Where to open an ISA

[BarclaycardBosh]

You lot were lovely last time I was here having paid off a large amount of debt. Since then I have managed to save about £10k and it’s just sitting in an everyday saver account with my bank. I need to open an ISA.

My bank (Halifax) does a stocks and shares ISA which sounds straightforward and would be easy to set up and use, but has a fee of £3 a month.

Do all ISA providers charge fees?
Am I being weird wanting to stick with my own bank?

When I googled best ISAs I’d not heard of any of them. So now I don’t know what to do, never really had savings!!

I usually look at Martin Lewis website, has all the best rates and companies on there.

Thank you, I’ll take a look

Firstly, do you plan to use the money in the next 5 years because if you do a S&S ISA may not be appropriate. It is for long term, minimum 5 - 10 years.
If you do have plans for the money then cash savings may be better.

Stocks and Shares are long term investments. So you should probably shove this lot in cash. In addition cash isa limit is rumoured to be reducing so I'd maximise my cash holding at the moment as in the future the amount you can keep as cash is apparently going to be capped each year.

Most S&S accounts charge fees.

Martin Lewis has tables of all interest rates. In general as someone who watches the market for cash ISAs HBOS have really poor interest rates. The former building societies often do better. Coventry have been a steady high (not highest) but high performer for me.

If you dont need the money for next 5 years and want an S&S ISA then look at T212 as they don’t charge platform or trading fees.

Not sure if you do need to open an ISA of any kind as it depends what other savings you have.
Basically there's a £1000 tax threshold for income from savings so if you have other savings you might have to pay tax on income over this limit but if it's just the £10000 then you could get a better return with a non-ISA. I've found it's worth shopping around the building societies. Also think about how often you'll need to access the money to decide what kind of savings account you'll need.

Do you want a cash ISA? (like a savings account which is tax exempt so you don't pay tax on any interest. Current interest rates are around 4% ish on these) in which case head over to money saving expert as advised above. This would be best if you'll need the money within 5 to10 years.

Or do you want a stocks and shares ISA like the Halifax one you found? This is a place to invest money in stock markets. It's also tax exempt. If you don't need the money for 10+ years, this will give you much higher returns. Historical avarage is around 8%. Last year it was around 20% growth. A few years ago I lost 5%. It's volitile, but if you leave the money alone for years it's not high risk.
Yes these ISAs (and the funds you invest in) mostly have fees. Some cost more than others. Have a look at Trading212, Vanguard and Fidelity for low cost options. No need to stick with your own bank.

Or you could split the money you've saved, keep some in a cash savings/cash ISA as an emergency fund and put the rest in a S+S ISA for the long term and to benifit from compound interest

You might want to take a look at iWeb - it actually is also Halifax but I think (not 100% sure) it has lower or no fees.

To be able to help you better we need a bit more information

Do you have any other savings? An emergency fund?

Do you see yourself needing this 10k in the next 5 to 10 years?

Are you able to continue saving monthly? How much?

Are you a basic rate tax payer?