
  
  If you are choosing a fixed rate mini cash ISA - do ensure that you can leave the money untouched until the ISA matures, as making a withdrawal or transferring out before the ISA has matured will usually incur a loss of interest penalty.
  
  1 Year Fixes:
• Bath BS Premier ISA - 6.15% (fixed until 05.04.2009).:starmod:NEW :starmod:
  Minimum deposit: £1.
• Birmingham Midshires Fixed Rate ISA - 6.15%
  Minimum deposit: £1.
  Notes: Fixed for one year from ISA opening.
• Northern Rock Fixed Rate ISA - 6.10% (fixed until 15.07.2009) :starmod:NEW :starmod:
  Minimum deposit: £1.
  Notes: The Bank of England has given emergency financial support to Northern Rock to help with it's cash flow. For more info read the BBC Q&A: Northern Rock crisis.
• Halifax Fixed Rate ISA - 6.00% (fixed for 1 year from opening date) :starmod:NEW :starmod:
  Minimum deposit: £30,000+.
• Norwich & Peterborough BS 1 Year Fixed Rate ISA - 5.85%
  Minimum deposit: £3,600.
  Notes: Fixed for one year from account opening.
  
  
  2 Year Fixes:
• Principality BS Direct Fixed rate ISA (issue 39) - 6.28% (fixed until 05.04.2010) :starmod:NEW :starmod:
  Minimum deposit: £3,600.
  
  
  3 Year Fixes:
• 
  ]Northern Rock Fixed Rate ISA - 6.10% (fixed until 15.08.2011) :starmod:NEW :starmod:
  Minimum deposit: £500+.
  
  
  Mini cash isa's that accept transfers in (with strict conditions applied)
• Abbey Super ISA (issue 2) - 7.75%
  Rate guarantee? Yes. Then reverts to a Direct ISA after 13 months.
  Minimum deposit: £1,500. Operated via: Post, Internet and Telephone.
  Important: You have to deposit the same amount into the Guaranteed Growth Plan (this money is tied up for 3 years).
  *Personally, I would avoid this ISA.*
  
  
  Regular Savings mini cash isa's (with strict conditions applied)
  
  These ISAs are aimed at savers who don’t have a lump sum available to deposit at the outset. They usually require a deposit be made into the ISA each month. Often a higher rate of interest is given, but restrictions often apply to the number of withdrawals and missed deposits made, which if exceeded can mean a dramatic drop in the rate of interest paid.
• First Direct Regular Saver ISA - 7.00% :starmod: NEW :starmod:
  Rate guarantee? Yes, rate is fixed for 12 months.
  Minimum operating deposit: £10. Min - Max monthly deposit: £25 - £300.
  Further additions permitted? No. Payments must come from the First Direct 1st account.
  Operated via: Internet, Post or Telephone.
  Number of Monthly Payments Required (per annum): 12.
  Number of withdrawals permitted (per annum): 0.
  Penalty for missing the required number of payments: Regular Saver ISA is closed and transferred to a cash ISA.
  Penalty for exceeding the maximum number of withdrawals: N/A.
• Scarborough BS My Savings ISA - 6.00% :staradmin NEW RATE :staradmin
  Rate guarantee? Yes, but not at the current rate. Guarantees to be no more than 1% below the BOE Base Rate.
  Minimum operating deposit: £10. Min - Max monthly deposit: £10 - £300.
  Further additions permitted? Yes, unlimited additional payments permitted provided £250 pm not exceeded.
  Operated via: Branch and Post.
  Number of Monthly Payments Required (per annum): 10.
  Number of withdrawals permitted (per annum): 1.
  Penalty for missing the required number of payments: 3.00% loss.
  Penalty for exceeding the maximum number of withdrawals: 3.00% loss.

If anyone can think of any other ISAs I may have missed please do suggest them.

Hi

Dont think I,ve done this properly. So please feel free to amend.

I was just checking the terms and conditions for this ISA and the last one is you must pay £10 per month banking fee for the 1st 12 months so please beware.

HTH

Paul_Herring

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Hi

Dont think I,ve done this properly. So please feel free to amend.

I was just checking the terms and conditions for this ISA and the last one is you must pay £10 per month banking fee for the 1st 12 months so please beware.

HTH

http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/regular-saver-isa-indetail.shtml

anything else I need to know?

For at least the first 12 months, you must hold a first direct 1st Account from which to make your monthly payments.

Within the first 12 months, the monthly Banking Fee of £10 on our 1st Account will not be waived as a result of you having a Regular Saver ISA. Thereafter, for any month in which you hold the account, you will not have to pay the Banking Fee. The fee will, of course, be waived during the first 12 months if you meet any of the other Banking Fee waiver criteria.

However:

http://www.firstdirect.com/1st-account/in-detail-charges.shtml

our charges

Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but it's free when you pay in at least £1,500 to your 1st Account each month, or hold a selected first direct additional product, or maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,500.

All they're saying is that the ISA doesn't count as an 'additional product.'

MarkyMarkD

Principality BS e-ISA - 6.00%
Rate guarantee? No. Minimum deposit: £1. Operated via: Internet.
Important: Initial deposit must be by cheque. Transfers in are permitted subject to a deposit for 2007/08 ISA year being made simultaneously.

This can't be right as we are now in the 08/09 tax year.

Kazza242

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

This can't be right as we are now in the 08/09 tax year.

Yes, that stipulation was added during the 2007/08 tax year. I've updated it to 2008/09.

Cheers.

steady__eddie

I reckon that it's about time that I transferred my Derbyshire LOYALTY I.S.A. :rolleyes:

Innys

Kazza242 wrote: »

The first post of this thread has been updated to include the new Post Office mini cash ISA, paying 6.25%. The rate includes a 1.50% bonus payable for the first 12 months.

A number of ISA rates have changed this week, so they have all been updated too.

Hi

Thanks for this. Does anyone know if this ISA has a fee for transferring out to another provider?

Thanks

I

Kazza242

Innys wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for this. Does anyone know if this ISA has a fee for transferring out to another provider?

Thanks

I

At the time of writing this post, the Post Office website is down:

"Post Office Service update
Our website is temporarily unavailable. Full service should be restored very soon. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you".

However, the Moneyfacts website states that there is no transfer out fee. See here.

ruthd23

I have been looking for a good deal for my daughter and came across this yesterday which appears not to have hit the best buy tables yet.

IF are offering a rate of 6.4% with a starting amount of £1, access to withdraw the money and transfers in. As far as I can tell from their website the only stipulation is that the transactions have to be made online. This seems on the face of it a better deal than the other 'best buys' around at the mo.

I will probably get her to do the application this week, will report back if any unforseen obstacles.

Ruth

ruthd23

OK, went back and checked it again on the IF site, and can see I was fooled by the first three letters of the name 'isaver' (maybe that's what they want you to think) - this is the product that has 6.4, whilst the real cash ISA rate is only a pedestrian 5.1, so sorry if anybody was temporarily excited there (besides me!).

Just reminds me to read it at least twice to make sure of my facts!

Ruth

MarkyMarkD

Hmm - I wonder whether IF are trying to mislead with that name???