Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

10_66

I had a call from Barclays a couple of weeks' ago asking if I'd be interested in their newest version of their Golden ISA, and was told they'd be announcing the rate for it in March. I rang today and was told that they'd be announcing the new product on 7 March. T&Cs would be similar to those of their Golden ISA, person I spoke to said they were expecting the rate to be favourable (ie expecting it to be better than the 3.10% that was originally offered last year).

0611045

Hi all,
So it appears the winner of the non-fixed-term ISAs at the moment is Satander's Loyalty Flexible ISA. As I'm not a Santander customer, I wouldn't qualify for the 3.3% AER rate. I could qualify for the top rate by transferring my current account and paying in £1,000+ each month. This would also get me £100 cashback, but as a recent graduate I'd lose the generous interest-free overdraft my current bank gives me.

Is there anything stopping me setting up a basic, free current account with any old bank, and then immediately closing it through Santander's dedicate switching service? That way I'd qualify for the £100 cashback in the current account, and have the current account I need to get the 3.3% ISA rate.

I'd appreciate your thoughts,
0611045

rb10

0611045 wrote: »

Hi all,
So it appears the winner of the non-fixed-term ISAs at the moment is Satander's Loyalty Flexible ISA. As I'm not a Santander customer, I wouldn't qualify for the 3.3% AER rate. I could qualify for the top rate by transferring my current account and paying in £1,000+ each month. This would also get me £100 cashback, but as a recent graduate I'd lose the generous interest-free overdraft my current bank gives me.

Is there anything stopping me setting up a basic, free current account with any old bank, and then immediately closing it through Santander's dedicate switching service? That way I'd qualify for the £100 cashback in the current account, and have the current account I need to get the 3.3% ISA rate.

I'd appreciate your thoughts,
0611045

That would work.

I'd just ask whether it's worth the hassle, given:

1) Santander's reputation is not great (although personally I've been reasonably happy)
2) If you have/open a Halifax Reward current account then you can get 3.2% from them (you'd lose £5.34 in interest over the year on a £5340 deposit).
3) Otherwise, the Santander Flexible ISA (3.15%) or Halifax ISA Direct Reward (3%) are fairly close in rate but without the hassle.

It depends how much you value your time.

leaphaze

0611045 wrote: »

Is there anything stopping me setting up a basic, free current account with any old bank, and then immediately closing it through Santander's dedicate switching service? That way I'd qualify for the £100 cashback in the current account, and have the current account I need to get the 3.3% ISA rate.

I'd appreciate your thoughts,
0611045

That's what I did for my wife a while ago when NationWide were offering £50 (if I remember correctly) for switching. She already had a Cahoot account she never used. Because there were no direct debits, I setup a future dated standing order to another of her accounts. The switch went ahead and NationWide paid up. I then cancelled the standing order. Not sure whether the s/o made any difference but I just thought it might make the account look active.

MrISA

Sorry to keep asking about the rules... When I have a cash ISA account holding previous years investments and the same account is used for current year, am I then allowed to
1. Transfer all the money (previous and this years) into a fixed account ?
2. The tricky part.. if I have 20k previous years, and have added only 3 this year, and do the above (if the is permitted), will this action then prevent me from later adding the last 2.100 this year ? (because I cannot add it into the 23k fixed account, and I am not allowed to split this years investments ?)

Niemand

leaphaze wrote: »

... She already had a Cahoot account she never used ...

As far as I'm aware, currently you can go up to £100 in debt with a Cahoot current account (but do check) without having to pay interest. So if an account is not being used, why not draw out the money and put it into a savings account?

When I originally opened a Cahoot account, which it turned out I didn't need, the limit was £250, so I withdrew £250 and the account remained in debt for that amount for several years. When they changed the limit they told me via e-mail so I simply transferred whatever amount I needed to reduce it to the new interest-free level.

MrISA

Sorry to keep asking about the rules... When I have a cash ISA account holding previous years investments and the same account is used for current year, am I then allowed to
1. Transfer all the money (previous and this years) into a fixed account ?
2. The tricky part.. if I have 20k previous years, and have added only 3 this year, and do the above (if the is permitted), will this action then prevent me from later adding the last 2.100 this year ? (because I cannot add it into the 23k fixed account, and I am not allowed to split this years investments ?)

david78

MrISA wrote: »

Sorry to keep asking about the rules... When I have a cash ISA account holding previous years investments and the same account is used for current year, am I then allowed to
1. Transfer all the money (previous and this years) into a fixed account ?
2. The tricky part.. if I have 20k previous years, and have added only 3 this year, and do the above (if the is permitted), will this action then prevent me from later adding the last 2.100 this year ? (because I cannot add it into the 23k fixed account, and I am not allowed to split this years investments ?)

1. Yes it is allowed

As mentioned earlier, you can split this across different banks if you want. The only restriction is you must keep the current years contribution together (£3000) and you must nominate which account receives this.

2. The £3000 is used and you have £2100 left. In principle you don't lose this. However, whether you can top up later depends if the fixed rate account allows top-ups, or if the provider lets you have a second ISA account with them and counts both as "one" ISA.

"This year" ends 5 April, so if you can it would be better to top up now and then transfer. It is possible your transfer won't complete by 5 April.

leaphaze

Niemand wrote: »

As far as I'm aware, currently you can go up to £100 in debt with a Cahoot current account (but do check) without having to pay interest. So if an account is not being used, why not draw out the money and put it into a savings account?

When I originally opened a Cahoot account, which it turned out I didn't need, the limit was £250, so I withdrew £250 and the account remained in debt for that amount for several years. When they changed the limit they told me via e-mail so I simply transferred whatever amount I needed to reduce it to the new interest-free level.

Yes, that's what we did; even though £100 don't earn much interest these days. However we decided to close all our cahoot a/cs since they're part of the Santander group. We're planning to open a new Santander a/c but you only get the various rewards if you don't already have a account with them.

bruirn

Sorry if this kind of thing has been covered ad infinitum but here's my query. I set up an ISA last year with A&L that has just matured, so it's now got £8,925 in it. Interested in switching it to the Halifax 3 per cent ISA as I've already got an account with them. Can I do this now or do I have to wait until April? I'm conscious that it seems to be a limited offer so don't want to miss the boat. Also, as I'm an existing customer do I qualify for the 3.2 per cent rate if I continue to put £1,000 into the account?

Apologies again for any duplication that may have gone on.