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What is an ISA?
ISA stands for Individual Savings Account.
The main difference between an ISA and any other savings account is that it offers tax-free interest payments. So you could get more for your money.
Types of ISA accounts
There are 4 types of ISA:
- cash ISAs
- stocks and shares ISAs
- innovative finance ISAs, and
- lifetime ISAs.
At Nationwide we only offer cash ISAs.
Cash ISAs
Cash ISAs are tax-free savings accounts. You pay no tax on the interest you earn. You can open some ISAs with as little as £1. Cash ISAs can also make use of ISA flexibility.
Different types of cash ISAs offer different ways to access your money. These can include:
Instant access
Where you can put money in and take your money out whenever you need to.Limited access
Where you can only take your money out a certain number of times. If you go over this withdrawal limit, your interest rate will drop.Fixed rate
Where you lock away your money for a fixed term, knowing that your interest rate won't change.
You can open multiple cash ISAs each year. However, the total amount of money you deposit across all of your ISAs can't be more than your ISA allowance.
When you open a cash ISA with us, it’ll form part of a portfolio cash ISA. This means you can split your cash ISA across multiple products. You can open more than one cash ISA product with us in a tax year.
See our cash ISAs
How much can you put in an ISA?
The amount you can put in your ISA is set by your ISA allowance.
Your ISA allowance is the most you can save in an ISA in each tax year. For 2024/25, the allowance is £20,000. Some non-ISA savings accounts let you save up to £5 million in total.
You can split your allowance across your ISAs. For example, you could save some in a cash ISA and invest some in a stocks and shares ISA.
How many ISAs can you have?
You can open multiple cash ISAs and Stocks and Shares ISAs within a tax year. For example you could hold multiple cash ISAs with different providers and multiple stocks and shares ISAs with different providers. When you open a cash ISA product with us, it'll form part of a portfolio cash ISA. This means you can split a cash ISA across multiple Nationwide products.
For example, you could start the tax year by opening a fixed rate ISA with us. Then, choose at the end of the year to open a limited access cash ISA with us. Both accounts become part of one single Nationwide portfolio cash ISA.
Although you can pay money into your individual Nationwide ISA products, you'll only be paying into one portfolio cash ISA.
Our portfolio cash ISA also has ISA flexibility.
Note:
Smart Junior ISA and Child Trust Fund Maturity ISA are stand-alone cash ISAs. They cannot be included in the portfolio cash ISA.
How many ISAs can under-18s have?
You usually need to be 18 to open a new cash ISA. However, if you were 16 or 17 on 5 April 2024 and do not have a cash ISA, some ISA managers will allow you to open a single cash ISA. When you are 18, you will be able to open multiple cash ISAs.
If you are 16 or 17 and already have a cash ISA, you can still pay money into it, as long as you don’t exceed your annual ISA allowance. You can also transfer your cash ISA or reinvest it into a new cash ISA when it matures. Different ISA managers will have different rules about how you transfer your cash ISA.
ISA flexibility
ISA flexibility allows you to replace any money you take out of your cash ISA during a single tax year without it counting towards your annual ISA allowance.
More about ISA flexibility
Personal Savings Allowance
Your Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) is set by the Government. It means that, depending on the income tax rate you pay, you could earn up to £1,000 in interest in a non-ISA savings account during a single tax year, without having to pay tax on your interest.
Interest you earn on any ISA you hold doesn't count towards your PSA, because it's already tax-free.
More about Personal Savings Allowance
Related links
- How to manage your cash ISA
- How to transfer your cash ISA
- Savings accounts explained
- ISA flexibility explained
- Personal Savings Allowance explained
Protecting your money
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (opens in a new window) (FSCS) is a free, independent service that protects up to £85,000 of your eligible money at Nationwide.
Find out more about the FSCS – PDF, 2MB (opens in a new window)
Information:
All tax information is based on our understanding of current law and HM Revenue & Customs practice, both of which may change. The treatment of your account for tax purposes will depend on your individual circ*mstances.
