Two providers now offer top easy-access cash Isas paying 5.17% – which is best?

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A mini battle to top the best buy easy-access cash Isa charts has broken out between two providers.

Trading 212 and Moneybox have both moved to boost their easy-access Isa rates to a table-topping 5.17 per cent. 

This rate blows the competition out of the water as the next best easy-access deal on This is Money’s Isa best buy tables pays around 4.9 per cent. 

Trading 212 boosted its rate to 5.17 per cent today after upping the rate to 5.15 per cent on 31 October, while Moneybox made the same move. 

This is Money compares these best buy accounts like for like to run the rule over them. 

Trading 212

Trading 212’s cash Isa* launched in May 2024. It has proved immensely popular with savers for the high interest rate it pays and the lack of restrictions or penalties for withdrawals which makes it a true easy-access account. 

Flexible Isas allow you to dip into your pot and, as long as you put the money back in during the same tax year, it doesn’t lose its tax-free wrapper or use up any of that year’s £20,000 Isa allowance. 

The Isa can only be opened by downloading Trading 212’s app. There are no limits to how many times you can withdraw your money and Trading 212 will not reduce your interest rate for accessing your money.

The interest is paid daily and customers can see how much money their savings has accrued each day in the app. Customers can start saving in Trading 212’s Isa with £1. 

The rate is variable, which means it can go up or down depending on market conditions. It does not include a bonus rate. 

You can transfer in Isas you hold with other providers to Trading 212’s Isa.  

Is your money safe? 

Money kept in Trading 212’s Isa is fully FSCS protected. Funds in the Trading 212 Isa are held in partner bank accounts with Barclays, NatWest and JPMorgan. 

Customers are able to see the percentage of their cash held at each bank is in the interest on the cash tab in the Trading 212 app.

It means if you already have money in Barclays, NatWest or JPMorgan, you’ll need to be careful not to breach the £85,000 limit if you put money away with Trading 212.

Moneybox 

Moneybox’s 5.17 per cent easy-access Isa includes a bonus rate of 0.47 per cent for the first 12 months, meaning the Isa’s underlying rate is a variable 4.7 per cent. 

The account can only be opened by downloading Moneybox’s app with a minimum deposit of £500. 

You can only make three free withdrawals in a 12 month period with this Isa. On a fourth withdrawal, the rate drops to 0.75 per cent. The number of withdrawals you can make resets on the date you opened your cash Isa.  

If your Isa balance dips below £500, your rate will also drop to 0.75 per cent. 

You can transfer in Isas you hold with other providers to Moneybox’s Isa. The interest is calculated daily and paid yearly. 

This Isa is not a flexible Isa, so any money you withdraw from it cannot be replaced within the same tax year without affecting your £20,000 Isa allowance. You will lose whatever amount you withdraw from the allowance. 

Is your money safe? 

Money kept in Moneybox’s Isa is fully FSCS protected. Moneybox leans several banks to provide FSCS protection for its cash Isa. It says these banks can change over time but the banks it currently uses are: 

• HSBC
• Santander UK
• National Westminster Bank
• Clydesdale Bank
• Bank of Scotland
• Lloyds Bank
• Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C.)
• First Abu Dhabi Bank P.J.S.C.
• National Bank of Kuwait (International)
• The Bank of New York Mellon, London Branch

The amount of money held with each bank can vary over time. Moneybox says it will never hold more than 50 per cent of the total funds with a single bank at any given time. 

If you already have money in any of these banks, you’ll need to be careful not to breach the £85,000 limit if you put money away with Moneybox.

The verdict

For customers who want or need the freedom to dip into their savings more than three times in a 12 month period without interest rate penalties, Trading 212’s Isa is the clear winner. 

Moneybox’s Isa comes with several penalties so customers need to be sure they won’t need to dip into their pot more than three times in 12 months and be careful that their savings not dip below £500 or risk their rate dropping to just 0.75 per cent. 

Trading 212’s Isa is a flexible Isa which is a big benefit to savers with the financial fire power to max out their Isa limit each year. Moneybox’s Isa does not have this feature. 

How a base rate cut would affect these rates

By boosting their rates, Trading 212 and Moneybox are bucking the trend of providers cutting savings rates. 

But the interest rate bump comes as the Bank of England is widely expected to cut interest rates to 4.75 per cent from 5 per cent at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting tomorrow. 

This begs the question of how long these table-topping Isa rate will stick around for.

The last time the Bank of England moved to cut the base rate to 5 per cent in August from 5.25 per cent, This is Money analysis found over 100 savings had had their rates slashed or were pulled from the market altogether in the week after the base rate cut. 

Even if the Bank holds the base rate at its current level, savings providers can respond by cutting rates.

When the Bank of England held the base rate to 4.75 per cent in September, Trading 212 responded by cutting its Isa rate to 5 per cent from 5.2 per cent. 

Moneybox’s interest rate is also variable so it could down if the base rate is cut tomorrow.