Selftrade Cash ISA @ 1.96%

oliveoil54

I'm thinking of transferring an existing ISA of £50k into the Selftrade Cash ISA @ 1.96%. It offers instant no penalty access and the guaranteed included bonus for 12 months is 1.71%. This beats the other alternative the Post Office @ 1.8% with very limited access & the bonus guarantee is only 0.9%. The main appeal for us is a fairly reasonable rate & the ease of access, which is important.

However Selftrade is trading under Talos Securities Limited - Boursorma, which I understand is a French firm. From the little bit of research I have done Selftrade seem to have changed name a few times & its main business seems to be as a stock market trading firm. They appear to be registered in the England & Wales (we are in Scotland) and regulated by the Prudential Regulation & Financial Conduct Authorities.

Have looked through their T&C's & can't find any reference to the normal guarantees £85k offered by Banks & Building Societies, so just wanted to know if anyone has a view on how safe an investment it would be? Especially as it isn't recommended on the Money Saving Expert Cash ISA page on the main website.

Anyone know anything about this company with regard to savings not stock market? Have seen mixed reviews on various websites, some good and some bad.

Jogle

oliveoil54 wrote: »

I'm thinking of transferring an existing ISA of £50k into the Selftrade Cash ISA @ 1.96%. It offers instant no penalty access and the guaranteed included bonus for 12 months is 1.71%. This beats the other alternative the Post Office @ 1.8% with very limited access & the bonus guarantee is only 0.9%. The main appeal for us is a fairly reasonable rate & the ease of access, which is important.

However Selftrade is trading under Talos Securities Limited - Boursorma, which I understand is a French firm. From the little bit of research I have done Selftrade seem to have changed name a few times & its main business seems to be as a stock market trading firm. They appear to be registered in the England & Wales (we are in Scotland) and regulated by the Prudential Regulation & Financial Conduct Authorities.

Have looked through their T&C's & can't find any reference to the normal guarantees £85k offered by Banks & Building Societies, so just wanted to know if anyone has a view on how safe an investment it would be? Especially as it isn't recommended on the Money Saving Expert Cash ISA page on the main website.

Anyone know anything about this company with regard to savings not stock market? Have seen mixed reviews on various websites, some good and some bad.

I was with them following the Kindle offer in 2012 and moved the money out once the bonus rate dropped. The moving out didn't go well. As I hadn't used the account (as it is impossible to put more money in an already full ISA) they had classed my account as dormant and I had to prove my identity again (which took a long time as they didn't like my documents and lost them at one point). It went on for weeks.

So, personally, I would steer clear of them.

What about First Direct? You can get 2% there with the amount you have.

gt94sss2

Selftrade are not currently taking on new customers - so unless you are an existing customer, I don't think you can open an ISA.

Regards
Sunil

oliveoil54

Many Thanks to both your prompt replies.
Had already checked First Direct and although they offer 2% easy access the rate is totally variable so could fall, at least with Selftrade they are guaranteeing nearly all but 0.25% for 12 months. I noted that NS&I are reducing their rate already in February (one would think that rates should slowly start to increase, but having worked for NS&I, I noted that a lot of banks & building societies tended to follow suit!).

Have filled in the online Selftrade enquiry forms - which is where your link took me - (couldn't find anything on the website about not taking on new customers), so will check to see if they are taking new customers, but am now not sure where to go as Jogle's comments indicate their customer service isn't up to much either.

Archi_Bald

oliveoil54 wrote: »

Have looked through their T&C's & can't find any reference to the normal guarantees £85k

They say they are FSCS covered http://www.selftrade.co.uk/important-information/your-money.php

But as has been mentioned, if you aren't already a customer, you cannot open a new cash ISA with them atm.

oliveoil54

ok many thanks