Money helpdesk: Egg foiled my Isa savings plan

I OPENED an Egg cash Isa this year and have £3,600 in it. I had understood that as of 6 October this year the maximum savings rose to £5,100 for over-50s. However, when I tried to increase my savings to this amount Egg informed me that the increase is not mandatory until 6 April 2010 and that Egg have decided not to implement it until then.

Has this decision been made by many Isa providers and should I have known? If I had been aware, I would have checked very carefully before I opened the Isa.

AB

Michelle Slade of Moneyfacts writes:

EGG is the only provider which did not allow savers aged 50 years and over to top up the increased allowance from 6 October. The provider claimed it only had a limited number of savers over this age and it would wait until the new tax year when the increased allowance was available to all. A handful of providers where customers had taken out fixed rate Isas earlier this year also did not allow top-ups.

The Egg cash Isa does not lock you in and no transfer-out penalty is payable, so you could consider moving your money to another provider and then you will be able to pay in the extra allowance.