Martin Lewis has given a one-month warning to anyone with an ISA savings bank account in the UK.

The Money Saving Expert issued the warning on the Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV, as he highlighted an imminent deadline that affects everybody with an ISA account.

Anyone with a cash ISA, stocks and shares ISA or Junior or Lifetime ISA only has one month left to max out their tax-free entitlement.

Speaking on the ITV show, Martin told viewers: “This is a one-month ISA warning. You need to use your allowance by the end of the tax year, April 5, or you lose it.

 

“Now a Cash ISA is just a savings account where the interest is NEVER taxed. You can put up to £20,000 in each year and once it’s in it’s never taxed.

“So you could put £20,000 in now if you’re lucky enough to have it and on April 6 put in another £20,000 and then in a year’s time another £20,000 and you would have £60,000 plus interest protected from tax.

“Which is why some people who’ve been doing it for years have hundreds of thousands of pounds protected from tax.

“And to be honest they’re the people it’s best for. Cash ISAs are best for bigger savers."

He also warned that ISAs were not suitable savings accounts for everyone.

If you have less than £20,000 in savings, the Money Saving Expert suggested using a normal savings accounts, as they tend to offer better interest rates, while you do not have enough to pay tax on it.

He said: “Now, I’d say a minimum of around £20,000 plus I’m talking. The reason it’s not worth it if you’ve only go £5-10,000 or £10 is because most people don’t pay tax on savings anyway.

“You can earn £1,000 of interest tax free under the personal savings allowance. £500 if you’re a higher rate taxpayer.

“So unless you have a lot of savings, you won’t earn that anyway and normal savings accounts rates are higher.”