Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

Woodyrocks

Baldur wrote: »

Have you tried contacting NBS for details of your account, if you can't find your paperwork?

Without knowing which account you have, noone can accurately advise you.

Thanks Baldur. Did that and it seems I am one of the lucky few that got the 5% ISA. Unfortunately I can't transfer in for the new year but at that rate I am more than happy to leave the bulk I have in there instaed of transferring to something lower for the sake of bundling in this year's allowance. Might open a Santander for the current year as I am a customer.

Thanks once again.

INSPIRED

Hope someone can help me with query.

I am struggling to see the benifits of an Isa in our situation. OH is retired on private pension. I have tax-free status so all savings are in my name.

My husband has a Cash Isa with First Direct at 2.7% ~ but it could go into a savings account in my name, fixed for say 3 years.

What am I not seeing here?

Edited: apart from the fact that we can withdraw from the ISA but this is not required

Thank you

ANGLICANPAT

Your circumstances could change. For instance, if you suddenly found yourself getting carers allowance for looking after someone, your 'income' would increase by £53 ish a week which depending on how much savings you have and the rate of interest on them, could send you over your allowance, so you would have been better of if as much of those savings as possible had already been whacked into non taxable isas. Or - what if interest rates soared -if you have a lot of savings you could go over your allowance that way too.

INSPIRED

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

Your circumstances could change. For instance, if you suddenly found yourself getting carers allowance for looking after someone, your 'income' would increase by £53 ish a week which depending on how much savings you have and the rate of interest on them, could send you over your allowance, so you would have been better of if as much of those savings as possible had already been whacked into non taxable isas. Or - what if interest rates soared -if you have a lot of savings you could go over your allowance that way too.

Thank you, Anglicanpat - I would never have thought of the carer's allowance. However, as I am disabled there is very little chance of that happening. Neither is there any chance of me reaching a taxable level of income.

I am still scratching my head over this one.

Pound

My Northern Rock ISA is due to mature in a couple of weeks. They've sent me a form to transfer my ISA to another ISA they offer which has a rate of 3.05% and matures after 13 months. There's a 60 day loss of interest penalty for withdrawals.

I'm not planning on making any big purchases so probably won't withdraw so it looks like this beats the Halifax 3% ISA, plus opening the new account only involves ticking a box and posting it back so looks good. Am I right to go with this account?

blueberrypie

Pound wrote: »

My Northern Rock ISA is due to mature in a couple of weeks. They've sent me a form to transfer my ISA to another ISA they offer which has a rate of 3.05% and matures after 13 months. There's a 60 day loss of interest penalty for withdrawals.

I'm not planning on making any big purchases so probably won't withdraw so it looks like this beats the Halifax 3% ISA, plus opening the new account only involves ticking a box and posting it back so looks good. Am I right to go with this account?

Either option is probably fine. The difference in interest is about 50 pence per £1000, so not much unless you've got many thousands of pounds tucked away in it.

That said, I would probably go with the Halifax one. Their promise of interest from the date they receive the transfer form means that you essentially get double-interest for however long the transfer takes. If the transfer takes six days, you're up by 50 pence for every £1k - making up for the lower interest rate. If it takes longer (as it probably will), you're up by more. Once transferred, there's no penalty for withdrawals - and even if you don't plan on taking the money out of your ISA, transferring to another provider also counts as a withdrawal, so if another ISA came along offering a much better rate, you could transfer without losing interest (whereas transferring out of the NR one would cost you about £5 for every £1k).

Pound

OK, I was going to go for the Halifax ISA. I tried to apply online.

I already opened an ISA with another bank (not the one I'm transferring from) earlier this year so under "Do you already have a cash ISA with us or any other provider and have funded it in this tax year?" I ticked Yes.

But then I got an error "You cannot apply for another cash ISA in this tax year"

I'm confused, I thought I would be able to apply for more than one cash ISA in a single tax year provided that I only fund one of them with new money. I'm only planning on transferring an existing ISA and not funding it.

rb10

Pound wrote: »

OK, I was going to go for the Halifax ISA. I tried to apply online.

I already opened an ISA with another bank (not the one I'm transferring from) earlier this year so under "Do you already have a cash ISA with us or any other provider and have funded it in this tax year?" I ticked Yes.

But then I got an error "You cannot apply for another cash ISA in this tax year"

I'm confused, I thought I would be able to apply for more than one cash ISA in a single tax year provided that I only fund one of them with new money. I'm only planning on transferring an existing ISA and not funding it.

Just say 'No'. As long as you follow all of the HMRC rules you will be fine.

gallygirl

I've tried looking everywhere and can't find if the 11/12 cash ISA limit has been announced?

I've read it will rise in line with inflation, also that it will be announced 4 months before start of tax year but the direct gov factsheet just says it will rise with RPI from 6th April, but not what it will be?

Thanks. I realise the govt. probably have more urgent things to worry about at the mo.

kiridoh

Hi All,
I'm new to the UK and considering investing into an ISA. Stumbled upon your ISA website while googling for some info. :T

First and foremost: superb website, if a newbie like me can understand this, then anyone really can :rotfl:

I'm trying to put up a medium term savings plan (5 years), and have a few questions re: ISAs.

1) I understand yearly tax free cap for cash ISA is £5,100 per person. Would I need (or is it possible) to open a joint ISA account to avail of the cap x2 between my wife and I?

2) is interest paid on an yearly basis? if less, is it compound?

3) A quick calc:eek:. Assumptions:
- we invest in a cash ISA where the interest rate is 2.5%
- rate is stable for the entire 5 years period
- we transfer £500 per month in total
- interest is compound at the end of each tax year
- int pm is calculated as bal*0.025/12
How accurate is the below?
t amt bal int pm
Apr-11 500.00 500.00 -
May-11 500.00 1,000.00 2.08
Jun-11 500.00 1,500.00 3.13
Jul-11 500.00 2,000.00 4.17
Aug-11 500.00 2,500.00 5.21
Sep-11 500.00 3,000.00 6.25
Oct-11 500.00 3,500.00 7.29
Nov-11 500.00 4,000.00 8.33
Dec-11 500.00 4,500.00 9.38
Jan-12 500.00 5,000.00 10.42
Feb-12 500.00 5,500.00 11.46
Mar-12 500.00 6,000.00 12.50
Apr-12 500.00 6,580.21 13.71
May-12 500.00 7,080.21 14.75
Jun-12 500.00 7,580.21 15.79
Jul-12 500.00 8,080.21 16.83
Aug-12 500.00 8,580.21 17.88
Sep-12 500.00 9,080.21 18.92
Oct-12 500.00 9,580.21 19.96
Nov-12 500.00 10,080.21 21.00
Dec-12 500.00 10,580.21 22.04
Jan-13 500.00 11,080.21 23.08
Feb-13 500.00 11,580.21 24.13
Mar-13 500.00 12,300.80 25.63
Apr-13 500.00 12,800.80 26.67
May-13 500.00 13,300.80 27.71
Jun-13 500.00 13,800.80 28.75
Jul-13 500.00 14,300.80 29.79
Aug-13 500.00 14,800.80 30.83
Sep-13 500.00 15,300.80 31.88
Oct-13 500.00 15,800.80 32.92
Nov-13 500.00 16,300.80 33.96
Dec-13 500.00 16,800.80 35.00
Jan-14 500.00 17,300.80 36.04
Feb-14 500.00 17,800.80 37.08
Mar-14 500.00 18,677.07 38.91
Apr-14 500.00 19,177.07 39.95
May-14 500.00 19,677.07 40.99
Jun-14 500.00 20,177.07 42.04
Jul-14 500.00 20,677.07 43.08
Aug-14 500.00 21,177.07 44.12
Sep-14 500.00 21,677.07 45.16
Oct-14 500.00 22,177.07 46.20
Nov-14 500.00 22,677.07 47.24
Dec-14 500.00 23,177.07 48.29
Jan-15 500.00 23,677.07 49.33
Feb-15 500.00 24,177.07 50.37
Mar-15 500.00 25,212.74 52.53
Apr-15 500.00 25,712.74 53.57
May-15 500.00 26,212.74 54.61
Jun-15 500.00 26,712.74 55.65
Jul-15 500.00 27,212.74 56.69
Aug-15 500.00 27,712.74 57.73
Sep-15 500.00 28,212.74 58.78
Oct-15 500.00 28,712.74 59.82
Nov-15 500.00 29,212.74 60.86
Dec-15 500.00 29,712.74 61.90
Jan-16 500.00 30,212.74 62.94
Feb-16 500.00 30,712.74 63.98
Mar-16 500.00 31,911.81 66.48

4) website suggests to shop around at the end of year tax year (march?) and transfer the balance to the best provider on the market. So say my current provider no longer gives me 2.5% each year from Mar-12 onwards, will I be able to transfer the balance 6,580.21 to a new provider and still avail of the tax free interest allowance? In other words, will I get 12,300.80 on Mar-13 or would I have to have opened a new cash ISA on Mar-12?

5) If I open a new ISA account now, can I put one lump sum for 10,200 and avail of the tax free allowance?

Thanks!!!