Renewing ISA

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

So rates are low basically because of the stupid people that borrow too much and cannot afford to pay it back?

Partly so yes, it was one of the tactics used to avoid the housing bubble burst that should have happened. Along with moving the point where the tax payer started picking up the mortgage from 9 months to 3 months, which helped people to stay in "their house" and avoid them being reposessed. Specifically asking the banks to not reposess was another of the factors used. (All searchable on news sites if you are unaware these actions were taken). I use the term "their house" loosely as of course a lot were not the owners but in fact owned well under 100%.

Country debt goes up

Not really sure how this is relevant to BOE base rate being supressed? Country debt is fuelled by the outgoings at goverment level being below the tax take (defecit) over a sustained period also taking into account interest on historical debt. Your own political ideology will dictate if you blame excessive benefits, low tax on the rich etc etc etc as the main issues. BUT BOE base rate doesn't affect the countrys debt, we borrow at rates internationally based on risk and lots of other factors (alledgedly taken into account by the ratings agencies). If we could simply control the rates we paid do you believe Spain, Italy, Greece etc would all be paying the rates they are?

as do the amount of loan companies like loans for you, quick-quid etc etc that charge 987677% APR.

Again how is this relevant to the BOE base rate. The market for these loans is people, typically but not completely, the financially uneducated. I know a few people who have used them, one was because they needed credit for their phone, I kid you not, better to take a pyday loan than go without texting. I would say 99% of the time these loans will make things worse not better for the person taking the loan. Occasionally they will suit a person who has a short term cash issue but is financially sound, they are just a convenient way of borrowing short term money thats easier than using another source, but I find these few and far between.

hmmmm, I wonder where this debt can be coming from??!!

People spending money they do not have, same place debt always comes from

 

[beamer]

Indeed, however, the continuing bailout of reckless borrowers it is merely a consequence of continuing bailout by the government of the reckless lenders. Hopefully, the prudent majority will remember this come election time - I know I will.

http://www.savingschampion.co.uk/best-buys/

Best site I have found for keeping up to date with latest deals.

The coventry mentioned above doesn't accept transfers in so depending how much you have it may not suit.

This ****** cheap money the BOE is lending to banks is killing rates. You can literally watch the rates drop as banks hit the top of the table they then almost immediately slash rates, why pay savers 2%+ when they can borrow from the BOE for 0.5%.

Yet again the financially prudent are picking up the pain for the financially imprudent.

 

[Guest2]

http://www.savingschampion.co.uk/best-buys/

Best site I have found for keeping up to date with latest deals.

The coventry mentioned above doesn't accept transfers in so depending how much you have it may not suit.

This ****** cheap money the BOE is lending to banks is killing rates. You can literally watch the rates drop as banks hit the top of the table they then almost immediately slash rates, why pay savers 2%+ when they can borrow from the BOE for 0.5%.

Yet again the financially prudent are picking up the pain for the financially imprudent.

Surely the best thing to do is withdraw my ISA, put most of it into a first direct 1st account regular saver then set up a standing order of £25 or more into the account to get the 8%
Max of £3600 and cannot withdraw before 12 months. So if I put £3000 in initially, then £25 a month it will gain £240 on the 3k then another £300 on standing orders. So maybe £600 after a year

 

[beamer]

Yeah, in all the time the Conservatives have been in POWER they have had no opportunity to raise rates at all, it was all Labour's fault ;0)

Nothing to do with the fact that if the housing bubble corrected rapidly the reckless lenders (I.e. their banker chums - those so many in government have made their family fortunes from) would be left holding a bunch of assets that were worth next to nothing compared to what they lent to the reckless borrowers to buy them.

There are three GREEDY groups prudent savers need to hate - bankers, reckless borrowers and BOTH governments.

Rates shouldn't have been dropped as much as they were when they were, and allowed a proper correction to happen, but labour were desperate to hold on to power so did the rates thing in the hope of kicking the can far enough down the road that they would win the election.

 

[gillywibble]

A stocks and shares ISA can deliver better returns, though obviously there's more risk than a cash ISA. I'm showing a 5.2% gain on my S&S ISA over the past 10 months.

Same here. I'm showing a 26% gain over 6 months with AXA Elevate.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Surely the best thing to do is withdraw my ISA, put most of it into a first direct 1st account regular saver then set up a standing order of £25 or more into the account to get the 8%
Max of £3600 and cannot withdraw before 12 months. So if I put £3000 in initially, then £25 a month it will gain £240 on the 3k then another £300 on standing orders. So maybe £600 after a year

Keep money in ISAs if they are long term savings IMO, especially if a higher rate taxpayer.

You can never get that money back into an ISA once removed, and the tax free benefit compounds over the years.

 

[Freakbro]

Surely the best thing to do is withdraw my ISA, put most of it into a first direct 1st account regular saver then set up a standing order of £25 or more into the account to get the 8%
Max of £3600 and cannot withdraw before 12 months. So if I put £3000 in initially, then £25 a month it will gain £240 on the 3k then another £300 on standing orders. So maybe £600 after a year

From reading that 1st Direct regular saver, I don't think you can open it with a lump sum, you can only put £25-300 per month into it (including the first month), hence the maximum saving limit of 12 x 300 = £3600

Still, not bad though.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Same here. I'm showing a 26% gain over 6 months with AXA Elevate.

Yep stocks have done well last 12 months, FTSE 100 is at quite a high for recent times.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

From reading that 1st Direct regular saver, I don't think you can open it with a lump sum, you can only put £25-300 per month into it (including the first month), hence the maximum saving limit of 12 x 300 = £3600

Still, not bad though.

Yeah so the effective rate is half the headline rate.
Only 1 deposit gets 12 months interest, 1 gets 11 months interest etc etc the last gets just 1 months high rate.

I wouldnt pull money out of an ISA to get that short term rate, but if you aren't planning on the ISA savings being long term you may benefit short term. Or if your not going to be able to use future years ISA allowance in full.

Its hard to work out the best bet for the OP without knowing more details.

 

[Guest2]

I went into Nationwide and asked what to do.

I have now moved money from the FRISA that was 3.15% to the Flexclusive ISA (4.25%) to the max amount and shifted the remainding to an instant access online ISA (2.2%)

This way I can add more to the online one or add to something else

 

[platypus]

Awful rates, and getting even worse. Responsible savers continue to be penalised.

 

[Beerbaron]

Looking to sort out my savings soon as current ISA is really low.

 

[uniQ]

I'm peeved. I transferred my ISA to M&S instant access no bonus ISA a few months ago when it was 3%. I received a letter around 2 weeks later that it would be dropping to 2.75% and received another letter today that it will be getting cut to 2.25% in March!

Why are they tanking? Is it worth tying up now for a fixed period such as 3/5 years or are we likely to see some kind of bounce in the not too distant future worth holding out for?

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I'm peeved. I transferred my ISA to M&S instant access no bonus ISA a few months ago when it was 3%. I received a letter around 2 weeks later that it would be dropping to 2.75% and received another letter today that it will be getting cut to 2.25% in March!

Why are they tanking? Is it worth tying up now for a fixed period such as 3/5 years or are we likely to see some kind of bounce in the not too distant future worth holding out for?

rates are tanking because of the BOE scheme specifically targetted to get the banks to lend money. They get an incredibly low rate on borrowings lent to them that they can relend. They do not need deposits from savers now they just get it from the governemnt at a very cheap rate.

 

[uniQ]

Almost tempted to take it all out and put it into TSCO stocks. Even though the price has tanked over the past 12 months at least they're still paying around 5% in dividends.

 

[Bear]

Having a look, most ISAs don't even keep pace with inflation at the moment. It's more damage limitation than investment.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Having a look, most ISAs don't even keep pace with inflation at the moment. It's more damage limitation than investment.

Quite. No real option at the moment than damage limitation.

Keep money in ISAs though if long term savings, you can handle a year or 2 sub par interest as the long term tax breaks mean they will repay themselves, particularly if you are a higher rate taxpayer.

If your ISA savings are not for long term you may well be better off short term looking at other investments.

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

Does anybody here have the Marks and Spencers ISA?

Can you view your information online? I have set up, received paperwork but i have no details to log in. If you try to register there is no option for ISA.

Am i missing something?

 

[chaparral]

Reads Thread title and then

Comes into thread expecting the OP wanting to replace his ISA PC card.....

 

[mrmoose]

Does anybody here have the Marks and Spencers ISA?

Can you view your information online? I have set up, received paperwork but i have no details to log in. If you try to register there is no option for ISA.

Am i missing something?

Unless you have a credit card or Everyday Savings Account (instant access non-isa) you can't unfortunately