THE QUESTION

Apologies if you have received this email many times today. My computer at work either works or doesn't ... and today it seemed to be not working too well! So this is my home computer which I know will definitely work! The query which has my head in a spin @ the moment is:- We are told we can only open one cash ISA per year, yet the best deals invariably seem to arrive before the year is about to end - so too late for those of us who already opened an ISA with what we thought was the best rate. This got me thinking however:- 1) When is the interest paid? 2) On what amount is the interest paid? 3) Is interest paid daily and the full amount paid as a lump sum on 1 April or 31st March? or 4) Is interest paid annually on the sum you have left in the ISA (regardless of whether or not you have put in the full allowance throughout the year) on 1 April or 31st March? For example, if I put in the full allowance £5k+ in April 2011, but took out £2k during the year, will I receive interest on what is left, or what I had in total over the year? How is the interest worked out and when is it paid? Accordingly, if I opened an ISA at say 3.5% on 30 March 2012 with £5k+, when is the interest paid on that amount? Look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Lynette

PS: Just read somewhere that even if you have a current open ISA, you can open another one only for transferring money from another ISA into it to get a better return on your money, is that correct?

Lynette Adams, Mddx