The best ISA rates this week 23.07.20

Savers should note that the rates below are the best rates available at 
15:00 on Thursday, 23 July 2020 and, although correct at the time of publishing, they may not be available after this time.

The fixed rate ISA chart has only one change this week, with the best rate for a short-term fixed ISA account now available from Skipton Building Society. It launched two new ISAs today, both offering a rate of 0.75% AER. The only difference between these two is the method of opening and managing the ISA. The online version is only available on the society’s website, while the other is available in a branch, by post or by phone. Savers need to have at least a minimum balance of £1,000 to open these ISAs. Interest is paid on the anniversary of the account opening and this can be compounded or paid to another account. Savers must make sure they can commit their funds for the full 16 months, as access before this will incur a 150-day loss of interest penalty and account closure. Savers that need to transfer their cash or stocks & shares ISA can move their ISA savings into this account within seven days of account opening. Savers need to make sure they use the transfer-in process form from Skipton Building Society and not close their current ISA as closing their existing ISA will result in their funds losing their tax-free status. Read more in our guide to transferring ISAs.

National Savings & Investments (NS&I) announced this week a substantial increase to its funding requirements for 2020. The Government-backed bank now needs to find £35 billion of savings compared to only £6 billion set out at the beginning of the year. Unsurprisingly then, NS&I still sits at the top of the easy access ISA table. However, ISA savers will not be able to transfer existing ISA savings into this account, so the maximum balance allowed is the current £20,000 ISA subscription limit. AIB remains in second place at 0.75% AER, however, as this ISA can only be opened in branch, this may prove inconvenient for some savers. The bank has seven branches across England and Scotland; these are located in Glasgow, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle. The last two are temporarily closed.
To bring ISA savers more choice this week, the chart above has been updated to exclude Cynergy Bank’s Online ISA (Issue 4) as this is only available to existing customers. The chart now includes Yorkshire Building Society as the next-best rate. Yorkshire Building Society’s Internet Saver ISA Plus Issue 5 must be opened and managed online. The interest savers can earn will increase as they hold more funds in the account:

• £1 - £999 – 0.15% AER
• £1,000 - £9,999 – 0.45% AER
• £10,000 - £49,999 – 0.65% AER
• £50,000 and over – 0.75% AER

This ISA does accept transfer-ins from many types of ISAs, such as stocks and shares ISAs and Lifetime ISAs, however, Help to Buy ISAs are not included.

Those ISA savers looking for an ISA that accepts Additional Permitted Subscriptions (APS) can find out more about how these work and those providers that usually accept ISA APS funds in our APS guide.