Is It Worth The Effort

Quietgirl

Hi,

I currently hold an Yorkshire Building Society ISA at 5.55% of which I have £100 in. I am thinking of transfering it over to Alliance and Leicester Direct ISA Issue 4. I currently have an A & L Direct ISA issue 2 with very little in it. I am just wondering if it is worth all the effort for 6.25% I kind of like YBS. Whats also putting me off is that I cannot sort things out with A & L to upgrade my old ISA to issue 4 with them over the phone they are insisting that I go into the branch and have a 45 minute appointment for a savings review (GROAN).

Quietgirl

born_again_saver

Hi Quietgirl,

The difference between the two ISAs over 1 year in terms of the interest they would pay on £100 is only 75p. The Alliance and Leicester ISA rate will drop quite a bit in 1 year's time anyway as it includes a 1% bonus until the end of May 2009. So it's up to you really, I personally wouldn't bother for that kind of amount though. Of course if you had £1,000 or £10,000 instead of £100 it might start to seem more worth it to transfer, as this would make £7.50 or £75 per year difference respectively.

By keeping at least £100 in a Building Society you also could potentially qualify for some free money in the future, if there was ever to be a merger between YBS and another society. Nobody can say if or when this will ever happen, but some people think that building societies could begin to merge in the next few years. If you transfer to a bank you would lose the potential to gain from this happening.

Quietgirl

Thanks for the reply I never thought of it like that. I think I will stay put. I do like YBS I was just thinking of the rate. But I will maybe look into it futher on down the line when I have more money saved.

Thanks