ISAs increasing
21st October 2008
The current economic climate is creating an increase in the number of people investing in ISAs.
That is according to new figures published by Halifax, which has shown that some 14.7 million people paid money into ISAs during the 2007/2008 tax year.
This was compared to just 9.3 million in 1999/2000 when ISAs were first launched. That marks a 59 per cent increase overall.
Halifax reported that there were just over a third of households now have an ISA and those people collectively hold £207.8 billion in their accounts.
Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax, commented: "ISAs have proved to be a highly popular savings vehicle since their introduction almost a decade ago. The number of ISA savers has increased significantly during this period."
The South East had the highest percentage of households with an ISA as the statistics revealed that 44 per cent of households in the area held that type of savings account.
Halifax's flexible ISA allows consumers to make unlimited deposits and withdrawals, while enjoying a tax free variable interest rate of 5.00 per cent AER.