Boost your cash Isa rate with tweaks that won't cost you a penny: SYLVIA MORRIS
The cash Isa is now a better product for savers than it has been in its 26-year history – but few of us use them to their full advantage.
Just a few simple tweaks in the way you save can seriously boost the interest you receive without having to put aside a penny more.
For example, many don't take advantage of the flexibility that Isas now offer, which means you can withdraw cash and add it to your balance within the same tax year without it eating away from your allowance.
That flexibility means you don't have to restrict yourself to depositing money that you are sure you won't need to access – you can even put in money that you are likely to need safe in the knowledge that you can withdraw and replace it again with ease.
You can also have multiple Isas within the same tax year – so long as you don't exceed your overall allowance.
But many savers do not take advantage and instead limit themselves to one Isa per year, which means they may not be getting the best rates overall.
It's not surprising that many miss out. Only around half of the top Isa payers offer flexibility and often make it hard to find out whether they do – hiding it in pages of terms and conditions.
Among those offering flexibility are Trading 212, Ford Money and Vida Savings. Providers that let you open more than one include Aldermore, Charter Savings Bank, Nationwide, Newcastle, Paragon, Vida Savings and Zopa.
I'd urge you to enjoy the flexibility and freedoms that the current rules afford you while you can.
After all, after years of simplifying the Isa to make it more user friendly, the Government seems intent on reversing progress and making them more restrictive once again.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves looks set to cut the cash Isa allowance so that you can save just £4,000 of your £20,000 allowance in cash – with the remainder in shares.
Banks, building societies and the Daily Mail's Hands Off Our Cash Isas campaign are fighting your corner to keep the allowance intact – but the Chancellor has failed to promise that cash Isas are safe.
Eleven years ago on July 1, 2014, the Treasury said it was making the cash Isa 'a new simpler product'.
It did this by giving us a single Isa allowance that we could split how we choose – putting it all into cash or shares or a combination of both.
Before then you could only put half the allowance into cash and if you didn't want to invest in shares you just lost that part of the allowance.
Flexibility and the ability to open multiple Isas has improved the product since. What a great shame that we're about to go into reverse.
Nationwide to pay fresh £100 bonus
Tomorrow, Nationwide reveals how it did in its last financial year to the end of March.
Our largest building society is expected to have done well enough to announce another £100 Fairer Share payment for this year to eligible members.
It comes on top of the £50 'thank you' payment that went out to 12 million members after its takeover of Virgin Money last October.
We will also learn exactly who qualifies. Last year, many savers and mortgage holders missed out because they didn't have a current account with Nationwide.
Virgin Money customers will miss out, even though they have been owned by Nationwide since the autumn, because they are not members of the society.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leader Live
3 hours ago
- Leader Live
Brexit rules spark ‘clear demand' for more motorhome parking, lobby group says
Boosting provision for these vehicles would generate more revenue for local businesses and increase the number of visitors to tourist destinations outside the peak summer season, the Campaign for Real Aires (Campra) said. Aires is a French word used to describe designated stopping places for motorcaravans – the collective term for motorhomes and campervans – which are much more common in continental Europe than the UK. Post-Brexit rules mean UK passport holders are prohibited from being in the Schengen area – which covers most of the European Union and some other European nations – for more than 90 days within a 180-day period. That means many UK-based motorcaravan users are seeking domestic destinations for overnight trips. But a survey of 6,731 users suggested 88% are dissatisfied with the UK's availability of overnight parking in desirable locations. The poll also indicated that motorcaravaners spend an average of £51 per day in local businesses and £23 per night on overnight parking or campsite fees. Many respondents commented on the UK's lack of infrastructure and welcoming attitude compared with continental Europe, Campra said. Last month, Hampshire County Council approved plans to ban campervans and motorhomes from staying overnight at the south coast beauty spot of Keyhaven, near Lymington. It claimed the move would 'bring order' to the area. Campra managing director Steve Haywood said welcoming motorcaravans to an area 'can be a hugely positive move'. He went on: 'There is a clear demand – emphasised by post-Brexit travel restrictions – for more overnight stay options in UK towns and cities, and those towns and cities could benefit hugely by embracing motorcaravans. 'More councils are seeing the benefits of providing facilities, instead of suffering the cost of enforcement and bans, not to mention the loss of potential revenue to businesses. 'In Fleetwood, Lancashire, for example, the introduction of overnight parking in the seafront car park for £5 per night has seen a huge boost in revenue for local shops, and has been so successful that additional facilities are now being planned for motorcaravanners. 'Every council that has operated a 12-month trial aire has been successful and made the overnight parking permanent.' Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures show more than 416,000 motorcaravans are registered in the UK. A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: 'Policies around overnight motorcaravan parking and the provision of facilities are a matter for local councils.'
South Wales Guardian
3 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Brexit rules spark ‘clear demand' for more motorhome parking, lobby group says
Boosting provision for these vehicles would generate more revenue for local businesses and increase the number of visitors to tourist destinations outside the peak summer season, the Campaign for Real Aires (Campra) said. Aires is a French word used to describe designated stopping places for motorcaravans – the collective term for motorhomes and campervans – which are much more common in continental Europe than the UK. Post-Brexit rules mean UK passport holders are prohibited from being in the Schengen area – which covers most of the European Union and some other European nations – for more than 90 days within a 180-day period. That means many UK-based motorcaravan users are seeking domestic destinations for overnight trips. But a survey of 6,731 users suggested 88% are dissatisfied with the UK's availability of overnight parking in desirable locations. The poll also indicated that motorcaravaners spend an average of £51 per day in local businesses and £23 per night on overnight parking or campsite fees. Many respondents commented on the UK's lack of infrastructure and welcoming attitude compared with continental Europe, Campra said. Last month, Hampshire County Council approved plans to ban campervans and motorhomes from staying overnight at the south coast beauty spot of Keyhaven, near Lymington. It claimed the move would 'bring order' to the area. Campra managing director Steve Haywood said welcoming motorcaravans to an area 'can be a hugely positive move'. He went on: 'There is a clear demand – emphasised by post-Brexit travel restrictions – for more overnight stay options in UK towns and cities, and those towns and cities could benefit hugely by embracing motorcaravans. 'More councils are seeing the benefits of providing facilities, instead of suffering the cost of enforcement and bans, not to mention the loss of potential revenue to businesses. 'In Fleetwood, Lancashire, for example, the introduction of overnight parking in the seafront car park for £5 per night has seen a huge boost in revenue for local shops, and has been so successful that additional facilities are now being planned for motorcaravanners. 'Every council that has operated a 12-month trial aire has been successful and made the overnight parking permanent.' Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures show more than 416,000 motorcaravans are registered in the UK. A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: 'Policies around overnight motorcaravan parking and the provision of facilities are a matter for local councils.'
North Wales Chronicle
3 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Farage plans to charge non-doms £250,000 fee which will be given to poor
On Monday, the party leader and MP for Clacton will reveal the policy which he said would 'encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom', according to the Telegraph. The Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April, which is where UK residents whose permanent home or domicile for tax purposes is outside the UK. Last year, former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed plans to scrap the tax status before successor Rachel Reeves sped up the process. Reform UK's policy would mean 'every high-net-worth newcoming (or returning leaver)' would pay a £250,000 one-off fee 'in return for a stable, indefinite remittance-style regime on offshore income and a 20-year inheritance-tax shield', Mr Farage wrote in an article for the Telegraph. All of this fee would be given to Britain's lowest-paid full-time workers through an automatic tax-free dividend via HMRC, the party leader added. In response, Labour said the policy was a 'golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid the tax they owe in this country'. Mr Farage wrote: 'Our policy is simple – Britain must be a place where success is celebrated, not punished with excessive taxes, crippling energy costs, or punitive inheritance levies. 'We will actively encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom, on the clear condition that those who come here deliver immediate, visible benefits to our workers.' The plan would mean around 2.5 million 'hard-working Britons' would receive an 'annual cash bonus', the Reform UK leader claimed. He added: 'Our policy is not a 'golden visa' or a backdoor to citizenship. 'It is a one-time flat tax paid by newcomers in exchange for the certainty of a favourable tax status. 'Individuals will still be liable for all standard UK taxes on UK-sourced income, property and spending. 'But they won't be taxed on offshore income and gains for the duration of their agreed status.' A Labour spokesperson said: 'Nigel Farage can brand this whatever he wants – the reality is his first proper policy is a golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid the tax they owe in this country. 'As ever with Reform, the devil is in the detail. 'This giveaway would reduce revenues raised from the rich that would have to be made up elsewhere – through tax hikes on working families or through Farage's promise to charge them to use the NHS.'
