Mini Cash ISA Britannia BS

catlover48

I've had an account with Britannia since 2000. Over the last 7 years I've saved £9000 in this account. The rate on their site is 5.45% which is not the best is it? Would I be able to transfer say most of this 9000 to a higher rate ISA but still leave my Britannia account open ?

Milarky

That depends primarily on the other ISA provider being prepared to accept a partial transfer - which they don't have to.

Let's make one thing clear: a 'partial transfer' for these purposes includes any money held in the ISA and NOT subscribed out of the current year's allowance. The reason for mentioning that is because Inland Revenue rules only allow current year subscription to be transferred in whole. Although this cannot apply to 'old' accounts, the point often comes up - so worth mentioning

Now back to your situation. Assuming the Britannia ISA doesn't fall foul of the above then it is still up to individual ISA providers to stipulate whether they will accept (an Inland Revenue allowed) 'partial' transfer (PT) or not. Some don't and some do.

Kent Reliance - which is the best transfer-accepting ISA at the moment (6.21%) WON'T accept a PT whereas Yorkshire e-ISA (6.05%) will.

So if they were the only alternatives and you wanted to get the higher rate whilst leaving (say) £500 at Britannia - for carpetbagging purposes or just because you really like their passbook design - then you could ask YBS for a transfer of £6500. Then when the e-ISA was set up you could ask Kent Reliance for a 100% transfer from YBS.

Note that you won't lose any days interest on transferring to YBS but you will lose 3-5 days interest transferring from YBS to Kent Reliance.

[As I say, these are just examples of particular ISA providers who treat transfers differently]

catlover48

thanks milarky ! I did want to keep the account open for "you never know" reasons....but couldn't think of a way of doing it. Seems a lot of hassle though using 2 new BSs. But thanks for answering. J.

YorkshireBoy

Milarky wrote: »

Note that you won't lose any days interest on transferring to YBS...

Are you sure Milarky? I seem to remember losing a couple of days when I moved from A&L to YBS earlier this year.

Unlike Halifax, who backdate to the day after the money leaves your previous provider, I think YBS credit on the day they receive the cheque.

If this is still the case, you're reliant on the date the previous provider posts the cheque/paperwork. Fortunately mine was credited on a Wednesday (so must have been posted on the Monday) and so didn't involve a weekend and another two days lost interest.

bcl999

The Yorkshire 30day Notice ISA is paying 6.15% which is only 0.06% less than Kent and would be a difference of just £5.40 a year in interest on £9000.

YorkshireBoy

bcl999 wrote: »

The Yorkshire 30day Notice ISA is paying 6.15% which is only 0.06% less than Kent and would be a difference of just £5.40 a year in interest on £9000.

...but remember that the 6.15% rate includes a bonus for the first year only.

Rafter

Have you factored in the members bonus you get into your calculations too?

You can probably beat the Brittania rate short term and by shifting your fund around every 12 months. For long term value for money, a building society is going to be your best bet though, because you own the society not some shareholders who are after a cut of the profits.

R.

catlover48

Thanks everyone for your replies, the Yorkshire BS have an office where I live so will go in and ask ! thanks again.

bristolleedsfan

catlover48 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your replies, the Yorkshire BS have an office where I live so will go in and ask ! thanks again.

u could open a brittania direct saver account with 100.00 paying 5.75% thus leaving u free to move all of your isa funds out as some providers dont accept part transfers in, just make sure u open the direct saver with 100.00 before u move your isa out. ( just another option to part transferring out)

30 day brittannia isa pays 5.80% on 9000+, ive seen people calculate the brittania points thing to be worth around 0.25%-0.30% gross.( taxable) ive not had a penny from it in nearly 11 years of membership [URL="javascript:add_smilie("][/URL]

bristolleedsfan

Rafter wrote: »

Have you factored in the members bonus you get into your calculations too?

You can probably beat the Brittania rate short term and by shifting your fund around every 12 months. For long term value for money, a building society is going to be your best bet though, because you own the society not some shareholders who are after a cut of the profits.

R.

"shareholders" are often ordinary savers/morgage holders and customers as well. :rolleyes:

some building societies ( not all do) can provide long term value for money.

some building society profits are used to increase its assets, whereas a PLC uses some of its profits to pay shareholders and buy "bubbly" for the shareholders meetings.

Building society boards never buy "bubbly" for its meetings, apparent condition of position within a building society that everybody is teetotal. :rotfl:


imho brittannia are treating all its savers "fairly" bar homesaver account they all getting rubbish rates, anyone disagree [URL="javascript:add_smilie("][/URL]

http://www.britannia.co.uk/c_savings/product/rates/current/savingsacc.html

baby_boomer

Rafter wrote: »

Have you factored in the members bonus you get into your calculations too?

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Rafter wrote: »

For long term value for money, a building society is going to be your best bet though

Maybe you are right in general terms. But I am convinced that this Britannia leopard will never change its spots.

Who actually believes that Britannia BS is a serious competitor in the savings market? Where is there any evidence?

Unfortunately Britannia has been at the forefront of aggressive lobbying of a compliant and ignorant set of pro-mutual MPs to push through recent legislation that will mean it has even less need to compete in the savings market in the future.

One reason that the Britannia bought the Bristol & West Savings accounts recently, was so that it didn't have to compete in the savings market in order to remain within the previous BS regulations.

The record clearly shows that Britannia has given consistently crap rates to savers for a decade, whether you look at average savings rates or best buy savings rates. They are a desperately poor advert for mutuality .