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Wednesday 23 May 2007

Mini-Cash ISA's - A Guide


Welcome to my guide to saving with a mini-cash ISA, I know I've been promising it for weeks now but it's finally here, so lets begin

If you're in an envious position for a student, and actually have left over money, maybe you work and could do with stashing it away somewhere, you should seriously consider putting some aside in a mini-cash ISA, this guide will tell you all you need to know about ISA's and some tips on the best one's out there, so keep reading.

What is an ISA?
Basically an ISA is a savings account, where the interest you earn isn't taxed, therefore you earn more interest for a year on up to £3000 cash. So to clarify, if you put your money into a mini-cash ISA (up to £3000), the taxman can't touch it.

ISA's Explained
A lot of people don't know much about ISA's, or often get confused about some aspects, so here are some facts: -
  • You may only put up to £3000 in your ISA during the year.
  • Money can be withdrawn at any time, without losing your tax benefits, for example if you put £2000 in, withdraw £1000, you will still have £1000 tax benefits left, regardless what happens after this.
  • You get a new ISA tax allowance each tax year
  • Only one mini-cash ISA account per year
The Market Leaders
As you probably have heard on the news, the bank of England have raised the interest rates to 5.5%, so these are some picks at the time of writing, just email me if you would like to know the latest best offers at a later date.

There are some good deals to be had out there, but also some poor one's, here are my picks.

  • Egg Cash ISA - Egg are an online bank who currently offer an outstanding 6.05% AER on amounts from £1 to £3000, not only that but they guarantee to at least match the bank of England base interest rate until 2009, so your always going to get a good rate. Other benefits include, you can setup online in minutes, keep track of your account 24/7, no charge for moving your money around from Egg
Other offers out there
  • ING Direct - 6.55% but only for 6 months, ideal if you want a short term measure
  • NSandI - 6.05%, but you'll need to invest an initial £1000
But remember offers are always changing as long as the interest rates keep changing, keep tabs on this site for updates, I'll do my best to alert you of the best deals out there.

So that way my guide, I hope you found it helpful and have encouraged you to start saving over the summer holidays for the all importance next year in university or collage. Have Fun!

2 comments:

lastAutumn said...

And how can a consumer treat this new stuff with a credit card? unfortunately, you didn't mention that. Can I make something like balance transfers to the card?

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