Even as many personal and business bank account providers offer stellar deals on their cash ISAs in the run up to the April 5 deadline, there are all too many savers left earning insultingly low returns on older existing accounts.
A recent investigation discovered that nearly every major bank and building society that offers ISA savings products to their customers offer rates of return as low as 0.1 per cent. Yet these same financial service providers instead court new customers by offering interest rates as high as 3.5 per cent for the first year, essentially selling out their loyal customers for new ones.
The majority of these abysmal accounts are no longer available to new customers. Major providers, such as Nationwide, HSBC, Santander, and others all have at least one account that pays less than 0.5 per cent.
If you’ve got cash languishing in one of these awful accounts, one savings expert said, now is the time to move to a much more lucrative option. Savers need to express their displeasure with their state of affairs and switch to an ISA that pays a decent rate of return, the expert added.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to find a high-paying tax-free savings product that will allow transfers in from previous years’ balances. Many banks and building societies only offer their best rates to not only new customers but also those without a current ISA anywhere else – in fact, the best instant access ISA currently available on the market, an AA Savings offering carrying a 3.5 per cent rate of return, does not permit transfers in.