Halifax leads cash ISA shake up

Halifax has announced the details of its cash ISA promise aimed to help drive a fairer deal for customers when transferring their cash ISA.

The bank has estimated that delays in the transfer process cost cash ISA customers £24 million each year in lost interest.

With savings interest rates struggling to provide a suitable return on money in savings accounts, savers cannot afford to lose money through transfers and Halifax has decided to shake up this process to help its customers.

Russell Galley, managing director of savings at Halifax, said: "We have always said that improving the process needs to be an industry wide initiative. This will ensure people are not deterred from making the most of their tax-free savings allowance."

An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading OFT into the cash ISA market earlier this year found that switching a cash ISA takes an average of 26 days, with 25 per cent of transfers take longer than 30 calendar days.

Halifax intends to make Cash ISAs available for new and existing customers as well as paying interest from day one that a completed ISA transfer application is received.

The proposal means that customers switching to a better savings interest rate will not be disadvantaged by the time it takes to transfer their cash ISA from their current provider.

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2010-10-05 12:35:10 © Moneyextra.com