Newcastle BS urges savers to maximise tax-free savings

NBS have warned that many consumers may not realise that if they have already taken an ISA out they may not be able to open another therefore potentially missing out on maximising their tax-free savings.

Under the current proposed rules customers are only able to hold one cash ISA with an organisation. Therefore, most ISA providers only allow customers to open one ISA product with them due to existing system restrictions. This means anyone wanting to open a Help To Buy ISA, when they are made available later this year, may be restricted and forced to wait until the new tax year.

NBS has developed a system that allows customers to open multiple products each tax year under one overall ISA umbrella. The CustomISA allows aggregated balances from all accounts providing they remain within the subscription limits. This means it would be possible for a customer to hold a Help to Buy ISA and additional ISAs.

Steve Urwin, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing at NBS, said:

“We spent a long time as an organisation developing our systems and proposition, following customer feedback, which allows savers to spread their tax free savings option, across several ISA products. This ‘CustomISA’ facility means savers have a lot more flexibility when it comes to their tax-free savings options helping to plan for near and long term events.

“However, many customers may not be aware that this sort of facility exists and the options available to them within the IS landscape. This only compounds the confusion surrounding ISAs and tax-free saving and unfortunately can limit the options for savers to make the most of their money in a low interest rate environment.
 
“Given the imminent launch of the Government’s Help to Buy ISA, it is important that not only customers are aware there is the facility to open more than one ISA within a tax-year, but also that companies have propositions developed in order to enable customers to benefit from the enhanced ISA options when they become available.”