Principality ISA 24/25

RULAST

Morning
Thinking about signing up for Principality ISA type "Online Bonus ISA Issue 4" at 5% in first year and 4.1% in second onwards.
Its flexibility for withdrawals etc seems suitable for me but im not sure if others suggest there could be a better provider out there at around 5%.? Not sure about their support (if needed) etc being as its online only ISA. Any online reviews on their above ISA and support?
Thanks

gravel_2

You can compare ISA rates on the MSE website or numerous other similar sources. There are currently some easy access accounts paying more than 5%.

Worth being aware that this is a variable account. both the 4.1% basic rate and the 0.9% bonus for the first year are described as variable and can be adjusted on 14 days' notice.

Can Principality change the interest rate?

Yes, both the interest and bonus rates can go up or down. If you have £100 or more in the account, we will give notice of any reduction in interest or bonus rates at least 14 days before the change takes effect. When the rate changes to the rate without bonus, we will send you a reminder 14 days before this happens, no matter how much money you have in the account. For more information, see the section Changes to interest rates in our Savings Terms and Conditions.

RULAST

Trustpilot reviews dont seem that good for online account?

RULAST

gravel_2 said:

You can compare ISA rates on the MSE website or numerous other similar sources. There are currently some easy access accounts paying more than 5%.

Worth being aware that this is a variable account. both the 4.1% basic rate and the 0.9% bonus for the first year are described as variable and can be adjusted on 14 days' notice.

Can Principality change the interest rate?

Yes, both the interest and bonus rates can go up or down. If you have £100 or more in the account, we will give notice of any reduction in interest or bonus rates at least 14 days before the change takes effect. When the rate changes to the rate without bonus, we will send you a reminder 14 days before this happens, no matter how much money you have in the account. For more information, see the section Changes to interest rates in our Savings Terms and Conditions.

good input gravel_2... Is there a link to comparsion tool on MSE? ... thx

RULAST

gravel_2 said:

You can compare ISA rates on the MSE website or numerous other similar sources. There are currently some easy access accounts paying more than 5%.

Worth being aware that this is a variable account. both the 4.1% basic rate and the 0.9% bonus for the first year are described as variable and can be adjusted on 14 days' notice.

Can Principality change the interest rate?

Yes, both the interest and bonus rates can go up or down. If you have £100 or more in the account, we will give notice of any reduction in interest or bonus rates at least 14 days before the change takes effect. When the rate changes to the rate without bonus, we will send you a reminder 14 days before this happens, no matter how much money you have in the account. For more information, see the section Changes to interest rates in our Savings Terms and Conditions.

i would want an online easy access account that has the flexibility to deposit and withdraw (as and when required as often as required)  without penalty. Yes I agree the Principality can vary the interest which isnt that good... What sort of ISA an i thus searching for in the MSE tool based on this info?. Im no ISA guru (not at all ;-(

gravel_2

RULAST said:

gravel_2 said:

You can compare ISA rates on the MSE website or numerous other similar sources. There are currently some easy access accounts paying more than 5%.

Worth being aware that this is a variable account. both the 4.1% basic rate and the 0.9% bonus for the first year are described as variable and can be adjusted on 14 days' notice.

Can Principality change the interest rate?

Yes, both the interest and bonus rates can go up or down. If you have £100 or more in the account, we will give notice of any reduction in interest or bonus rates at least 14 days before the change takes effect. When the rate changes to the rate without bonus, we will send you a reminder 14 days before this happens, no matter how much money you have in the account. For more information, see the section Changes to interest rates in our Savings Terms and Conditions.

good input gravel_2... Is there a link to comparsion tool on MSE? ... thx

It would surprise me if you found the MSE forum without being somewhat familiar with the homepage. The navigation bar of this site has all of the categories. If you click into them you will get information on the product and a selection of the "best" products to consider.

surreysaver

In my experience (hopefully I don't tempt fate here!) Principality tend to bring out a new issue rather than change rates. I have Issue 3 paying 5.05%
I haven't taken any money out of this account yet, but never had any issues with other Principality accounts I've had (I cannot remember if money comes out on the same day as the request or the following day)

refluxer

I've held both fixed rate and easy access cash ISAs with the Principality over the years and never had an issue. Their online banking site is fairly simple but functional and their customer support is good - whenever I've had to submit instructions via secure message to do something like close an account, the messages have always been dealt with promptly (either same day if early enough or next day at the latest). I also seem to recall needing to ring them on one occasion and got through to speak to someone pretty quickly.

I only held the easy access cash ISA with them temporarily and didn't make any other payments in or out of it other than the initial deposit so I can't comment on how the account would function if you were wanting to do that, but I suspect that neither will be instant. You're probably looking at at least a couple of hours for deposits to register or withdrawals to come through, or possibly next-day (it should tell you in the T&Cs). This is usually an indication that activities like this are either carried out in batches through-out the working day, or a human is involved in the process (something that is quite common for the smaller banks and building societies). This wasn't a problem for me but might be for you if you're after truly-instant access to your money.

The only other downside to the Principality as far as cash ISAs are concerned is that they're not on the list of providers who use the BACs ISA transfer service (for wholly electronic ISA transfers), so you'll need to post off paper forms if and when you need to transfer in or out.

eskbanker

RULAST said:
i would want an online easy access account that has the flexibility to deposit and withdraw (as and when required as often as required)  without penalty. Yes I agree the Principality can vary the interest which isnt that good... What sort of ISA an i thus searching for in the MSE tool based on this info?

There are essentially two different types of ISA (as with taxable savings accounts), namely easy access ones with variable rates and fixed term ones with fixed rates.  Obviously many would like easy access at a fixed rate but as that isn't an option, you need to accept the use of variable rate products if you need/want easy access.

MSE summarises a few of the best easy access products in their main cash ISA page, but you'll find a more comprehensive listing on sites such as Moneyfacts.

etienneg

gravel_2 said:

It would surprise me if you found the MSE forum without being somewhat familiar with the homepage. The navigation bar of this site has all of the categories. If you click into them you will get information on the product and a selection of the "best" products to consider.

To be fair to the OP, flexibility is not a search criterion available on the MSE site.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa/#topeasy
This link will give you MSE's idea of best available ISAs in various categories, but you need to trawl through each to see if the accounts they suggest are flexible or not. It's a pity they don't have a category for best FLEXIBLE ISA.

Basically, for easy access ones, rates that are better than the Principality one are only available from app-based suppliers. Principality is quite an old fashioned building society, and may not be the best for 'instant' access, for example, but it is reliable. So you need to decide based on your own preferences.

surreysaver

Principality doesn't seem to appear on comparison sites, unless I'm doing something wrong? 
I find their customer service really good. I originally opened Issue 2 of their ISA paying 5%, but within a couple of days they'd released Issue 3 paying 5.05% and changed mine over.
I've also still got Issue 1 of their Learner Earner, paying 5.75% despite closing the child's one a while ago now. The interest rate on that went up when rates were going up, despite it being NLA for ages