Tesco Instant Access Cash ISA

smoulder

On the application page for the Tesco Instant Access Cash ISA it states...

"You can pay money into your account once your application is complete, but you won't be able to take money out until you send us certain information by post. We'll tell you what this involves once your account is open."

Does anyone have experience of what "certain information by post" entails? It makes it sound like my cash will be taken hostage!

refluxer

Are you an existing customer ? If not, this may just relate to whether or not they can confirm your ID electronically.

I seem to remember having to send a simple signed form to them when opening a Junior ISA, but can't remember whether this was due to it being a transfer or just a general requirement which would apply to any ISA account.

Either way, I would personally wait until online banking access is properly set up (if you're not an existing customer) and the ISA is visible before paying any money in.

Sisyphean_Task

The rate today is 1.21% but this is made up of their 0.25% interest rate and a fixed bonus of 0.96% for 12 months.

However if you opened the ISA earlier in the year you are NOT getting an increased rate, following the recent Bank of England rate rises.Tesco have left their interest rate of 0.25% unchanged and the bonus rate doesn't change from when the ISA was opened. If you opened an ISA at 0.25% with a 0.4% Bonus, that's all you are getting now. You have to apply for a new ISA to be paid the new higher bonus rate, either online or by phone.

Call me cynical if you like but it seems a really nasty trick to rip savers off. The idea that you have to move a tax free vehicle like an ISA about, for each rate rise is simply ridiculous. They may say it's to make sure you get the higher bonus even if rates drop, however there is nothing to stop them reducing their interest rate to compensate. They could even make that negative!