Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

JimmyTheWig

Lokolo wrote: »

The interest itself then becomes tax free and doesn't count as allowance!!!!!!

Absolutely. By withdrawing funds from your ISA (capital or interest) you waste some of your ISA allowance.
The only time when this wouldn't matter is if you never get close to the contribution limit in any one year. E.g. if you can only afford £50 a month, the limit is irrelevant to you.

lea_t88

Hi can i ask you more experienced savers a bit of advice? I have recently just opened an ordinary online savings account-but it was only a day or two ago so not yet deposited any cash into it. I also wanted to put some money into a cash ISA (definitely more so than into my savings account) but wondered if i can make 3 lump sums through the year or if i have to put my money in the ISA in installments. I am ultimately planning to put the full allowance of £3600 in before april and the surplus, if any, to go into my savings account.

And also one more question, the options i have seen are to have the interest paid monthly or annually. Now if i choose to have the interest monthly then does that amount go towards my limit for cash deposits or is it just the money i physically put in there that gets taken off my £3600 annual allowance?

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can give it is much appreciated!

lea_t88

One more question, sorry! Which is the best cash ISA people have found/would advise that is a decent interest rate but in which my money is also protected?

Lokolo

Money bring protected? Nearly every bank in the UK (I say nearly theres a list somewhere on this site) is protected upto £35k so I wouldn't worry.

Interest does not count towards as your allownace, only money you deposit counts.

You can put money into ISA whenever you like, maybe £1000 in Sep, £1000 in Oct then £1600 in January.

lea_t88

Thank you thats really helpful

I have just opened an ISA with Abbey. I was reading that Abbey, Bradford and Bingley, and Alliance and Leicester are all now under the control of Spanish Bank Santander. I knew Abbey and B&B were, but after consulting the table found on this site, it still says that Alliance an Leicester is classed as an independent banking institution (ie, it is not the same shading as Abbey or B&B)

Is this still true, have i read wrong or should i open the savings account wih someone other than Alliance And Leicester??

Baldur

lea_t88 wrote: »

I have just opened an ISA with Abbey. I was reading that Abbey, Bradford and Bingley, and Alliance and Leicester are all now under the control of Spanish Bank Santander. I knew Abbey and B&B were, but after consulting the table found on this site, it still says that Alliance an Leicester is classed as an independent banking institution (ie, it is not the same shading as Abbey or B&B)

Is this still true, have i read wrong or should i open the savings account wih someone other than Alliance And Leicester??

Abbey (reg. no. 106054) and Alliance & Leicester (reg. no. 189099) are currently separately authorised by the FSA.

kimberleeeeey

wondering if anyone can give a newbie saver a bit of advice?

i've got a bit of money from my house sale which i'm wanting to save. right now i don't need the money but would like to use it in maybe a year (or two years) time to buy another property

right now it's doing nothing for me in my current account so i want to put it into a Cash ISA linked to shares. Is this a wise thing to do? i've gotten myself so bogged down with research that i'm really confused now :S

Baldur

kimberleeeeey wrote: »

i want to put it into a Cash ISA linked to shares. Is this a wise thing to do? i've gotten myself so bogged down with research that i'm really confused now :S

You certainly sound confused, kimberleeeeey - a Cash ISA is not linked to shares, it's a tax-free savings account into which you can deposit up to £3,600 each tax year (April 6th to April 5th) - any interest earned is not taxed.

A Stocks & Shares ISA is linked to stocks & shares and you can either pay your full £7,200 annual ISA allowance into it each tax year or (if you use your full £3,600 Cash ISA allowance) you can pay the balance of your annual ISA allowance into it, i.e. £3,600.

See HMRC ISA Factsheet.

JimmyTheWig

kimberleeeeey wrote: »

i've got a bit of money from my house sale which i'm wanting to save. right now i don't need the money but would like to use it in maybe a year (or two years) time to buy another property

right now it's doing nothing for me in my current account so i want to put it into a Cash ISA linked to shares. Is this a wise thing to do?

As per Baldur, a cash ISA and a stocks and shares ISA are two different things.
You would in almost all cases be doing the right thing by filling up your cash ISA first (there's a £3,600 limit per year).
If you are looking at wanting the money within the next few years you would probably be better off avoiding stocks and shares. Over the long term (5-10+ years) these generally out-perform cash accounts but can go up and down and so are particularly risky over shorter periods.
Assuming that you have more than £3,600 from your house sale, once you have filled your cash ISA (note that if you have a spouse they will also have a £3,600 cash ISA limit per year) then you would probably be best putting the rest into a high interest savings account. See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest. Note that you can get slightly better interest if you are happy to have your money locked away for a year, which it sounds like you may be in a position to do. Unlike a cash ISA, you will have to pay tax on the interest earned on one of these accounts. If you have a spouse, putting the money in the name of whoever pays less income tax should help to minimise this.

spikeboy_2

Hi, I opened an eISA with Bradford & Bingley on 17/09 because it was one of the best around as far as I could see, this was before I knew they could be on any kind of shaky ground. I deposited the maximum of £3,600.00 (with no intention of placing any more money with B&B). I e-mailed them recently because the certificate and welcome pack hasn't turned up (and I'm still waiting)!
Should I leave the money there or transfer it to another ISA somewhere else, and if so, is that possible with such a new ISA?
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Ta!