2013/2014 ISA strategy

londoner01

Up until recently I had always thought I would use 2013/2014 to consolidate my ISAs all in one place with a decent enough interest rate, even if not best-buy, so I wouldn't have to worry about interests dropping automatically after 12 months etc.

Of course this plan has been scuppered by the appalling current interest rates.

I'm now really not sure whether the best way forward between two options.

One, to consolidate two old Barclays ISAs (interest rates above 2% but below 2.21%) into their new issue which, if I put the two old subscriptions and the ones for this year to reach a total >£15,000, would yield 2.20%.

The other, to leave the two old Barclays ISAs where they are, and open a Coventry BS Poppy Cash ISA for 2.60% and instead consolidate my ISAs into one another year.

I can't do the maths for it I'm afraid :embarassed: to see which is more convenient.

The thing I'm worried about is the rate of the old ISAs dropping further.

xylophone

Open the Coventry for this year and transfer the two Barclays accounts into 2 year fix at 2.5% with the Halifax?
http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/?WT.seg_3=Common/promotion/savings/hlinkd/saving-isasonli-lnkd-isasonli00

londoner01

Thanks xylophone, I forgot to say I would prefer not to fix for more than 12 months.

I ended up going with the new Barclays for all three, it's a loss of about £12 over the year but for the ease of not having to apply to a new organisation (always get held up by having to send proof of ID and address over), not having to get used to a new online banking interface etc etc #lazy

RoxRoxBling

If I've understood, you can do both.
Perhaps upgrade 1 Barclays account to the new issue. Then transfer your other Barclays account to that.

Then open the Coventry for new money.

In regards to where you're gonna put your new money, perhaps ask someone on here to help you , or use interest calculator to figure if, more money at 2.2% would earn you more/less interest than less money at 2.6%

easymoney999

A'm I right, looking at the Coventry Poppy ISA, the interest rate is 2.6% variable, but reading the T&C's it's my understand it's guaranteed till 5 April 2014, so it's Fixed

Is my asumption correct?

RoxRoxBling

easymoney999 wrote: »

A'm I right, looking at the Coventry Poppy ISA, the interest rate is 2.6% variable, but reading the T&C's it's my understand it's guaranteed till 5 April 2014, so it's Fixed

Is my asumption correct?

Yes. The rate is fixed. However you can continously desposit money.

The_Enforcer

easymoney999 wrote: »

A'm I right, looking at the Coventry Poppy ISA, the interest rate is 2.6% variable, but reading the T&C's it's my understand it's guaranteed till 5 April 2014, so it's Fixed
Is my asumption correct?

In my view, it's not fixed, because in theory the rate could be increased, albeit that seems unlikely in the current financial climate, which makes it more attractive than a typical fixed-rate account, along with the aforementioned instant access to withdraw/deposit.

innovate

It's not a fixed interest rate but they guarantee that the AER will be at least equal to 2.60% until 5 April 2014- which is, as it says, a guarantee, as good as fixed for almost a year.

londoner01

Yes, the rate is fixed (which is part of what made it attractive) but it's not a fixed term ISA, because you can make withdrawals and deposits as it's instant access.

I realise I didn't explain this fully, but if I hadn't put the new ISA subscription together with the old, it wouldn't have made the £15K tier on the new issue Barclays account (which in that case would have contained only two transferred ISAs). So the rate would have been only 2.10%, not 2.20%.

After reading on the forum further, I realised I didn't want the bother of having to wait for an application in the post, wasting more time while my rate dropped.

I must say, the Barclays personal banker I spoke to was really lovely.

innovate

londoner01 wrote: »

Yes, the rate is fixed (which is part of what made it attractive) but it's not a fixed term ISA,

No, the rate is variable. Just because a certain level is guaranteed for a period of time does not make the rate fixed.

The interest rate is variable. For details of the current rate see the table above. The rate quoted above includes a 0.60% AER bonus paid for the first year after we have accepted your application for this account. This means that the current underlying variable interest rate is 2.00% AER.

In addition the AER is guaranteed to be at least equal to 2.60% until 5 April 2014.

Source: http://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/savings-and-investments/productfeatures.aspx?prodCode=POPI1

silvercar

Up until recently I had always thought I would use 2013/2014 to consolidate my ISAs all in one place with a decent enough interest rate, even if not best-buy, so I wouldn't have to worry about interests dropping automatically after 12 months etc.

I had your plan 2 years ago and consolidated everything into Birmingham Midshires. At the next time I wanted to open and ISA they didn't have one. Recent events meant I ended up opening a Tesco one and now for 2013-14 it looks like I will go with the Coventry. So spread about again