Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

MORPH3US

Hi guys,

I currently have about £10,000 from various years in my NS&I ISA earning 2.3%.

With the rate expected to go down again on Thursday, can someone recommend the best ISA to move my money to?

Ideally I would like a fixed rate but with no penalties if I did happen to lose my job and need to withdraw the cash.....

Finally, if I withdraw from my NSandI ISA, am I right in thinking that I won't lose any interest / suffer any penalties and will just get interest paid up to the date of withdrawal?

Cheers everyone

Shoog

spam.jam wrote: »

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?

I think it depends when you opened the account. I've had the Permier Direct Account for 2 or 3 years now. Was one of the best when I opened it and Martin's still recommending it for new customers.

Here's the figures they gave me yesterday for my accounts:

Direct Cash ISA: Gross 0.80%
Plus Saver:      Gross 1.25%  Net 1.00%
Premier Direct:  BoE Base minus 1% = 0.15% (up to £2000)

Maybe I wrote the Premeir Direct one down wrong as BoE base rate is 1.5% is it not? Regardless, I'm getting out ASAP. They offered to arrange for me to speak to an advisor in branch - that'll be right. If they're not prepared to do anything about these awful rates until I contact them, they can whistle. I know most banks are probably the same, but I'm voting with feet money.

leaphaze

MORPH3US wrote: »

Hi guys,

I currently have about £10,000 from various years in my NS&I ISA earning 2.3%.

With the rate expected to go down again on Thursday, can someone recommend the best ISA to move my money to?

Ideally I would like a fixed rate but with no penalties if I did happen to lose my job and need to withdraw the cash.....

Finally, if I withdraw from my NSandI ISA, am I right in thinking that I won't lose any interest / suffer any penalties and will just get interest paid up to the date of withdrawal?

Cheers everyone

I moved my NS&I to the Halifax Fixed rate at the begining of December. I thought rates were bad enough then! Might make sense to let rates settle again before deciding where to move.

As far as NS&I is concerned there are no penalties for withdrawls, although you'll only get your interest if you close the a/c.

viola79

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and am looking for a bit of investment advice.

Between my partner and I we have £10,000 to put away and we were wondering at present which would be the best option for higher interest returns.

Can someone who knows more than we do please offer a little guidance on whether it would be best to go for an ISA or a higher interest rate savings account. We have spoken to a couple of banks but they all spin their own hype about why they are better than the rest and it is hard to get impartial advice without paying for a financial advisor.

Any and all asistance would be appreciated.

Thanks

Baldur

You don't really give enough information for anyone to advise you, e.g. are you & your partner taxpayers? If so, at what rate?

Are you able to tie up the money for a year or more or are you likely to need access to at least some of it at short notice?

Bank 'advisers' are likely to try to interest you in investment products, rather than savings, as that's where they make their bonuses/commissions, etc.

viola79

Thanks for your reply.

Yes we are both basic rate tax payers. Ideally we would like to tie up a max of £8000 for a year or more and save the other £2000 elsewhere.

Baldur

viola79 wrote: »

Yes we are both basic rate tax payers. Ideally we would like to tie up a max of £8000 for a year or more and save the other £2000 elsewhere.

There are a number of options for you to consider, for example, you could pay up to £3,600 each into a tax-free fixed rate Cash ISA if you haven't already used your ISA allowances, or pay the £8k into a 1 year fixed rate taxable account to try to optimise your interest.

See the articles on the main site:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa

Also check out the various types of account & rates available:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/

http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/money/savings/1/short-term-fixed-rate-bonds.aspx

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/tables/bespoke/SavingsAccount

leaphaze

spam.jam wrote: »

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

Hi spammy: yep, leave your money there, that's what I'm doing. Make the most of this rate, it's only available for the first 12 months after opening an a/c. So a question you might like to ask A&L is: When did my 12 months start? When I opened the original premier current account or when I upgraded to a premier direct account?. Knowing this allows you to plan ahead.

leaphaze

Baldur wrote: »

There are a number of options for you to consider, for example, you could pay up to £3,600 each into a tax-free fixed rate Cash ISA if you haven't already used your ISA allowances, or pay the £8k into a 1 year fixed rate taxable account to try to optimise your interest.

The only thing I would add to this excellent advice is to maybe consider a stocks and shares ISA. I'm sure you won't need telling that this is very risky at the moment, however you should do well as long as you:
1. invest a small proportion of your lump sum, say £1000 or less;
2. can leave your investment for a least 2-3 years;
3. invest in a cheap index tracker with low charges;
4. dripfeed your investment, i.e. £50-£100 per month.

Share prices are very cheap at the moment and basically you'd be gambling that we would have emerged from this recession by your target date. If you do go down this road you need to make sure that can you can live with the risk and can leave the money until your target date.

heathrow

In the article, Martin says that the NatWest e-ISA doesn't allow transfers in.

This doesn't seem to be the case (now) - the natwest website at
http://www.natwest.com/personal/savings/g2/isas/e-isa.ashx#tabs=section1

includes the followng:

Transfer your other ISAs to NatWest – it’s simple to transfer your cash ISAs from other providers or from NatWest, into an e-ISA. Just complete a Cash ISA transfer form (PDF file 92kb). and take it your local branch or post it to Central Tax Unit, 9th Floor, 1 Hardman Boulevard, Manchester M3 3AQ