Urgent advice on which Cash ISA

elsmandino

Afternoon all.

Due to help on another thread, I urgently need to invest £20,000.00 into a Cash ISA, so I can do the same after the new financial year (i.e. another £20,000.00).

According to this, 

Best cash ISAs: up to 5.02% easy access, up to 4.48% fixed - MSE

Trading 212 - is the best current option (and is FSCS protected).

Should I immediately set up an account and make a deposit or are there any other factors to consider, first?

eskbanker

Not sure it's really that urgent, when you have two and a half weeks to do it?  The Trading 212 account is an easy access one, so if you find it's not for you then you can always transfer elsewhere, but it's unclear what else you want to know?

elsmandino

Thank you - I am pretty clueless, when it comes to investments/finance, so I am trying to get up-to-speed as fast as I can.

I was worrying about fixed vs variable rates on ISAs.  However, am I worrying unnecessarily?

I.e. I can invest £20,000.00, now, in a Trading 212 account.  Then, invest another £20,000.00 in the new financial year but then worry about whether to keep or transfer the ISA to another provider?

eskbanker

elsmandino said:

I was worrying about fixed vs variable rates on ISAs.  However, am I worrying unnecessarily?

It's always a gamble, so nobody knows which will be more lucrative over any given future period - in general there have been expectations of rates decreasing, which is why most fixed rate products are below variable ones.

elsmandino said:

I.e. I can invest £20,000.00, now, in a Trading 212 account.  Then, invest another £20,000.00 in the new financial year but then worry about whether to keep or transfer the ISA to another provider?

Not sure it's something to worry about as such, but as above you can stick with the same product or transfer elsewhere if you choose.

jimjames

elsmandino said:

I was worrying about fixed vs variable rates on ISAs.  However, am I worrying unnecessarily?

I.e. I can invest £20,000.00, now, in a Trading 212 account.  Then, invest another £20,000.00 in the new financial year but then worry about whether to keep or transfer the ISA to another provider?

If you're looking at fixed vs variable rates then you are saving not investing. Make sure you don't get them confused as Trading212 offer both investments and savings so be clear what you are wanting before you go ahead.

elsmandino

Sorry - should have said saving.

By way of background, I have a large house deposit sitting in a current account but I am not looking to buy until the end of the year at the earliest.  I wanted to try and earn a bit of interest, rather than simply sitting there and losing value.

vacheron

The current Trading 212 offer only boosts to 5.02% for the first 3 months IIRC. After that it drops to about 4.5% still a good deal though as it is flexible so you can take money in and out as often as you like providing you don't exceed the £20,000 overall subscription limit by the end of the tax year. 

I took out their offer of 12 months at 4.78% last week, but I think it expired last thursday. Helped my mum take out the 5.02% 3 month offer this over the weekend. 

From opening the webpage for the first time and setting up an account to depositing your £20K won't take more than about 20 minutes from start to finish, so no need to panic. Plenty of time until April the 5th providing you are adding new money and not transferring an existing ISA. 

slinger2

Probably a variable rate product will be best for you. Fixed rate products have fixed terms and that may not suit you. 

surreysaver

elsmandino said:

Sorry - should have said saving.

By way of background, I have a large house deposit sitting in a current account but I am not looking to buy until the end of the year at the earliest.  I wanted to try and earn a bit of interest, rather than simply sitting there and losing value.

In which case you probably won't want a fixed rate, as there will be a penalty to pay to access your money before the maturity date