Having received £7,300 back from Icesave and having until the 5th of April to put it in another isa account. I have found the rates, 1.5% to 1.75%, hardly worth bothering with. And if the Conservatives get in and abolish savings tax it will make Isas obsolete anyway. Do the Banks want savers money? They certainly do not want to pay a fair rate of return.
Cash Isas are they any good.
Jan 14, 2009
11 Replies
You should be able to get better than 1.75% - some are offering 4% at the moment, but no doubt they will go down a bit when the latest bank rate cut works its way through the system.
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You may not be able to put all of your £7300 in at once - the maximum for one financial year is £3600. You can transfer from one ISA to another, but not by taking the money out and then paying it in - you have to get the ISA provider to do that for you.
John
There's special dispensation for Isesave ISAs. See
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At 10:51:37 on 14/01/2009, mick delighted uk.finance by announcing:
Then don't bother with those. There are plenty still 3% or over, and a few close to 4%.
Really? So they're also doing away with the higher rate?
4% tax-free is equivalent to over 6.5% for a higher rate payer. Not quite as good as the 10.5% or so available before the summer, but still a fair bit better than 1.5% .
I used to think ISAs were a waste of time, even when rates offered were up to 6%. This is because you could only put such a tiny amount it: £3000 in the first year, saving some £36 tax in one year *if* you got 6%. But eventually I got wise (the saving will grow each year!)
Anyway I think you should be able to get more than 1.75% (try natwest.co.uk for a start), but for a new ISA you can't put in all the £7300. And the tax savings are minimal (maybe £20pa). But 3/4 years down the line, when rates might be better, you will then have £11K or £14K in the ISA instead of having to start from scratch.
You can see the interest rate tables for cash mini isas here:
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Ret.
If you are only finding rates of 1.75% (AER) then you need to look harder.
Scottish Widow - Alliance and Leicester both twice the rates you've quoted
If your 7k was in an IcesaveISA you can transfer it all in to another provider - you should have got an ISA Certificate which enables you to transfer the money from wherever it is now in to an ISA.
At 13:22:12 on 14/01/2009, Bartc delighted uk.finance by announcing:
And were only a basic rate taxpayer...
Quite. It's a different matter once it gets into the hundreds, or thousands.
Yes he can. He'll have a certificate from the FSCS which he sends off with his cheque for £7300.
Yes you can, because he will get a certificate from the FSCS that allows him to do so. He will also be able to put in this year's £3,600 limit.
We popped our Icesave return into Northern Rock Isa over the Christmas break as their cash isa was / is giving 4% No delay in getting the cheque added to the account either.
Gio
And be careful to read all the notes at the bottom!
"No transfers accepted" "Guaranteed to pay 0.3% points above base rate until XX/XX/XX and thence base rate". Etc ;-)
I have some which I transferred into a fixed rate 1 Yr ISA Bond at 6.15% before the plunge.
Now I could only get 3.75%, but with no small print to be wary of..
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