Top Cash ISAs

TomJ · 18 July 2015 at 6:57PM

What's the latest on the flexible ISA from the pre-election Budget (the idea you could take money out of an ISA and replace it in year without affecting your allowance)? I was announced that it would be in place by autumn, but I've since seen quoting Apr 16.

Archi_Bald · 18 July 2015 at 7:13PM

TomJ wrote: »

What's the latest on the flexible ISA from the pre-election Budget (the idea you could take money out of an ISA and replace it in year without affecting your allowance)? I was announced that it would be in place by autumn, but I've since seen quoting Apr 16.

I haven't seen anything new about it since it has first been announced.

If you are planning on putting money into your cash ISA and then taking some or all of it out again, and then put it in again.....why not just use a normal current account that pays you a lot more interest than any instant access ISA? If you want to make sure you use some or all of your current year's ISA allowance, you can still put your cash into a cash ISA as late as April 5th next year.

TomJ · 20 July 2015 at 9:29AM

It's more about the money that's already in there; it makes sense to keep the amount allowed in the ISA wrapper as big as possible, lest the current situation wrt ISAs and current accounts may change. If the announced changes come in, and instant access ISAs are still a thing, you would be able to take all the money in the ISA (down to the minimum balance at least) out and have it earning more, put it all back in on, as you say, 5 Apr plus the current year's allowance, then repeat until such time as the rules change or it becomes more attractive to leave the cash in the SIA.

colsten · 20 July 2015 at 9:59AM

TomJ wrote: »

If the announced changes come in, and instant access ISAs are still a thing, you would be able to take all the money in the ISA (down to the minimum balance at least) out and have it earning more, put it all back in on, as you say, 5 Apr plus the current year's allowance, then repeat until such time as the rules change or it becomes more attractive to leave the cash in the SIA.

I think you might have slightly inflated expectations as there is no evidence that the replacement of withdrawn amounts will apply to more than the current tax year's allowance (and only to cash ISAs).

TomJ · 20 July 2015 at 9:42PM

Possibly; on the other hand, you may be being a tad pessimistic. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/savings/2015/03/budget-2015-flexible-isas-allowing-tax-free-withdrawals-and-deposits-to-be-introduced and http://www.ukbudget.com/2015-measures/flexible-isas.aspx don't say anything about only current year's allowance only being withdrawable, nor has anything else I've seen. You can switch money within ISA wrappers from shares to cash and vice versa these days, so that's not really an obstacle. But the vagueness is why I was hoping someone had seen something more concrete

colsten · 20 July 2015 at 10:09PM

TomJ wrote: »

Possibly; on the other hand, you may be being a tad pessimistic. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/savings/2015/03/budget-2015-flexible-isas-allowing-tax-free-withdrawals-and-deposits-to-be-introduced and http://www.ukbudget.com/2015-measures/flexible-isas.aspx don't say anything about only current year's allowance only being withdrawable, nor has anything else I've seen. You can switch money within ISA wrappers from shares to cash and vice versa these days, so that's not really an obstacle. But the vagueness is why I was hoping someone had seen something more concrete

If you could switch out and in ISAs from several years, you could bet your bottom dollar that all ISA rates would be even more terrible than they are already. Just look at the rates for ISAs that allow transfers in. Banks just won't be able to take in huge amounts of money at good rates, they would have to restrict the amount of money that goes into their best accounts.

Aside from that, it could be an administrative nightmare for both, ISA providers and ISA holders, to prove that any money over and above the annual allowance has previously been ISA money.

Let's compare notes when the details have been announced.

TomJ · 20 July 2015 at 10:42PM

The administrative nightmare for providers doesn't seem terribly nightmarish, as it was specified that money has to go back into the ISA it came out of in year; it doesn't matter if it's the "same" money, which is a null concept unless you're dealing in cash. Therefore all they have to do is add to the amount allowed in each year as money comes out in the same way as they subtract from it when money goes in. It even get's reset at the end of the tax year in exactly the same way.

It may well make ISA rates worse, but they're pretty shocking as it is so not much of a change there; it remains to be seen if they rise in line with any base rate rise which, I suspect, is unlikely to affect current account interest rates as much (though I could be wrong).

As you say, in absentia any news, wait out.

Mee · 24 July 2015 at 10:34AM

My Kent Reliance ISA is up for renewal. I can't decide whether to stick with their loyalty rates which are good: 1.75%/1 yr or 2.1%/2 yr / 1.51% (1% above) / Tracker 1 yr. I've looked at the Coventry but those rates still beat it after 1 and 2 years. Have thought about splitting the money across all three offers, but would rather keep it simple. Plus if the base rate is increased by the end of the year I can't see it going up by more than 0.25% to 0.75%. Anyone in a similar position?

redmarcus999 · 26 July 2015 at 11:37AM

i have 50k in two isa's with Barclays currently paying 1.5%, but i have had notice from them that they are reducing the rate to 1% from Sept this year. I am a 40% tax payer and have my salary paid into my bank (Barclays) every month.
looking for the best place (isa provider) to put it? after reading all the above posts, i must say that im even more confused that when i started!

1) i dont need instant access, but also don't want to lock it away
2) like the idea of being able to "see" the cash when online banking, as i currently do
3) looking for 2% if its out there

any thoughts/help to steer me in the right direction would be appreciated

cheers
Marcus
247 (my first 3)

Archi_Bald · 26 July 2015 at 12:41PM

Best cash ISAs are listed in the first post of http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=401374

Top Cash ISAs

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free