LTSB ISA 2 July 2004 at 12:26PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in ISAs & Tax-free Savings 7 replies 2.9K views

alared

I must commend LTSB for their consistency with their cash ISA.
When the BOE cut rates LTSB follow with the same amount of decrease and now rates have started to go up they have again passed on the full increase,unlike many of their rivals, who for the most, cut more than the BOE and now increase less.

dunstonh

just a shame their rates are pretty poor in the first place. (not placed in top 170 out of 289)

isasmurf

That all depends on how much you have in your ISA. If you've under £3,000 then yes, I'd agree, but once you get to £3,000 or more then they become very competitive, and with £9,000 in your ISA they match M&S.

It's just a shame there customer service is poor in my experience.

dunstonh

fair point. I was looking at providers in the 3k tieir. On the 10k tier they were just outside the top 50.

MJSW

"Just ouside the top 50" on £10,000? ??? I don't know where you are getting your data from but it is wildly inaccurate! Lloyds-TSB pay 5% on £9000+. If you can name 50 other accounts paying more than 5% in the £10k tier then I would be absolutely astonished! As far as I can see the Lloyds rate is the 2nd highest instant access ISA rate on the market (behind Abbey at 5.1%).

The rate on the £3k tier is pretty reasonable too at 4.75%. Again, I think this will be far better than 170th place!

dunstonh

Research provided by defaqto. It is currently about 3-4 weeks out of date and when there is an interest rate rise you get all the providers changing their rates at different times. This can cause some movement in the positions.

Its never good to compare rates between providers in the weeks following an interest rate rise/drop. Its best to wait a month or two for all the changes to settle down.

However, based in the rates 3 weeks ago, those were the positions LTSB had in the tables. Assuming all the other rates were unchanged since then and you take the current LTSB rate, it would be 16th with their current rate on 10k. However, we know that the other providers would have updated theirs as well.

Reseach data has to have a cut off and by the time it gets into the print (burnt on to CD and supplied) you are a few weeks behind.

MJSW

Assuming all the other rates were unchanged since then and you take the current LTSB rate, it would be 16th with their current rate on 10k.  However, we know that the other providers would have updated theirs as well.

I suspect that they are including fixed rate ISAs as well as variable rates in the comparision, which is obviously isn't comparing like with like! There is absolutely no way that there are 15 other instant access ISAs paying more than 5% (especially using only their old rates rather than new rates). Every comparision I have looked at has LTSB in 2nd position in the instant access category (and they use up to date rates as well, not figures that are amonth out of date!)

Perhaps you would care to list a few of these 15 so that I can check them out, because if you are correct then I want one of them!

dunstonh

New update received and they are 17th. All but 3 above them are term ISAs or TESSA ISAs.

So, it appears that LTSB have decided to become more agressive in their ISA pricing after all.