A Basic ISA Guide

i already have £3k in my mini cash isa with natwest so can i now transfer money from another savings account into it ready for the next tax year? I got about 1500+ to put in ready.
 
|Ric| said:
Whilst you can have multiple ISAs there seems to be very little point, you can transfer money from one ISA to a newly opened ISA at any point (remember the rule about only opening 1 ISA a year though). So lets say I get an ISA with IceSave who have a very good rate of 6.1% at the moment. Next tax year, if they drop this then I go and open a ISA at a new provider and tell them to transfer in my ISA from IceSave. Hypothetically lets say that this is Egg who are paying 6.2%. Once the money is "ISA money" it stays that way even moving it between providers. I can still pay in £3,600 (because the limit goes up) next year! THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS WITHDRAWING FROM THE ICESAVE ISA AND THEN DEPOSITING IN THE EGG ISA! That will use the £3000 of the £3600 limit. So moral is transferring is not the same as withdrawing/depositing

Ric.
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Here's the part I get a bit confused about with ISAs. I currently have £3000 in a 6.30% ISA with NS&I which I opened in September 2007 (so I have no more allowance available this year). The rest of my money is in my ING savings account (5.0% or so), come April I'll be able to open a new ISA and transfer £3600 in to it which is all good but I'm unsure about how to find the best company to transfer the balance from my NS&I account to as I'm guessing there will be better deals available; do I just need to look for one which accepts ISA transfers? I'm sure when I was looking into it last year not all companies accept transfers and often give lower rates for them.
 
Pho said:
Here's the part I get a bit confused about with ISAs. I currently have £3000 in a 6.30% ISA with NS&I which I opened in September 2007 (so I have no more allowance available this year). The rest of my money is in my ING savings account (5.0% or so), come April I'll be able to open a new ISA and transfer £3600 in to it which is all good but I'm unsure about how to find the best company to transfer the balance from my NS&I account to as I'm guessing there will be better deals available; do I just need to look for one which accepts ISA transfers? I'm sure when I was looking into it last year not all companies accept transfers and often give lower rates for them.
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Not all companies allow transfers in, it seems to depend. NS&I have one of the best rates at the moment but don't allow transfers in if I remember correctly.
I think what you find is some banks are after new customers so have a high introductory rate only for new accounts. I guess they assume that these customers are more likely to be (naively) loyal.

I think you are talking 0.2% max between a bank that allows transfers and one that doesn't.

You can always go and open a new ISA and not transfer in. But if NS&I say, drop their rates then you no longer want to stay there so any rate that is better than that is good for you. Even if it isn't the top rate because that is offered by a "no transfer in" bank
 
BrightonBelle said:
Are there any negative reasons not to have one?

All seems a little too good for me...

BB x
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There's no negative catches, it's a government scheme and all providers have to abide by the same rules. The only real negative is the limit you can pay in every year. For the average guy 3000 is a nice number, but the mega rich would save 10's of thousands every year if they could simply dump all their cash into one of these accounts.

Also another mention, you can even use these as every day savings accounts if you like. Pay in a bit at pay day, take out a bit when the end of the month looms. Just as long as you don't go over the paying in limit. Even the little interest you earn at the start of April will save you a few tenners.
 
|Ric| said:
Not all companies allow transfers in, it seems to depend. NS&I have one of the best rates at the moment but don't allow transfers in if I remember correctly.
I think what you find is some banks are after new customers so have a high introductory rate only for new accounts. I guess they assume that these customers are more likely to be (naively) loyal.

I think you are talking 0.2% max between a bank that allows transfers and one that doesn't.

You can always go and open a new ISA and not transfer in. But if NS&I say, drop their rates then you no longer want to stay there so any rate that is better than that is good for you. Even if it isn't the top rate because that is offered by a "no transfer in" bank
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That clears things up a bit more, cheers :).
 
BrightonBelle said:
Are there any negative reasons not to have one?

All seems a little too good for me...

BB x
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Like most money matters, as long as you are careful and know exactly what you are getting yourself in for, there is no real downside to Mini Cash ISAs. By which I mean you need to be asking yourself the following questions when considering any prospective ISA, as they have varying T&Cs:

-Are there any restrictions/penalties for withdrawals (typically present on 'fixed' products)?
-How easy is it to get hold of the cash if I need it in a hurry? (some products are only available by e.g. postal accounts rather than online/high st branch)
-Is that headline interest rate there for the long term, or is it just a short term promotion which will drop right down after x months?
-Am I approaching the government protected £35k limit (unlikely unless you've been maxing out your ISA allowance since they came in and have it all in the same place)?

As an aside, I think ISAs can actually make a good vehicle to get people used to saving money. The fact that you can only pay in £3k in total makes people wary about withdrawing money. If you just leave your spare cash lying around in your current account (or even a linked savings account), the temptation is there for some people to just go and spend it after a while.
 
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ISA is a great thing to have, I put away the £3k last two years and it takes the temptation of spending it away ... I always seem to forget about when working out what I have at the time, but know that it will always be there .. just in case !

Also started a shares ISA this year which I'll be topping up in April and a SIPP (seeing as my employer doesn't have a pension plan)
 
Cool thanks for the replies :)

So you can more or less use it as you would a normal savings account? Except that you can't hold more than £3K in it?

BB x
 
BrightonBelle said:
Cool thanks for the replies :)

So you can more or less use it as you would a normal savings account? Except that you can't hold more than £3K in it?

BB x
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not quite - you can take your money out but if you invest £3k at the outset and then take £1k out 2 months later, you can not add it back in during the same tax year as you have used you £3k allowance at the outset.

Therefore slightly different to savings accounts that you can move money in and out without any restrictions.

For the few that are asking about Stocks and Shares ISA try checking out.

www.fool.co.uk
www.moneysupermarket.com
www.fidelity.co.uk

for more information
 
I opened my ISA up with NS&I round about this time last year, and it says since then i've put about 5.5k in woohoo :D, unfortunately i've also taken out about 3.8k DOH!!!!! :p
 
I opened a Woolwich ISA when they started so I now have £12000 in it plus the acumulated interest so about 12900 in total. Woolwich are now Barclays, ive just noticed the "cash ISA" im in is giving about 4.5%, where as the shiney new isa for new customers is 6.5% (droping to 5.5% after the 1st year) and Im not allowed to trasfere my isa over to it! Im really cheesed off! Am I right in thinking I need to find another bank and take advantage of there shiney new isa offer, so long as they let me transfere mine in not just open a new one.

Also ive got maybe another 10-15k in a savings account, I cant open another isa so is a savings account (4% or so) the best thing for this?
 
Anyone made an excel spreadsheet or similar that allows calculation of interest that I could use to check my savings?

Also trying to figure out if for the same interest, say 5%, compounded monthly/quarterly/annually gives different values, if at all. I'd be most grateful if someone could post an example.

It should be easy to do myself but for the life of me, cannot remember the ins and outs of compound interest from school.

Thanks.
 
I've got about £700 sitting next to me, just staring at me. Shame I recieved it today and not before the 5th April. I would have chucked it in an ISA and taken it out 2012!
 
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