Full ISA Guide Discussion Area

ranciduk

Just had a quick look at halifax's rates - and guess what? They've lowered them again!

http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/cash-isas/isa-saver-fixed/

ubipie01

ranciduk wrote: »

Just had a quick look at halifax's rates - and guess what? They've lowered them again!

can't quote link!

Yep! No surprise.

I'm considering my options now. I am really clueless when it comes to ISAs or anything financial really.

I have £3500 odd in an ISA which is about to expire with Halifax. It was previously the online saver. Now the rate has gone down again to 1.3%.

I do have a Club Lloyds account, I have a regular savings account already set up (as of yesterday) to save £100 a month with them from my current account to get interest rate of 4%.

I was considering the option of putting my Halifax into my Club Lloyds Current Account as interest rates of 2% (balances of £2000+) and even 4% (balances over £4,000) which should be the case if you include my wage going in there every month.

I'm really not sure if this is a good idea getting rid of an ISA and having all my funds in one account meaning I need to keep more of a watchful eye on it :-/

I was also considering Stocks and Shares ISA but I wouldn't even know where to start!

Consumerist

ubipie01 wrote: »

. . . I'm really not sure if this is a good idea getting rid of an ISA and having all my funds in one account . . .

The ISA allowance for this year will increase to £15K from 1 July so unless you expect the Halifax ISA funds plus what you might add this year is going to bust that allowance then perhaps the current account option will give you a better return. You can always leave the decision to open an ISA this year (or not) till just before the end of the tax year and open a new one (or not) at that time.

Edit
You might even consider opening a TSB Plus [current] account (or two) to get 5% EAR on up to £2,000 (each). Every little helps!.

innovate

You could open 2 TSB Plus accounts and put £1,800 into each. That way your "ISA" money would be separate from your day to day money, and you get 5% AER. You'd just have to bounce £500 between the two once a month, and you can do that by SO.

If you want to consider an S&S ISA, you need to read up about investments first. You could start here: http://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/

tallulah.hill

Hi all! My first post here, although I've been an mse subscriber for a while and check the forum occasionally.
My question is probably a simple one to many- however I am struggling to get my head around this!!
I have had an isa for a few years although I have been really bad and not used it. Anyway, I came into a bit of money and put £5760 into this isa on 30-3-14. I then put in £5940 on 10-4-14. I have now today put in £9060 to make that up to the £15000 limit for this tax year. So, my question is, can I open another nisa for this tax year as I haven't opened one and just paid into one? And if so can I put the whole limit of 15 in? I don't understand the stocks and shares ones and tbh they scare me so I want to avoid these and stick with cash nisa. If I can't, should I leave in my HSBC flexi saver of 0.05 aer or find a better savings one? I'm a dedicated HSBC customer and only hold accounts from them (shocking I know!!) So to change providers is a confusing big deal for me!! Any help would be most gratefully received thank you all.

Consumerist

tallulah.hill wrote: »

. . . I have had an isa for a few years although I have been really bad and not used it. Anyway, I came into a bit of money and put £5760 into this isa on 30-3-14. I then put in £5940 on 10-4-14. I have now today put in £9060 to make that up to the £15000 limit for this tax year. So, my question is, can I open another nisa for this tax year as I haven't opened one and just paid into one? And if so can I put the whole limit of 15 in? I don't understand the stocks and shares ones and tbh they scare me so I want to avoid these and stick with cash nisa. If I can't, should I leave in my HSBC flexi saver of 0.05 aer or find a better savings one? I'm a dedicated HSBC customer and only hold accounts from them (shocking I know!!) So to change providers is a confusing big deal for me!! Any help would be most gratefully received thank you all.

Since 6 April you have paid in the full £15K allowance so you cannot add any more to an ISA during this tax year. You can, however, transfer it to get a better rate providing the new ISA manager allows transfers-in. Make sure you use a transfer form from the new manager - don't withdraw the funds to transfer them yourself.

Swami_Trinel

Hello,
I know NISA's are really simple and they're explained in great detail here, but...

I've been looking at long term fixed NISA's and the best one seems to be the Leeds BS Five year fixed. At £400 per month I'd have £20,000 in four years. However, the T&Cs state that:
"Subscriptions in future tax years are not allowed."
Am I right to understand from this then that after my initial input of £4800 (12 months at £400) I will not be able to continue to save £400 per month in that account and collect interest annually on the running total, but will have to leave the £4800 where it is for a further 4 years until the fixed term is up and open new ISAs every year for my monthly savings?

Archi_Bald

If you are saving £400 a month,

1. a fixed term cash ISA is no use as they don't allow regular deposits
2. saving into any cash ISA for the next 2-3 years is one of the worst choices you can make

The annual ISA allowance is £15K. It would take you over 3 years to get anywhere close to that limit. In the meantime, you can get a lot better interest in regular savers accounts such as the First Direct and the Club Lloyds ones. Plus, there are 5% current accounts ad TSB and Nationwide.

Swami_Trinel

Archi_Bald wrote: »

If you are saving £400 a month,

1. a fixed term cash ISA is no use as they don't allow regular deposits
2. saving into any cash ISA for the next 2-3 years is one of the worst choices you can make

The annual ISA allowance is £15K. It would take you over 3 years to get anywhere close to that limit. In the meantime, you can get a lot better interest in regular savers accounts such as the First Direct and the Club Lloyds ones. Plus, there are 5% current accounts ad TSB and Nationwide.

Thanks AB
I've looked at Lloyds (4% max £400 p/m) and First Direct (6% max £300 p/m). Both banks require you to have one of their current accounts. First Direct declined my application, but within minutes I had a Lloyds current account and a Regular Saver account with my first £400 in. Got to start somewhere.

jimjames

You can also use tsb accounts at 5% which will take another £4000 of your money you can then feed in elsewhere.