Instant Access Cash ISA - Savings Accounts (2024)

There’s no limit to how much money can be in an ISA, though there is a limit to how much you can pay in during each tax year.

The maximum allowance for the current tax year is £20,000. This is the combined amount you can save across all ISA types you hold (e.g. Cash ISA, Stocks and Shares ISA, Lifetime ISA, Help to Buy ISA).

You can transfer funds saved in previous tax years without counting towards your annual ISA limit, even if it exceeds £20,000. We’ll handle the transfer with your current ISA provider on your behalf. It's important not to withdraw and move the funds yourself, as doing so would lose it’s tax free benefits and contribute to your annual allowance.

You can fund your account by:

Making deposits

You can do this by sending money via your bank account. You’ll need your Cash ISA Sort Code and Account Number to do this – you’ll find this on your statement, your welcome letter or in Online Banking or the Mobile App.

Transferring funds from previous or existing ISA accounts (via the ISA transfer process)

You can transfer funds you’ve saved during this current tax year. You can then make further deposits in the same tax year, as long as you don’t exceed your annual allowance of £20,000 across all ISA types you hold.

You can also transfer all or part of any funds saved in previous tax years without contributing to your annual allowance and then make further deposits for this tax year.

You can transfer between ISA providers, between different Tesco Bank Cash ISA Accounts as well as between ISA types e.g. Cash ISAs, Stocks and Shares ISAs.

To ensure your interest payments remain tax free, you need to transfer your funds using the ISA transfer process (this process is offered by Tesco Bank and most other providers)

You can, but there are some exceptions:

You can pay into and hold multiple ISA’s in each tax year (e.g Cash ISA, Stocks and Shares ISA, Lifetime ISA, Help to Buy ISA).

The combined maximum amount you can save across all ISA types you hold is £20,000 for the current tax year. E.g, if you saved £10,000 into a Cash ISA in this tax year, the maximum which can be saved into other types of ISA in the same tax year is £10,000.

You can transfer funds from previous or existing ISA accounts.

If you decide to cancel your Cash ISA, this won't affect your ISA allowance for the current tax year and you can still open another Cash ISA in that tax year. You have 30 days from receiving your welcome letter to cancel your Cash ISA. If you do cancel, we'll refund the money you've paid in.

If you don’t yet have a Tesco Bank Cash ISA you’ll need to:

Open a new account - you can do this online, or by giving us a call

During the application you’ll be asked if you’d like to transfer from another ISA provider

If you choose this option we’ll include an ISA Transfer Form with your Welcome Pack.

Return the ISA Transfer Form to us

We’ll handle the transfer with your current ISA provider on your behalf. It's important not to withdraw and move the funds yourself, as doing so would lose it’s tax free benefits and contribute to your annual allowance.

Once we receive your form, within 5 business days we’ll ask your existing Cash ISA provider to arrange for your funds to be transferred to your Tesco Bank Cash ISA. Your provider will have 5 business days from receiving the request to do this and the transfer should be completed within 15 business days of us receiving your form.

We’ll start paying interest from the day your existing Cash ISA provider sends us your money or 16 business days after we receive your form (if this is earlier). Transfers from ISAs other than Cash ISAs may take up to 30 days.

If you already have a Tesco Bank Cash ISA account and would like to transfer funds in please call us to arrange this.

Your annual tax-free allowance is all about the total amount you've paid in to your ISA in that tax year, not the actual amount that's in your account earning interest. Your tax year allowance for the current tax year is £20,000.

You can make as many deposits as you like into your Instant Access Cash ISA, until all of the deposits you've made (including those into a Stocks and Shares or Innovative Finance ISA if you have one) add up to £20,000 for the current tax year.

The flexible Instant Access Cash ISA allows you to withdraw and replace money as often as you’d like from both current and previous years subscriptions, as long as the money is returned to the account before midnight on the 5th April in the same tax year it was withdrawn. However, we recommend that you do so by 5pm on 5th April to ensure that any funds are in your Account before the cut off deadline at the end of the tax year.

Any money not paid back into the Cash ISA before 5th April will lose its tax free status. Any further deposits made after 5th April will count towards future years’ annual allowance.