02/05/26
News, Resources, Insight and Opinion from Browning Financial Planning
Flexible ISAs
02/05/26
It is commonplace to search on the internet for the best Cash ISA available. You could be looking for instant access, a fixed term or something else. But providers do not make it very clear whether their product is flexible or not.
We think that in many cases, it is better to have a flexible ISA which pays a slightly lower rate of interest rather than a slightly higher paying non-flexible ISA.
For example, Atom Bank offer 4.17% instant access but their product is NOT flexible. This means that if you need to access the funds and have the means to replenish your ISA pot later that tax-year, you cannot put the money back into an ISA.
Trading 212 offer a rate of 3.6% instant access which is flexible. So if you need say £10,000 for some home improvements, you can put back up to £10,000 into their ISA so long as it is before the end of the current tax year.
This goes for Stocks and Shares ISAs too and our platform provider, Fundment only offer a flexible version.
If you have money held in non-flexible ISAs, you can transfer them to a flexible version and then the full amount will have access to flexible features.
So before you make your next deposit into a Cash ISA, make sure it is flexible. By doing otherwise, you could be leaving thousands of pounds of lost returns on the table.