MSE News: It's a new tax year – so think about using your new ISA allowance

Archi_Bald

Agree, for anyone wanting a cash ISA, drip-feeding regular savers from good current accounts can be a very good approach.

Nottingham is great if you can go to a Nottingham Branch to open it. Saffron is open all Saffron members (i.e. not many people) but need to use branch or snail mail. There are other niche providers like dotcomunity that offer higher than usual interest so might be worth investigating. None of these are open to everyone. The only truly nationwide one is Nationwide.

zagfles

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Perhaps they got their information from the rates and information page which seems to suggest an increase in balance (of at least £1) each month is required to earn the 2.5% AER rate?

But they don't quote any rate if the balance doesn't increase, or decreases. They also say you can withdraw without loss of interest, and no mention of a lower/zero interest if you do.

Also if you go to the Compare savings page http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/savings/our-savings-accounts/all-savings-accounts

For the Regular Savings (non ISA) account it states

Up to 2.50% gross p.a./AER
(variable) The interest rate depends on the overall increase in the account balance, not how much you have in the account.

and the details show various tiers depending how much you increase the balance by every month.

But for the Regular Saver ISA it simply states

2.50% AER
(variable)

and the details just states £1+ min ("increase in balance" not mentioned) pays 2.57%.

They've messed up somewhere, and it would seem to be on the http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/savings/regular-saver-isa/rates-and-information page.

Pincher

What is the idea behind the Nationwide Regular Saver ISA?
The non-Isa Regular Saver gives you a higher than normal interest rate for a year, and then reverts to peanuts.
Do I get 2.5% for another year from 1st March 2015?

The new £15k cash Isa allowance has brought in an opportunity to grab a little more interest. First Direct's cash ISA pays

1.85% for £20k+
2.00% FOR £40K+

I am £12k away from £40k, so it's about two years away at £5,940 a year. With interest, maybe go over £40k by 6th April 2015.

On 1st July 2014, I can start getting 2.0% tax free by putting £15k in. Amusingly enough, Virgin MBNA is forever offering 0% Balance Transfer for 2% BT Fee. So, the £15k Balance Transfer will be cost neutral, but the existing £28k will get 2.00% tax free instead of 1.85%. 0.15% of £28k is a £42 gain.

Alternatively, if I can put the £15k BT (2% Fee) into a 2.5% ISA on 1st March 2015, and get 2.5% for a year, that is 0.5% tax free on £15k, a gain of £75.

I expect the 2.5% is only for the first year, though.

Archi_Bald

zagfles wrote: »

But they don't quote any rate if the balance doesn't increase, or decreases. They also say you can withdraw without loss of interest, and no mention of a lower/zero interest if you do.

Also if you go to the Compare savings page http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/savings/our-savings-accounts/all-savings-accounts

For the Regular Savings (non ISA) account it states

and the details show various tiers depending how much you increase the balance by every month.

But for the Regular Saver ISA it simply states

and the details just states £1+ min ("increase in balance" not mentioned) pays 2.57%.

They've messed up somewhere, and it would seem to be on the http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/savings/regular-saver-isa/rates-and-information page.

You lost me. You seem to want to relate the Regular Saver and the Regular Saver ISA. Why would they need to have similar T&CS?

jimjames

innovate wrote: »

It is terrible advice to encourage people to throw their cash into a cash ISA right now. Literally everybody will be able to make more money in current accounts for quite a while.

Also, to completely ignore S&S ISAs is just incredible. MSE doing their readership a huge disfavour by making it sound as if cash ISAs are the holy grail for putting money aside.

Sadly, some people take MSE as the gospel and will consequently lose money.

MSE seem to have at least partly taken some of these comments on board

http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2014/04/07/get-5-interest-on-your-isa-money/

Still no mention of S&S ISAs and still suggesting that the ISA is the best end destination which I'm not sure it is in all cases.

innovate

Suppose this is major progress for MSE, but why they all shy away from saying S&S ISAs might be a great alternative for some people remains a mystery. I don't expect MSE to wade in on S&S ISAs in any detail but why can't they at least tell people that for the longer term, S&S is likely to continue to outperform cash and give people some references to investments? Even the Daily Mail has more balanced guidance for ISAs!

Still some misleading information too

Martin_Lewis_Blog wrote:

provided you’re willing to switch account

Nobody does have to switch their current accounts to get access to the good interest rates.

zagfles

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You lost me. You seem to want to relate the Regular Saver and the Regular Saver ISA. Why would they need to have similar T&CS?

Err... I'm not. That's the point. I'm pointing out the contradiction in two places on how interest is paid on the ISA account. The summary page doesn't state your balance has to increase to get the good rate on the ISA but it does on the non-ISA account. Therefore I think they are intended to be different, and that the mistake is on the full product info page where it says the rate is only applicable to a £1+ balance increase, when I think this should be £1+ balance.

Only way to know for sure is to ask Nationwide.

le_loup

Read the T&Cs of the ISA account. It's quite clear ... no deposit required each month.

Archi_Bald

zagfles wrote: »

The summary page doesn't state your balance has to increase to get the good rate on the ISA but it does on the non-ISA account.

I am sorry, I cannot follow your logic. What does the ISA have to do with the non-ISA account? Answer: nothing. They are 2 entirely unrelated products.

As le loup says, the T&Cs on the ISA are quite clear.

Former_MSE_Helen

Hi KTF,

Thanks for flagging the issue with the Nationwide regular saver ISA - we've since changed this in the news story.

So, Nationwide's new regular saver pays a variable 2.5% AER and allows you to make unlimited withdrawals, although you can't transfer in old ISAs. You need to deposit a minimum of £1 after which you can deposit up to £1,250/month until March 2015.

From 1 March 2015, the maximum monthly deposit limit will be removed, allowing you to top up to the maximum of £15,000.

Best wishes,
MSE Helen