crap nationwide isa only give 1.50% in interest, should i move the money to a fixed savings account

[loadsofmoney]

this sounds like a no brainer. just discovered that all my savings in my nationwide isa only give a paltry interest, used to be 5%. would you move the lot to a fixed savings account, there are some that give around 4%! then of course i would lose the isa...
sorry about annoying name, changed the original one to preserve my anonymity.

can't you move your ISA elsewhere?

to a different isa? i think the rates are all pretty low - am a sahm so don't pay taxes anyway, so a highish interest savings account should be to my advantage...

Yep. All ISAs seem to be pretty crap currently. I have just discovered mine (national savings) is paying a princely 2%.

Be still my beating heart......

There are still some fixed term bonds about that are reasonably safe and have much higher interest rates. Notably Anglo Irish (4.6%) and AA (which is actually birmingham midshires) 4.55%. I took out bonds in both of these last week, swiftish as I don't think they will be on offer for long.

There are some higher rates about, but I didn't feel comfortable with ICICI, or with something I found on moneynet called 'Ruffler Bank'. Who the f*ck are they?! I imagine a shady office staffed by a spivvy chap in a trilby, and his gum chewing blonde PA.

I may be being unfair.....

You have been financially prudent and must be punished. This seems to be the general gist of current economic policy.

yeah that's what i meant. Didn't realise they were all so rubbish.

not sure the Anglo Irish are protected by the government compensation scheme. will do some research, feel really pissed off to be honest. who are the ICICI? the ones based in Nigeria?

I found out on Saturday that my Halifax ISA was paying 0.65%!

will you change account then?

0.65% on halifax ISA? bollox, that is crap. I've had one with them for years and haven't really bothered checking but that is worse than some 'normal' savings accounts.

Think I'm going to take my money out and buy premium bonds instead

Anglo Irish isn't covered by the UK protection scheme. This is because it is protected by the Irish government up to 95000 euros, which is greater than that provided by the UK and therefore supercedes it.

They stated this specifically in the bumf that came with the application.

ICICI is an Indian bank. Apparently they also have a UK licence, and should be covered by the UK scheme. However I thought that the risk involved was not worth an additional 0.2 % a year.....

The thing with an ISA though, is that the return is tax-free for ever. So if you are in a position to save that much every year, it can still be worth preserving the tax advantage in the long term.
But you can transfer ISAs to another provider, but they are all pretty low at the moment. Also you could move it to an equity ISA, on the grounds that shares are so low they must go up eventually.

I've changed it to a phone account which gets two point something, but it's still not brilliant

Julian Hodge give 4% fixed for a year on ISA transfers. They are protected by the FSCS and are very efficient. I sound like a sales rep, but I am just a happy customer!!

look on moneysavingexpert.com -last time I looked scottish widows were offering 3.6% on ISAs.

I'm a bit scared of moving mine as I worry the money will get 'lost' in transit!

Has anyone successfully moved their ISA?

yorkshire building society are 3.6%