Bath Building Society Instant ISA

A Bath Building Society Instant ISA is a cash ISA with no fixed term. You can pay in, take money out whenever you like, and there is no withdrawal penalty. It is open to anyone aged 18 or over who is a UK resident for tax purposes, or a Crown Employee serving overseas, or the spouse or civil partner of one. It is a sole account: no joint applications, and one Instant ISA per person with the Society¹.

Interest is calculated daily and paid annually on 31 December, then added to the account¹. The rate is variable, so it can move. Bath Building Society publishes the current rate on its own product page, and that is the figure to check before opening or adding to an account.

The account is not a flexible ISA. That matters if you take money out: with a flexible ISA you can replace what you withdraw without it counting against your annual allowance, but here a withdrawal does not change your subscription limit, so replacing the money uses allowance again². You can transfer in an existing ISA, and the Society says a transfer from a cash ISA should complete within 15 working days¹.

What it is and who it is for

An instant access account is one where you can reach your money immediately, without penalty³. The Bath Building Society Instant ISA applies that to a cash ISA, so the tax-free wrapper and the easy access sit together. It is a savings account rather than a current account: the Society's equivalent non-ISA instant access account says plainly that it is not intended for making day-to-day transactions, and the same logic applies to the ISA version⁴.

It suits a saver who wants a cash ISA they can dip into, rather than one locked for a set term. The Society sets out who the account is not for: anyone wanting a flexible ISA, a stocks and shares ISA, an innovative finance ISA or a Lifetime ISA, or a fixed interest rate⁵. If you want a rate fixed for a set period, the Society's Fixed Rate ISAs run for one, two or five years, and money in those is locked for the term with a charge for early access⁶.

The Instant ISA is one of a family of ISAs from the same provider. Bath Building Society also offers a Lifetime ISA, a Junior Cash ISA and Fixed Rate ISAs, and each has its own eligibility rules and access terms⁷. If you are choosing between an easy access cash ISA and a fixed rate one, the trade-off is access against certainty of rate, and the fixed rate or easy access cash ISA comparison sets that out.

How it works

You open the account, pay money in, and the Society calculates interest daily and adds it once a year on 31 December¹. There is no term and no maturity date, so nothing happens automatically at the end of a period. That is different from the Society's Fixed Rate ISAs, where the account transfers into an Instant ISA at the end of the term if you give no instruction, and the Society writes to you at least 14 days before maturity to discuss your options².

Withdrawals are unlimited and without penalty¹. In a branch you can take out £500 without notice, or up to £2,000 the next day if you tell the Society in advance¹. Cheque withdrawals from a branch have no limit².

Transfers in are accepted. You can move money from previous tax years in full or in part, but anything paid in during the current tax year must be transferred in full¹. The Society accepts transfers in to all its ISA products that are available to open⁹. The transfer form must carry a handwritten signature and can be sent by post or taken into a branch¹.

The account allows Additional Permitted Subscriptions. If an ISA holder dies, their spouse or civil partner can apply to use their allowance¹. There is a separate guide to inheriting a spouse's ISA allowance.

How the fees and charges work

There is no charge to open or run the Instant ISA, and no penalty for taking money out¹. The costs that do arise sit around the edges of the account rather than on it.

The main one is the rule on subscribing to more than one cash ISA with the Society. You can only subscribe to one cash ISA with Bath Building Society each tax year, so you could not pay into both a Fixed Rate ISA and an Instant ISA in the same year⁶. That is not a fee, but it is the constraint most likely to catch someone out, because opening a second account does not give you a second allowance.

If you move money into a Fixed Rate ISA instead, different charges apply. The Society's One Year Fixed Rate ISA charges the equivalent of 90 days' interest on all withdrawals, and you must submit a transfer request within 14 days of opening the account, with later requests not accepted². Those terms do not apply to the Instant ISA, but they are the reason the two accounts behave differently if you need your money back.

Because the Instant ISA is not a flexible ISA, replacing money you have withdrawn uses your annual allowance again². That is a cost in allowance rather than in cash, and it is the point most worth understanding before you use the account as a place to move money in and out.

The Society's own product page carries the current rate and any account-specific terms, and that is where today's figures sit¹.

Who can apply and how to apply

To open a Bath Building Society Instant ISA you must be 18 or over and a UK resident for tax purposes, or a Crown Employee serving overseas, or the spouse or civil partner of a Crown Employee¹. The account can only be opened by you, with no joint accounts, and you can hold only one Instant ISA with the Society¹.

You can open the account on the product page, through the Mobile App, or at a branch in Bath¹. Identification is required, and the Society's preferred method is a check through a Financial Crime Prevention Agency. If that fails, or if you are under 18, it asks for further identification¹⁰. If you opened an account with the Society less than a year ago, no new identity check is needed; a check is performed if it has been longer than a year¹⁰.

Where documents are needed, they must be certified within the last 12 months using the words "I confirm that I have seen the original document"¹⁰. Accepted certifiers include a legal professional, a qualified accountant, a medical professional, a Post Office official or an Embassy official, and the certifier must not be related to you, must not be a joint account holder or borrower on your mortgage, and cannot certify their own documents¹⁰. A non-UK passport can only be certified by a UK bank or building society manager, a solicitor or an Embassy official¹⁰. The Society says it will not usually return original documents by special delivery, and does not encourage sending originals by post¹⁰.

To transfer an ISA in, complete and sign an ISA Transfer In form, available on the relevant product page, and open the account before submitting the form⁹. The form must include a handwritten signature and can be sent by post or brought into a branch¹.

How your money is protected

The Instant ISA is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the UK's deposit guarantee scheme¹. Any deposits above that limit are not covered¹¹.

That total matters if you hold more than one Bath Building Society account. If you hold accounts in joint names elsewhere, the limit applies per person, so a couple's protection is calculated separately for each of them.

The how your ISA is protected guide covers how the scheme works across providers, including what happens if a firm fails.

If you hold an Instant ISA alongside other Bath Building Society savings, they share the same limit¹¹.

Problems, complaints and getting help

If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service, contact Bath Building Society. It has an internal complaints procedure setting out how it deals with complaints, and if it cannot resolve your complaint you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹². The Ombudsman is free and independent, and it opened 346 new complaints about cash ISAs, including cash Lifetime ISAs and Help to Buy ISAs, in the final quarter of 2024/25¹³.

The Society can close an account at any time if you do not use it as intended, or if you act inappropriately, such as abusive behaviour¹. It can also withdraw a product without notice, which is standard for savings accounts and means a rate or account can be pulled from sale².

If you are struggling with debt, the Society points customers to free help from Citizens Advice, MoneyHelper and StepChange Debt Charity¹⁴. MoneyHelper is the government-backed service, and all three are free and independent.

For anyone who needs extra support, assistance dogs are welcome in Bath Building Society branches¹⁵. The Society also publishes security and fraud guidance on its website¹⁶. If a complaint about an ISA provider is not resolved, the complaining about an ISA provider guide sets out the steps and timescales.