Savings News

This week saw the start of a new tax year, which means that savers can once again deposit up to £20,000 into an ISA tax-free for the 2021/22 tax year. The renewal of the tax-free ISA allowance means that many savers will be looking at the ISA charts to see what best rates are available to ensure that they earn the best interest possible on their ISA savings. But although rates within the fixed ISA charts regularly beat those being offered in the easy access ISA chart, savers should also think long-term when it comes to their ISA savings and, as a result, a fixed rate ISA may not always be the best option despite offering better rates.

Here we look at the factors savers should consider when choosing an ISA and whether a fixed rate or easy access ISA is the best option.

With the start of the new tax year this week, savers will again have a £20,000 tax-free allowance when saving into an ISA. This makes it the perfect time to look at opening a new ISA and savers will be pleased to see that some new rates have entered the charts this week. Savers looking for the best rates should act quickly however, as in the current market top rates have been reaching their funding limit quickly, resulting in some savers missing out as the rate is reduced or withdrawn altogether.

Savers should also note that the rates below are the best rates available at 3pm on Thursday 8 April 2021 and, although correct at the time of publishing, they may not be available after this time.

There are now just days left until the end of the 2020/21 tax year, so savers who have yet to use up their tax-free ISA allowance of the tax year need to act quickly to avoid missing out of making full use of the allowance. Although this year’s ISA season has not offered any noticeable chart-topping rates, as the ISAs below highlight there are still many above-average rates available across the ISA charts.

Savers should also note that the rates below are the best rates available at 12pm on Thursday 1 April 2021 and, although correct at the time of publishing, they may not be available after this time.

Two premium bond customers will be starting April £1 million richer as the April premium bond prize draw winners have been announced.

The first £1 million winning premium bond number was 323PN679583, which belongs to a premium bond holder in Cumbria. This bond is part of a £50,000 holding that was purchased in February 2018.

The second winning number was 422PG980526, which belongs to a premium bond holder in Lothian and was purchased in November 2020 as part of a £50,000 holding.

In addition to these winners, a further five premium bond holders won the second-best prize of £100,000 and another nine won £50,000. Meanwhile, in this month’s draw a further 20 premium bond holders won £25,000, 48 won £10,000, and 96 won £5,000. Thousands more received prizes ranging from £25 to £1,000. A total of 3,068,376 premium bond holders won prizes in the April draw.