Which e- isa

tsmiggy

I have £2300 in a silver saver account with Northern Rock,and is earning me about £8 a month after tax.I have come to the conclusion that its far better in a cash isa.It wil have to be a onlone account,and i may need some access to it,but having said that i may not.Any ideas what the best account would be.

Thanks

bigturnip

The top online ISA at the moment is Scarborough BS ofering 6.3%, however it is a 30 day notice ISA and requires £1,000 to open. You can withdraw money instantly, but you will incur a 30 day interest penalty, so you can still get to your money in an emergency. It's worth weighing up the likelihood of needing to get to the money within 30 days against the extra interest as the penalty charge may be less than interest you would lose elsewhere. EDIT: Just noticed this is a two year deal, after this you drop into their standard cash isa, which currently pays just 4.4%, so you would need to transfer in two years time.

The top rate instant access online ISA at the moment is A&L's Direct ISA at 6.25%, this includes a 1% bonus for a year, so you will probably have to transfer elsewhere in a years time to get the best rate.

Ice Save offer 6.1% as long as you can make an initial investment of £1000. They seem to have been a bit overwhelmed with customers, so you will have to be patient when dealing with them, but now we're into a new tax year hopefully this will have calmed down a bit.

Egg offer 6.05% with an initial investment of just £1, probably the most straight forward option, but as with all ISA's worth keeping an eye on interest rates regularly, especially now Egg have been taken over by Citigroup.