£25k house deposit - which savings should I withdraw from?

oysteroyster

I'm just about to take out £25k out of my savings to put towards a deposit for a house with my partner. Currently, my savings (totalling around £60k) are spread among several different interest-paying current accounts, regular savers, a savings account and a cash ISA and I'm trying to figure out where I should take my money from, and where to leave the rest. Obviously there are lots of variables at play, beyond the following - I'm 29, self-employed, (currently) a higher-rate tax payer, (foolishly) haven't yet sorted out a pension plan - but just general thoughts would be appreciated.

ISA
Virgin Cash ISA 1.7% - £12k

CURRENT ACCOUNTS
Santander 3% - £20k
Club Lloyds 4% - £5k
TSB x2 5% - £4k
BoS 3% - £5k

REGULAR SAVERS
First Direct 6%- £2k
Lloyds 4% - £2.5k
TSB 5% - £1k
M&S 6% - £1.5k

SAVINGS ACCOUNT
TSB eSaver 1% - £8k

I suppose my biggest dilemma is whether or not I should withdraw from the ISA (v low interest, but I am a higher rate tax payer, and I suppose I could convert to a S&S ISA) and, if I was to keep my ISA, whether or not I should consider ditching the Santander 123 account with its impending higher fees and keep my cash spread among the other accounts. As a start, the £8k from the 1% interest paying TSB eSaver can go! But where to go from there?

Thank you!

ColdIron

oysteroyster wrote: »

(currently) a higher-rate tax payer, (foolishly) haven't yet sorted out a pension plan

Sort out a pension, apart from the obvious benefits you are in a very real sense rejecting free money, you could get that 40% HRT back

oysteroyster

Thanks ColdIron, I'm quickly realising the importance of getting it sorted. As soon as I move in next week, I'll get onto it!

jimjames

Ditch the cash ISA. For £12k you can easily put the money back in if needed. When do the regular savers end?

But if you're not getting cash back with the 123 then check the benefits of using that instead.

AndyT678

For me the obvious answer is to take it from the lowest interest (after tax) accounts, £12k from the ISA + £8k from the eSaver + £5k from either Santander or BoS (same loss of interest either way) = £25k

kidmugsy

oysteroyster wrote: »

I'm just about to take out £25k out of my savings to put towards a deposit for a house with my partner.

Virgin Cash ISA 1.7% - £12k
BoS 3% - £5k
TSB eSaver 1% - £8k


Then ensure that all your utility bills are paid from the Santander account, and take enough from it to contribute to a pension so that you are no longer an HRT payer.
Santander 3% - £20k

(If that should reduce it to around £5k, then consider reversing the roles of BOS & Santander.)

Also check that your deposit is big enough to reduce your LTV to a level where you get a preferential interest rate.

oysteroyster

Ok thanks everyone. To be honest, I expected there to be more support for keeping the ISA (and doing something better with it), but as you say, it can be re-topped up again fairly quickly with the £15k allowance.

@jimjames - I'm about 5-6 months into each of my regular savers (I've been topping up the full amount each month), and I'm guessing it's wise to see these through to the end? In terms of my Santander 123 cashback, it's not currently my primary bills account but I do make cashback out of the Santander 123 credit card I also have linked to that account - may also have to re-evaulate that with the fees increase.

Looks as though AndyT / kidmugsy's (all good advice there, thanks) solution may be the way to go unless I'm missing anything else...