Trading 212 - cash ISA and card

w00519773

Further to my question here recently: Best cash ISAs: up to 5.2% easy access, up to 4.7% fixed - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com); I am planning to open a Trading 212 cash ISA as it appears to offer the best interest rate.  Once it is opened I plan to make some payments and withdrawals to gain some confidence with the platform (I have never heard of this company and they are not a regular bank).  I then plan to transfer my existing Satander ISA (about £25k) to Trading 212 in this tax year.  I have made no contributions to my Santander cash ISA this tax year, but there was an interest payment in June this year once it matured after one year.  I want to make sure I am not breaking any rules doing this i.e. it is acceptable to open a second cash ISA; make some payments then transfer my other older cash ISA.   

I notice that Trading 212 also appear to offer a card: The card that helps you save and invest | Trading 212.  Can this be used like a normal debit card? I notice the webpage says: "qualifying money market funds "If you enable interest, we will hold your cash in qualifying money market funds" so I wander if you do actually receive the 5.2% interest ands whether in theory you can actually lose money? I notice the card is not quoted here: Best current accounts: Get up to £190 to switch, 1% cashback & more with top bank accounts (moneysavingexpert.com)

slinger2

Trading212 offers several different types of account, none of them are current accounts. These include a Cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA and a non-ISA stocks and shares account. The debit card is associated with the non-ISA S&S account.

masonic

There is no issue with having multiple cash ISAs. You just need to adhere to the £20k annual allowance, which you will do if you haven't paid anything into an ISA so far this tax year.

The QMMF used to generate interest in the Invest account (not the cash ISA) are not risk free and there is a very small risk of losing money if there were some kind of global catastrophe.

Voyager2002

Do remember that if you put money into an ISA and then take it out you will have used up part of your allowance for this year. So you might consider opening a different kind of account with them as well to practise deposits and withdrawals with them.

FWIW I have accounts with them (but not the cash ISA) and I find them a little slow but reliable.

I did look into the card they offer but did not really see any way that I would use it. It is just a debit card linked to their standard savings account.

w00519773

Voyager2002 said:

Do remember that if you put money into an ISA and then take it out you will have used up part of your allowance for this year. So you might consider opening a different kind of account with them as well to practise deposits and withdrawals with them.

FWIW I have accounts with them (but not the cash ISA) and I find them a little slow but reliable.

I did look into the card they offer but did not really see any way that I would use it. It is just a debit card linked to their standard savings account.

it is a flexible cash ISA, so i believe i can make withdrawals without it affecting my allowance.

w00519773

masonic said:

There is no issue with having multiple cash ISAs. You just need to adhere to the £20k annual allowance, which you will do if you haven't paid anything into an ISA so far this tax year.

The QMMF used to generate interest in the Invest account (not the cash ISA) are not risk free and there is a very small risk of losing money if there were some kind of global catastrophe.

i have a stocks and shares isa and lifetime isa as well.  All three combined don't go above £20,000.

Am I correct in assuming that i can open the cash isa; make contributions and then transfer the entire balance of my old isa to my new isa (in the same tax year) - the transfer will not affect my annual allowance.  i just want to mamke sure that i have understood this correctly.

w00519773

slinger2 said:

Trading212 offers several different types of account, none of them are current accounts. These include a Cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA and a non-ISA stocks and shares account. The debit card is associated with the non-ISA S&S account.

Thanks, so just to be clear there is no risk that the cash isa can reduce in value or in fact achieve the interest rate of 5.2% all the time?

Does anyone use the card as a current account (if they are happy with the risks)?

wmb194

w00519773 said:

Further to my question here recently: Best cash ISAs: up to 5.2% easy access, up to 4.7% fixed - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com); I am planning to open a Trading 212 cash ISA as it appears to offer the best interest rate.  Once it is opened I plan to make some payments and withdrawals to gain some confidence with the platform (I have never heard of this company and they are not a regular bank).  I then plan to transfer my existing Satander ISA (about £25k) to Trading 212 in this tax year.  I have made no contributions to my Santander cash ISA this tax year, but there was an interest payment in June this year once it matured after one year.  I want to make sure I am not breaking any rules doing this i.e. it is acceptable to open a second cash ISA; make some payments then transfer my other older cash ISA.   

I notice that Trading 212 also appear to offer a card: The card that helps you save and invest | Trading 212.  Can this be used like a normal debit card? I notice the webpage says: "qualifying money market funds "If you enable interest, we will hold your cash in qualifying money market funds" so I wander if you do actually receive the 5.2% interest ands whether in theory you can actually lose money? I notice the card is not quoted here: Best current accounts: Get up to £190 to switch, 1% cashback & more with top bank accounts (moneysavingexpert.com)

It’s not a bank, it’s a stockbroker.

 The debit card is offered via its GIA and is in association with another company. I've been using it as it's offering 1.5% cash back at the moment. It works as you'd expect a debit card to work and I've been using it with ApplePay. It has a freeze/unfreeze option so it doesn't have to be active all of the time if you don't want it to be. You can also set daily, monthly and individual transaction spending limits.

 You do receive the 5.2% but it’s variable. Not all of it is held in money market funds* but there is a small risk that if the markets experience significant turmoil the value of the MMF could fall.

*YMMMV and it changes but for my Isa at the moment it shows the following split:

slinger2

w00519773 said:

slinger2 said:

Trading212 offers several different types of account, none of them are current accounts. These include a Cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA and a non-ISA stocks and shares account. The debit card is associated with the non-ISA S&S account.

Thanks, so just to be clear there is no risk that the cash isa can reduce in value or in fact achieve the interest rate of 5.2% all the time?

Does anyone use the card as a current account (if they are happy with the risks)?

See: https://www.trading212.com/legal-documentation/uk/isa/ISA-Terms_EN.pdf

"5.2. We will hold your Cash ISA cash in segregated Regular Bank Deposits and Term Deposits with banks, as detailed in our Invest Terms. For the avoidance of doubt, we will not use QMMFs to hold money that you have contributed to your Cash ISA."

I do use their card with my "invest" account. Currently 1.5% cashback (until 1 October I think). £4.95 for a physical card. I transfer money from my current account. It's all a bit confusing since the invest account has shares (and everything that goes with that, like dividends), 5.2% paid on uninvested cash (if you turn it on) and money going out for shopping, etc. Really no use as a current account, you can't make payments to other accounts.

The 5.2% is variable. 1 day notice of rate changes (as I remember).

WastedWords

I think the card is more like an alternate currency card to HSBC GMA, Wise, Revolut, Zing etc. rather than a day-today debit card.
Currency exchange rates are competitive. 

slinger2

WastedWords said:

I think the card is more like an alternate currency card to HSBC GMA, Wise, Revolut, Zing etc. rather than a day-today debit card.
Currency exchange rates are competitive. 

Yes, the card works well for purchases. I've had no trouble in the UK or overseas. The trouble I've had with it, is for cash withdrawals. Found a couple of ATMs in the UK that accept it but my success rate is dismally low.