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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Alexander Smail

Martin Lewis calls on people to 'ditch their cash ISA' to save money

Martin Lewis has called on people with cash ISA bank accounts to "ditch" them, as he claims they have no benefit for many people.

A cash ISA is a type of savings account that lets you earn interest on your savings without paying tax on it, though you can only pay £20,000 into it each year.

The main advantage of cash ISAs is the ability to receive interest without paying income tax, but they are also good for people who need easy access to their funds.

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However, Martin Lewis has revealed that they may not benefit the majority of people looking to save money.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "Do you have a cash ISA? If so it's probably time to DITCH IT."

The financial guru shared a blog post he wrote on his MoneySavingExpert website explaining in detail why cash ISAs will not benefit most savers.

He explained that, following the launch of the Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) in 2016, basic rate taxpayers can earn up to £1,000 interest a year from any and all savings without paying any income tax on it.

Lewis added that, even with the top easy-access 1.5% rate from app-only bank Chase, you would need savings of £70,000 to generate £1,000 of interest.

This means that only those with significant savings would benefit from placing their cash into an ISA account, as "over 19 in 20" people will not reach the £1,000 interest cap anyway.

He said: "You simply should focus on getting the highest interest rate. Over the last few years, cash ISAs have tended to have WORSE rates than normal savings across all categories."

Therefore, unless you have significant savings that would generate more than £1,000 interest per year, you will likely save more money moving your funds from a cash ISA to a standard savings account.

However, Lewis added that there are some scenarios in which a cash ISA would be preferable to a standard savings account.

He explained: "If you're close to paying tax on savings. If you've a good whack of savings and are close to the limit where you’ll pay tax, as interest rates are likely to rise, keeping money in cash ISAs now can protect you from future tax.

"You can withdraw from fixed cash ISAs (unlike normal fixes). There are big interest penalties for doing so but, if you could get a good cash ISA fix rate and wanted access in an emergency, they are more flexible."

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