OFT Considers Cash ISAs Super-Complaint

The Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") is considering features of the £158 billion cash ISA market following a super-complaint by Consumer Focus, a designated consumer body. Consumer Focus believes that the cash ISA market is not working well for consumers and that 15 million cash ISA holders could be losing out on interest worth up to £3billion a year as a result.

In particular, Consumer Focus has accused ISA providers of using headline-grabbing rates to lure savers and then slashing the rate after the first year, leaving people with uncompetitive returns over the long term. It said consumers also face unfair obstacles if they want to transfer their account to another provider due to poor and bureaucratic processes (some ISA providers are also said to impose arbitrary rules prohibiting transfers into some of the most attractive accounts).