Money saving novice

Deburton1965

I am a bit of a novice with savings and investments and need some advice please.
Both myself and my husband have ISA's with Santander and also monthly saver accounts. After listening to Martin on This Morning we want to transfer our ISA's to NS&I Income bonds and my questions are - 
1. Can we move our money and close an ISA mid year
2. Would people advise leaving the monthly savers rolling or would you move that money to Income bonds too and continue paying our monthly savings into them?

Thanks in advance

83705628

1. Yes, if you're talking about easy access cash ISAs. If they're fixed term you would have to find out if you can access the money at all, and if so what is the penalty for early withdrawal? You also lose the ISA status on that cash but as Martin has said, unless you're going to earn enough interest to pay tax on it won't make a difference for most people.

2. It depends what the interest rate you're getting is, if it's less than 1.16% then yes, it's worth moving, but maybe you're getting a better rate as existing customers, and there may be penalties for stopping paying in/withdrawing early etc. so check first.

badger09

Deburton1965 said:

I am a bit of a novice with savings and investments and need some advice please.
Both myself and my husband have ISA's with Santander and also monthly saver accounts. After listening to Martin on This Morning we want to transfer our ISA's to NS&I Income bonds and my questions are - 
1. Can we move our money and close an ISA mid year
2. Would people advise leaving the monthly savers rolling or would you move that money to Income bonds too and continue paying our monthly savings into them?

Thanks in advance

1. You can move your money and close an ISA mid year. However, if your ISAs are Fixed Rate/Fixed Term, you will pay a penalty if you do so. So, check the T&Cs of your particular ISAs before closing them.

2. It depends on when you opened/renewed the Santander monthly savers. For example, mine renewed in March this year and is paying 2% fixed for a year. If yours are paying the same, I would keep saving into them until your year is up. 

grumiofoundation

tcallaghan93 said:

1. Yes, if you're talking about easy access cash ISAs. If they're fixed term you would have to find out if you can access the money at all, and if so what is the penalty for early withdrawal? You also lose the ISA status on that cash but as Martin has said, unless you're going to earn enough interest to pay tax on it won't make a difference for most people.

2. It depends what the interest rate you're getting is, if it's less than 1.16% then yes, it's worth moving, but maybe you're getting a better rate as existing customers, and there may be penalties for stopping paying in/withdrawing early etc. so check first.

Just as a addendum to this even if fixed term can always access ISA money but (as badger said) will most likely pay penalty.