Do I have to deposit into ISA every year?

than4

I took out an ISA last financial year (Apr 2007-Arp 2008). I was originally able to pay in £300 a month, but then circumstances changed near the end of the financial year and now all of my wage is required for living allowances, leaving me effectively nothing to save.
I still have about £2500 in my ISA from last financial year.

Do I have to put anything into it this year to earn interest?
Or will I still get interest on the £2500 balance?

This is probably a fairly elementary question, but I couldnt seem to find the answer anywhere.
Thanks

tiptoe_mouse

It will depend on the terms and conditions of the particular ISA you went for. If it is an easy access cash ISA then there should be no problem. If it is a regular saver cash ISA then there may be restrictions. Which ISA do you have?

tiptoe

Paul_Herring

than4 wrote: »

Do I have to put anything into it this year to earn interest?

Not generally. There may be the odd one or two ISA's that have funding requirements (I can't think of any off the top of my head,) but most don't. Who is it with?

than4

It is definatley not one where I have to put money in every month.
It is just a regular cash ISA with Nationwide.

I just didnt want to earn rubbish interest for not putting anything in if I have to make a deposit, when I could earn better interest for just putting in £1!

Thanks for all your help.

jules73_2

What you should do is transfer your ISA to another provider. 4.8% is pretty poor.

Masomnia

Well, you won't have to put money in to keep getting interest. But if you don't put money in the tax year then the account becomes 'dormant', I'm informed. What that means exactly I'm not sure. If you just put £1 in that'll sort it.

tiptoe_mouse

Masomnia wrote: »

Well, you won't have to put money in to keep getting interest. But if you don't put money in the tax year then the account becomes 'dormant', I'm informed. What that means exactly I'm not sure. If you just put £1 in that'll sort it.

All that means is if you want to deposit more money in it then you'll have to fill in a form.

than4: DON'T put any more money in it. If you do find yourself able to save this tax year, you can easily find a better rate than this elsewhere (up to 6.25% - see here), and putting even £1 in the old one will stop you from doing this.

And as others have said, you can transfer your old ISA to a better rate (up to 6.1%) - see this article for details:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cash-isa-transfers

HTH

tiptoe