Best ISA to choose?

mmsport

Hello everyone,

I am looking for advice on my ISA Accounts. I have £20,000 in a Natwest Cash ISA Plus account that I have had in there for about 4 years. This has always paid about 2% interest. (Instant access)

However Natwest have informed me that the account will be changing to a Cash ISA in January which will mean the interest will drop to 1%.

I am wondering what I should do with the money to make the most interest? I have searched and it appears that NS&I 1.75% interest, so might be a good idea to move the money there?

However I don't think I would earn interest on all of the £20,000 as it would be going into a new account? So would it be best to open 3 ISA accounts with different banks and distribute the money over them all? I also want the money to be instant access and not tied in. I am not likely to withdraw as haven't doen for 4 years but still want it instant access.

Any advise will be much appreciated

Thanks

Rodders53

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cash-isa-transfers should tell you all you need to know.

calypso_rhapsody

Be very careful with the transfer process - do NOT close your existing account but complete a transfer form with your new institution - to preserve the tax shelter on all £20k

innovate

Check out the ISA sub-board. Amongst other stuff, there is a sticky with the best available ISAs.

It will be hard/impossible to get 2% now but you should be able to do better than at Natwest.

If you don't need your money for the next 7-10 years, you could look into S&S ISAs as an alternative.

eskbanker

mmsport wrote: »

I have searched and it appears that NS&I 1.75% interest, so might be a good idea to move the money there?

However I don't think I would earn interest on all of the £20,000 as it would be going into a new account?

Just to be clear, the NS&I ISA doesn't accept transfers in at all so the only way you'd be able to pay anything into it is if you haven't already put any of your 2013/14 allowance into NatWest, in which case you'd be able to pay up to £5,760 into NS&I.

If you find a product that does accept transfers and pays a reasonable rate, you should be able to transfer the whole £20K into it and shouldn't need to split it up, the limits relate to how much new money can be contributed to the tax-free pot each year and don't affect later transfers, which can (and often will) consist of many years' accumulated contributions.