Cash ISA Easy access - Does the rate actually increase ? 27 September 2022 at 1:00PM edited 27 September 2022 at 2:48PM in ISAs & tax-free savings 23 replies 1.4K views

etwallace

I'm familiar with fixed rate ISA's but unfamiliar with easy access cash Isa's. I have a strong suspicion that an EA cash ISA that is an 'Issue' ISA, which most of them are, will not see an increase to its rate even though rates are predicted to continue increasing. All EA cash Isa t&c's state the rate may increase or decrease but in practice once an EA Isa is opened I think the rate is likely to be frozen, even though it's not a fixed rate Isa. Has anyone in the last year opened an EA cash Isa, maybe with an 'issue' number, and seen the rate increase in line with the bank rate or has it stayed at the rate it was when first opened? Thanks 

RG2015

etwallace said:

I'm familiar with fixed rate ISA's but unfamiliar with easy access cash Isa's. I have a strong suspicion that an EA cash ISA that is an 'Issue' ISA, which most of them are, will not see an increase to its rate even though rates are predicted to continue increasing. All EA cash Isa t&c's state the rate may increase or decrease but in practice I think the rate is likely to be frozen, even though it's not a fixed rate Isa. Has anyone in the last year opened an EA cash Isa, maybe with an 'issue' number, and seen the rate increase in line with the bank rate or has it stayed at the rate it was when first opened? Thanks 

I have an easy access Cash ISA with Virgin Money which was automatically created from a maturing 1 year fixed rate ISA in October 2021. The fixed rate was 1.00% which was pretty decent in October 2020 but the east access ISA was only 0.50% so I withdrew all but £1.

Last month VM increased the rate to 1.75% which at the time was higher than most non ISA easy access savings accounts. I moved in the same balance I had in 2020 and as this was a flexible ISA I still have my current year's £20k available.

Curiously the EA was Issue 1 but it has become Issue 2 in the app but remains Issue 1 online.

This (Issue 2) is still available if you have a VM current account.

 https://uk.virginmoney.com/savings/find/results/#online

refluxer

I have a triple access cash ISA (issue 7) that I took out with Paragon back in March this year @ 0.80% that is now sitting at 1.85%, due to a number of interest rate rises being applied to it throughout the year.

It hasn't had the latest increase (to 1.9%) applied to it yet though, so I guess there may come a point at which switching becomes necessary. Even so, I'm impressed that they've increased the rate on this account over the 6 months I've had it so far. On a couple of occasions, they actually applied the rate increase to existing issues a number of weeks before the currently available issue, meaning that I had a higher rate for a short while than the account at the top of the easy access account rate table at the time.

Shawbrook have also applied rate increases to their easy access cash ISA (issue 20) this year, but they've fallen behind with this recently.

Jasper80

refluxer said:

I have a triple access cash ISA (issue 7) that I took out with Paragon back in March this year @ 0.80% that is now sitting at 1.85%, due to a number of interest rate rises being applied to it throughout the year.

It hasn't had the latest increase (to 1.9%) applied to it yet though, so I guess there may come a point at which switching becomes necessary. Even so, I'm impressed that they've increased the rate on this account over the 6 months I've had it so far. On a couple of occasions, they actually applied the rate increase to existing issues a number of weeks before the currently available issue, meaning that I had a higher rate for a short while than the account at the top of the easy access account rate table at the time.

Alas Issue 9 is languishing at 1.55%, so will probably transfer to Coventry's Limited Access ISA Online 3 which is moving from 1.85% to 2.25% on October 7th.

refluxer

Jasper80 said:

refluxer said:

I have a triple access cash ISA (issue 7) that I took out with Paragon back in March this year @ 0.80% that is now sitting at 1.85%, due to a number of interest rate rises being applied to it throughout the year.

It hasn't had the latest increase (to 1.9%) applied to it yet though, so I guess there may come a point at which switching becomes necessary. Even so, I'm impressed that they've increased the rate on this account over the 6 months I've had it so far. On a couple of occasions, they actually applied the rate increase to existing issues a number of weeks before the currently available issue, meaning that I had a higher rate for a short while than the account at the top of the easy access account rate table at the time.

Alas Issue 9 is languishing at 1.55%, so will probably transfer to Coventry's Limited Access ISA Online 3 which is moving from 1.85% to 2.25% on October 7th.

Are you sure ? Have you checked the rate in your online banking ? Issues 7 and 8 were both increased to 1.85%, so it would be odd if issue 9 was stuck at 1.55%.

Jasper80

Yes, just checked my account.  Also published. Search "paragon historical rates" to get link.

When I queried this anomaly their response was "We constantly monitor the competitive position of our range and re-assess the rates we offer in line with a number of factors, including external market influences, competitor activity and commercial and operational factors. The rates we offer are competitive in the current market. We will continue to review our position daily and will inform customers if we implement any rate increases."  Standard response to such queries.

It is disappointing.

Albermarle

Jasper80 said:

Yes, just checked my account.  Also published. Search "paragon historical rates" to get link.

When I queried this anomaly their response was "We constantly monitor the competitive position of our range and re-assess the rates we offer in line with a number of factors, including external market influences, competitor activity and commercial and operational factors. The rates we offer are competitive in the current market. We will continue to review our position daily and will inform customers if we implement any rate increases."  Standard response to such queries.

It is disappointing.

Savings providers set rates in line with how much money they want to attract. There is no incentive for them to always have the highest rates if they do not actually need the money for their business.

Jasper80

Conversely there is no incentive for me to stay if issue 9 is going to lag issues 1-8 and also issue 10.  This seems illogical to me but maybe its just a timing issue and issue 9 will come into line the next time there is a rate change for issues 1-8.  

Expotter

I know it's a bit of a faff and perhaps not very logical, but it's hardly a problem when you can easily and pretty much instantly transfer to the latest issue. It really only takes a couple of minutes.

The_Unready

Cynergy Bank appear to do this as well.

I invested in an Issue 22 variable rate cash ISA at the start of the financial year, went to check the rate on it yesterday and noticed it was the same as when I took it out.

However, Cynergy were advertising cash ISAs at 0.6 percentage points higher than that via Issue 25.

My rate wasn't automatically increased, and I had to apply for the new issue/rate and close the old ISA down via their website. I presume I'll have to carry out the same process if/when a new rate/issue is available! What a faff!

Obviously it's on me to check the rates and terms, but I wonder how many people lose out by mistakenly assuming like me that the rate will increase automatically?

c_smith

The_Unready said:

Cynergy Bank appear to do this as well.

I invested in an Issue 22 variable rate cash ISA at the start of the financial year, went to check the rate on it yesterday and noticed it was the same as when I took it out.

However, Cynergy were advertising cash ISAs at 0.6 percentage points higher than that via Issue 25.

My rate wasn't automatically increased, and I had to apply for the new issue/rate and close the old ISA down via their website. I presume I'll have to carry out the same process if/when a new rate/issue is available! What a faff!

Obviously it's on me to check the rates and terms, but I wonder how many people lose out by mistakenly assuming like me that the rate will increase automatically?

Cynergy Bank are at it, hence the reason I've just applied to move my "variable rate" ISA that never varies, to a 1 year fixed rate ISA with Virgin at 3.5%.  I left Virgin to go to Cynergy in May, but since then I've had to change issue number twice as they never pass on the increased rates to the old issues.  They're basically treating variable rate accounts as fixed rate accounts.  These banks shouldn't be allowed to get away with this.