Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

KTF

Its a good rate (3.51%) if you are not looking to transfer money into an ISA but is beaten by Barclays at 3.61%.

Synonymous

Hey guys, I've got a few questions if anyone can help?

I have had the same ISA with Halifax for several years, which I transferred at the beginning of March to the Halifax ISA Direct Reward which is fixed at 3% for 12 months with max 4 withdrawals. I have about £13k in this account (including expected interest I'll receive next week) and have used my full allowance for this year.

So I'm wondering, do I:
a) stay where I am on 3% which aint bad and start using my allowance in this account again 09/10
b) try and trasnfer the whole lot to a better deal and start drip feeding my new allowance in 09/10 (seems a lot of hassle when most other ISAs aren't much over 3%).
c) Or leave the old ISAs where they are and look at other options for this year?

I think I have found a solution but Im worried that I might have missed something that will be painfully obvious to the experts on here!

Leave £13k in Halifax 3% for 12 months = £390 interest
Open First Direct 7% ISA and drip feed £300/mth =£135 interest

Versus leaving everything in Halifax and paying in £300/month this year = £448.24 interest.

I want to open the First Direct current account anyway to escape the nightmare of A&L, so there's £100 switching and cashback on that account too.

If it helps to know, all this money is going to be my house deposit one day so I don't intend to dip into it, I have another account for emergencies.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

BB78

Which is the best cash ISA to go for which allows transfers from previous years? Martin's article previously recommended M&S @ 3.51% but that's disappeared from the article now.
I can't bank with NatWest, won't have £10k & whilst about half of the money will be staying in the account for some time; so long as I don't have any major/expensive emergencies, I will need to access some of the money over the next few months.

Baldur

BB78 wrote: »

Which is the best cash ISA to go for which allows transfers from previous years? Martin's article previously recommended M&S @ 3.51% but that's disappeared from the article now.
I can't bank with NatWest, won't have £10k & whilst about half of the money will be staying in the account for some time; so long as I don't have any major/expensive emergencies, I will need to access some of the money over the next few months.

Suggest that you read through this post, scroll down to find those that accept transfers.

losthour

I've got £4100 in a Nationwide ISA (crap interest rate)- I believe the best place I can transfer in is Natwest who are offering 3.25 for their e-isa. I have a graduate account (that I never use) with them- I'm guessing this counts as a current account? Or is their another decent offer I'm missing other than Natwest (who I dislike for the most part).

Innys

This looks pretty good for those with over £30k in their account:

http://www.cheltglos.co.uk/savings/tax-free-cash-isas/index.html

The only issue is the four month notice period if you want to withdraw your cash or transfer elsewhere

Baldur

Innys wrote: »

This looks pretty good for those with over £30k in their account:

http://www.cheltglos.co.uk/savings/tax-free-cash-isas/index.html

The only issue is the four month notice period if you want to withdraw your cash or transfer elsewhere

That's 120 days loss of interest, rather than a notice period, according to the website:

Emergency withdrawal facility, subject to a charge equivalent to 120 days’ gross interest on the amount withdrawn

jools74

Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, but how is the interest on most cash ISAs calculated, is it cumulative? In other words, if I open an ISA tomorrow and put say £3000 in, will I get 4% or whatever the rate offered is on April 8 or do you need to keep it in there for a longer period to earn the interest on it?

Currently I have 2 current accounts, one with RBS and one with A&L, and one savings account with A&L, premier direct I think. I'm due to get a redundancy windfall soon (around 10K), so wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what are the best, safe ways to invest this whle still having access to some of it for living expenses.

Thanks
Jools

Baldur

jools74 wrote: »

Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, but how is the interest on most cash ISAs calculated, is it cumulative? In other words, if I open an ISA tomorrow and put say £3000 in, will I get 4% or whatever the rate offered is on April 8 or do you need to keep it in there for a longer period to earn the interest on it?

You would receive around one 365th of 4% per day on the balance in the account, an AER of 4% is the ANNUAL Interest Rate - i.e. £3,000 deposited in a Cash ISA tomorrow would earn you £120 in interest by 2nd April 2010.

jools74

Ah, right, thank you Baldur, I thought that was the case Ive obv taken all all those 'use it or lose it' messages on MSE too literally!