The ISA season is here, and it’s time for providers to start competing for the attention of UK savers. An ISA provides tax-free returns on savings, and the next few weeks will see a lot of activity from the likes of Santander, Newcastle building society and Nationwide.

According to Moneyfacts.co.uk, savers should be looking at transferring their ISA, with a massive 92% of cash ISAs accepting ‘transfers in’. Cash ISAs that provide this option have increased from 183 to 272; the average fixed rate ISA is paying 3.24%, which is a positive contrast to last year’s 2.81%.

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Back in early 1999, Equitable Life went to court attempting to gain approval to enforce bonus cuts on policyholders. Equitable Life was dealt the most extreme of blows when the House of Lords upheld the decision to refuse its request; a year after it had actually won the first stage of court proceedings.

BBC had quoted the cost of losing at a whopping £1.5 billion, leaving Equitable Life in a desperate situation where sale was the only feasible option. Shortly afterwards, policyholders found out that with-profits policies would not receive any growth for seven months, new business would be stopped and the penalty for withdrawal would increase. Chaos at Equitable Life ensued, and 9 years later policyholders are still fighting tooth and nail for some kind of compensation.

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This morning Reuters revealed that mortgage approvals by British banks have increased by 37.8% from January last year. Although this initially appears positive, the UK has actually seen a record low for net lending. The Daily Mail has said that lending for January is the lowest for eight and a half years, with an end to stamp duty partly responsible.

December saw lending reach £10.92 billion, with people wanting to take advantage of the stamp duty threshold staying at £175,000 until the turn of the new decade. Now it has fallen back by £50,000, and activity has inevitably lessened.

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