Quick sanity-check

hallmark

I was PT-ing somebody today & we happened to get onto finance.  They don't have any ISAs but have £40k with Natwest earning 2.x%.

Obvs I picked up on this & suggested they open an ISA today to exploit the £20k allowance.  For the sake of expedience and to rule out the chance of delays or issues transferring to a new provider, I've suggested they could do worse than simply open the Natwest Instant Access ISA today with £20k then bung their other £20k in it tomorrow.  That wraps all their savings in an ISA and allows them to transfer to a better deal at their leisure if they want to after.

Out of an abundance of caution just thought I'd run this past the great & good on here to make sure I haven't missed any obvious flaw in this logic.  I understand there are much better deals out there that aren't natwest, but IMO it's best for them to open something easy today then optimize later if they want.

Natwest ISA:
https://www.natwest.com/savings/isa-overview/cash-isa.html

gravel_2

As long as the first 20k is in today, the plan seems fine. They can then find a better easy access and/or fixed ISA deal and transfer the amount without penalty.

refluxer

Sounds sensible to me and avoids the risk of trying to open an ISA with a new bank or building society today and failing any online ID checks that would delay the amount opening or funding into the new tax year.

A lot of ISA providers suspended new ISA applications earlier this week too so if Nat West haven't, then that would be another reason to choose them as a quick, temporary option.

mebu60

Getting £20k into Nat West Cash ISA today makes perfect sense.

Rather than putting another £20k into it tomorrow, another option is for them to open a 24/25 Cash ISA next week with a better paying provider that accepts transfers-in with the other £20k then transfer-in the 23/24 Nat West Cash ISA. Same end result, just another route.