Looking for the best cash ISA that provides the full offered rate on transfers in

slicendice

I currently have a Trading 212 easy access cash ISA which is giving me 3.6% and I've just seen that Moneybox are offering their cash ISA at 4.52%, which includes a 1.07% bonus rate for 12 months…but then I see that this bonus rate is not available on transfers ☹️

There are quite a few providers out there that are offering better than 3.6% at the moment (including Trading 212…frustratingly!) but it seems it's not uncommon for them to exclude transfers in from the advertised rate.

Can anyone give any recommendations for accounts that offer a decent rate on transfers in?

eskbanker

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa/ summarises the market-leading options and clarifies which have lower transfer rates - Moneyfacts is more comprehensive but doesn't seem to have any filtering capability that isolates such arrangements.

JohnB47

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) are offering a variable rate cash ISA at 4.3% and there is no indication that transfers-in have a different rate. I'm not sure why this ISA is not in the page linked by 'eskbanker'.

I've opened one and am in the process of transferring my Trading 212 ISA to them.

The process is a bit odd. For some reason you can't just transfer-in the money directly to your HL ISA.

You enter details of the Trading 212 ISA on-line and download a form which you sign and send back to HL by Freepost. They request the transfer with Trading 212. This transfers the money into a HL Stocks and Shares ISA (which you set-up during the process), then you transfer that money to your HL Cash ISA.

slicendice

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81911132#Comment_81911132

Yes I've just come across that one...seems like a heck of a faff! Almost like they want to discourage people from doing it.

I'd be interested to hear how long the whole process took once yours is completed.

Yellowman

According to Moneyfacts, the Hargreaves Lansdown Cash ISA (4.3%) does not allow transfers in.

slicendice

According to the HL website, transfers in are possible (via the HL stocks and shares ISA as mentioned above)

https://www.hl.co.uk/savings/cash-isa/cash-isa-transfers

ToastLady

Vida at 4.16% allows transfers in. I just transferred from Monument to them a few days ago, process took 2 days. I wanted a flexible account and avoided those with temp bonus and middle men, which don't seem to give the best rate for transfers anyway.

JohnB47

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81911231#Comment_81911231

I've just looked at their site. On my browser (Chrome) I see a tiny box against various options and the presence of that box seems to indicate 'yes'. There's a 'yes' box against 'Transfers In - Cash ISA'. See the screenshot attached. I'll report back when my Trading 212 ISA transfer-in has completed.

HL Cash Isa.jpg

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6658180/looking-for-the-best-cash-isa-that-provides-the-full-offered-rate-on-transfers-in

It seems more common than it used to be but I think it is mainly confined to a few newer providers.

As T212 is just depositing your money with other banks ( AIUI), they must be making no money on their cash ISAs. They just want as many customers on the platform as they can, so they can upsell other products to them.

They do not necessarily want those customers to be transferring in large sums to their cash ISA as it is not profitable. That is my guess anyway.

Probably Moneybox is thinking something similar- the main aim of their attractive rate is to increase their customer base, not to entice in transfers of large sums.

slicendice

Just out of interest, when a provider offers an attractive ISA rate to new customers only, does that mean customers who have never held an account with them before, or just customers who don't currently have an account with them? So if I transferred my Trading 212 ISA to another provider (and thus closed the account), could I then transfer it back and get the "new customer" rate?

My gut says probably not, but just wondering...

JohnB47

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81912721#Comment_81912721

I've wondered about this too but like you, I think the answer is probably no.