Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

slinger2

soulsaver said:

I believe I read somewhere, that a recent rule change means I can withdraw (not transfer) this financial year's contribution from a flexible ISA and subsequently deposit it to other providers ISAs? And not have to repatriate it at all?

Anyone got a link to an official source?

If so, does the receiving ISA also have to be flexible?

The regulations were changed recently: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1870/regulation/5DDB

Compare the 15/7/25 version with the 6/4/24 version and you'll see that paragraph 3 is different. Or see: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/733/regulation/5/made

All written is legal language.

The "receiving ISA" doesn't have to be flexible. The ISA you make the withdrawal from needs to be flexible. And of course the replacement needs to be made in the same tax year as the withdrawal.

ninaluna754

Rich2808 said:

ninaluna754 said:

I have a paragon ISA with 4.25%, contemplating transfering it into that NatWest 4.2% one year fix. 

Paragon have a one year fixed rate isa paying 4.15% - and you can action this same day on opening? Don't know the sums involved in your case - but Paragon has excellent customer services and pick the phone up quickly if any issues!  So is it worth the effort for 50p extra per £1k a year?

https://www.paragonbank.co.uk/savings/cash-isas/one-year-fixed-cash-isa

Thank you, I am tempted to leave out the transfer and just convert my paragon to the 4.15% fix!

badger09

NatWest & RBS I year FRISA 4.2%

I must be missing something. What is the significance of ‘Start Date 12th November?’ 

flaneurs_lobster

badger09 said:

NatWest & RBS I year FRISA 4.2%

I must be missing something. What is the significance of ‘Start Date 12th November?’ 

Think it just means it's the start of the 12 month fixed period, no other significance I can see.

badger09

flaneurs_lobster said:

badger09 said:

NatWest & RBS I year FRISA 4.2%

I must be missing something. What is the significance of ‘Start Date 12th November?’ 

Think it just means it's the start of the 12 month fixed period, no other significance I can see.

Thanks. 

I’m probably being cynical but I have a vague memory of a savings provider paying a much lower rate of interest between opening & ‘Start date’. 

Murielson

Have been looking at 5 year fixed rate cash ISA at 4.21% which is with Chetwood Bank via Hargreaves Lansdowne

Happy to commit £20k for the 5 years but just wondered if anyone can see any down side as seen some comments about only doing cash ISA direct with provider. £4.5k interest seems best about just now, assuming interest rates will likely not be going up again the near future

allegro120

Murielson said:

Have been looking at 5 year fixed rate cash ISA at 4.21% which is with Chetwood Bank via Hargreaves Lansdowne

Happy to commit £20k for the 5 years but just wondered if anyone can see any down side as seen some comments about only doing cash ISA direct with provider. £4.5k interest seems best about just now, assuming interest rates will likely not be going up again the near future

Providing HG ISA has FSCS protection, doing it through broker wouldn't have much impact on 5y fixed, it could slow down transactions but you will have only two to do. 

Downside could be the interest rates going up.  We can assume that the rates are likely to be falling in near future, but nobody knows what they will be in a couple of years' time.

hellopaul

On the recommendation of Moneysavingexpert, I opened a Trading 212 cash ISA account. OMG - the ID check system they use (Onfido - read reviews here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/onfido.com ) is SO terrible, buggy and rubbish, that it took DAYS of hassle to get through it - their site just kept crashing and kept asking for the same things over and over again...and just a couple of weeks ago I'd gone through exactly the same process for a solicitor's firm I was using, but with a different ID check company, and it all worked perfectly, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the process. I finally managed to jump through the hoops by installing their app, and doing everything a few more times.

So unless you're pretty tech-savvy, and have a LOT of spare time, I'd recommend giving trading 212 a miss.

Interestingly, their app itself seems to have ZERO security on it - it's the only banking app that I can just load up, and it doesn't ask for a password/fingerprint/PIN...NOTHING! So I'll be uninstalling that as soon as I've put some funds in there (I've transferred TWO £10 payments from my current account...neither of which have actually made it there yet - one was a few days ago, and there's no record of the £10 actually leaving my current account, so I guess that one just didn't happen, and I did the other one only half an hour ago...I guess the valves, cogs and levers in ye olde crappe trading 212 system are just warming up). So I have zero faith in this company - does anyone else have any experience of them - is it just an elaborate scam? It certainly feels like one - and not a very convincing one at that! I'll probably just close the account and go elsewhere, which is a shame because that interest rate is tempting...but then again, so were Charles Ponzi's rates.

Malchester

hellopaul said:

On the recommendation of Moneysavingexpert, I opened a Trading 212 cash ISA account. 

Genuine question. Do MSE actually recommend accounts? Or is it just from the comparison list of accounts? I've seen people say on here that MSE recommended an account. I never use MSE account comparison as I find Moneyfactscompare far superior.

pecunianonolet

hellopaul said:

On the recommendation of Moneysavingexpert, I opened a Trading 212 cash ISA account. OMG - the ID check system they use (Onfido - read reviews here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/onfido.com ) is SO terrible, buggy and rubbish, that it took DAYS of hassle to get through it - their site just kept crashing and kept asking for the same things over and over again...and just a couple of weeks ago I'd gone through exactly the same process for a solicitor's firm I was using, but with a different ID check company, and it all worked perfectly, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the process. I finally managed to jump through the hoops by installing their app, and doing everything a few more times.

So unless you're pretty tech-savvy, and have a LOT of spare time, I'd recommend giving trading 212 a miss.

Interestingly, their app itself seems to have ZERO security on it - it's the only banking app that I can just load up, and it doesn't ask for a password/fingerprint/PIN...NOTHING! So I'll be uninstalling that as soon as I've put some funds in there (I've transferred TWO £10 payments from my current account...neither of which have actually made it there yet - one was a few days ago, and there's no record of the £10 actually leaving my current account, so I guess that one just didn't happen, and I did the other one only half an hour ago...I guess the valves, cogs and levers in ye olde crappe trading 212 system are just warming up). So I have zero faith in this company - does anyone else have any experience of them - is it just an elaborate scam? It certainly feels like one - and not a very convincing one at that! I'll probably just close the account and go elsewhere, which is a shame because that interest rate is tempting...but then again, so were Charles Ponzi's rates.

You can set all this in the app, biometrics, two factor authentication, etc. I referred a few people over the last year for free shares and nobody, within and outside of the UK, had any problems with ID verification. Maybe they changed the ID verification vendor since but other than that I can't fault them.