Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

leaphaze

Scroogeman wrote: »

I have been paying the full £300 per month into Halifax ISA saver direct which is now only paying 2% interest. So, I'm looking at their fixed rate ISA's. What's the consensus of opinion - is this a good time to fix for 1, 2, 3 or 4 years and get 3.7%, 3.9%, 4% or 4.1%.

Yes, I would fix, even though Halifax 1 year fixed ISA is now 3.30 according to my a/c.

I fixed just before Christmas, having an ISA with NS&A offering a dreadful rate. I also had some cash from a credit card balance transfer to invest (in cash not shares!). So I rang Halifax and asked about paying cash into a halifax fixed ISA AND transferring previous years. Yes, no problem she said.

However, that was not the case. The cash went in OK, but since I'm not allowed to make more than one payment into the a/c per year, the transfer in was rejected, and Halifax automatically opened a variable rate cash ISA and transferred the money into it. Although a pain, I must say they were very efficient, sending me a letter explaining what had happened, suppling a variable rate ISA application form already filled in for me to sign, and a form to convert the variable rate ISA into a fixed rate one. So I signed both forms and sent them off and hey presto I now have 2 fixed rate ISAs. The strange thing is when the a/c was converted from variable to fixed rate, they added some interest which seems wildly too much.

So a/c opened 3/1/09 with £6638.18, 27/1/09 Interest Adjustment (their description) £46.47. So that's £46.47 for 25 days at the variable rate, but I work that out at an annual rate of more than 10%. As you can imagine I haven't queried this.

Scroogeman wrote: »

Also, if I transfer the whole amount saved to date and stop paying into it, can i open another regular saver ISA with another provider?

No, you can only have one provider per year. If you fix with Halifax, they won't let you make subsequent payments, so that's this year's allowance used up, unless you transfer out. So maybe you just put your monthly regular payments into a savings a/c until April.

maximise

g0recki wrote: »

Scottish Widows is down to 3.1% (inc introductory bonus rate)
A&L down to 3.0% (inc bonus rate)

I am yet to pick where I put my recovered Icesave ISA money...

I chose A&L last month because the bonus is guaranteed until Feb '10. Now, however Scottish Widows seems more attractive as they guarantee theirs for 12mths from opening - plus theirs is 0.1% more

LesU

FireworkCrazy wrote: »

Just so you know, on a slightly different note, Lloyds are offering 7% on one of their CURRENT accounts if you keep between 5k and 7k in the account and put in more than 1k a month.

Unfortunately, that rate is only 5.0% not 7%. It's still pretty good though and I'm taking advantage of it. Every little helps!

ecwood

I am about to open an ISA for myself and for my husband before this tax year is out with the max of £3000 for each of us. I have found 2 that are the most attractive and have almost the same rate and conditions from this website- Scottish Widows at 3.1% and A&L at 3.0%.
My question is this - should I open both our ISAs with the same company or should I open one with each to spread the risk? We will be looking to add another £3600 each after April this year so we will have a total £12,400 between us in ISAs, potentially in one company.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Ps. Am new to this site and it is amazing! We have already halved our mobile phone, broadband and phone bills in one day from the advice so are v pleased! :rotfl:

JimmyTheWig

ecwood wrote: »

I am about to open an ISA for myself and for my husband before this tax year is out with the max of £3000 for each of us. I have found 2 that are the most attractive and have almost the same rate and conditions from this website- Scottish Widows at 3.1% and A&L at 3.0%.
My question is this - should I open both our ISAs with the same company or should I open one with each to spread the risk?

It depends which risk you want to spread.

If you are looking at the risk of a bank going bust then on one hand you are protected by the government for the first 50k of savings per person per institution. So there is no need to spread the risk.
However, if that protection was required then it would mean being without access to this money for some months. If that would cause you a problem then that is a reason to spread the risk.

If you are looking at the risk of rates dropping then, again, that is a reason to spread the risk, though it does depend on what your intentions are if rates on one or other drop.

By accepting a drop of 0.1% interest you would be losing £3 a year on an ISA with a £3000 balance. Only you can decide if your reasons for spreading the risk are worth the loss of interest.

Incidentally, the cash ISA limit is now £3600, not £3000, per person per year.

ecwood

This is v useful - thanks!

ginvzt

What people think about Northern Rock ISAs (Issues 94 - 1 year fixed, 95 - 3 year fixed, 96 - 5 year fixed)? The rate is 3.5% and it is possible to put additional money in and to withdraw some, at a penalty of loosing interest rate of withdrawn amount for 60, 120, 180 days equivalent.

Both me and OH have A&L ISAs, which are now giving just 0.8% interest, which is not satisfactory at all, so we are looking to move somewhere. I am quite interested in this sort of fixed rate where I can still withdraw money if the worst happens.

Amar1

Is it worth it to still open an ISA at the moment?

Shoog

ginvzt wrote: »

What people think about Northern Rock ISAs (Issues 94 - 1 year fixed, 95 - 3 year fixed, 96 - 5 year fixed)? The rate is 3.5% and it is possible to put additional money in and to withdraw some, at a penalty of loosing interest rate of withdrawn amount for 60, 120, 180 days equivalent.

Both me and OH have A&L ISAs, which are now giving just 0.8% interest, which is not satisfactory at all, so we are looking to move somewhere. I am quite interested in this sort of fixed rate where I can still withdraw money if the worst happens.

I'm in exactly the same boat. Phoned A&L to check the interest rate and was appalled to hear it had dropped to 0.8%.Note to MSE: maybe worth mentioning this sort of thing every so often in the weekly emails, ie check your rates regularly.

The previously good interest rates on the Plus Saver and Premier Direct Current Account are now atrocious too.

Anyway, looking at Northern Rock's deals like ginvzt. Martin's weekly email mentions the 1-year fixed, but doesn't mention the 3 and 5-year ones, so I'm not sure.

spam.jam

Shoog wrote: »

I'm in exactly the same boat. Phoned A&L to check the interest rate and was appalled to hear it had dropped to 0.8%.Note to MSE: maybe worth mentioning this sort of thing every so often in the weekly emails, ie check your rates regularly.

The previously good interest rates on the Plus Saver and Premier Direct Current Account are now atrocious too.

Anyway, looking at Northern Rock's deals like ginvzt. Martin's weekly email mentions the 1-year fixed, but doesn't mention the 3 and 5-year ones, so I'm not sure.

i have just got off the phone from a&l, i was persuaded to upgrade my premier current account to premier direct because it is paying 6.5% on the first £2500 in my account. am i missing something? i have an ISA with them only paying 3.5% (and only 2% on anything that i put in for less than 12 months), so it seems to me makes sense to leave my money in my new current account for now
edit: gosh the plus saver is only paying 1% wot?