Easy Access Cash ISA Terms and Conditions

General info

Our agreement

Banking with Atom is straightforward, so we give you information when it’s relevant to you. At this point, our contract with you consists of our:

Please ensure you read them, so you understand the terms of our agreement with you. If there’s any conflicting information, these Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs take priority.

These T&Cs detail the agreement between you and Atom (‘we’/ ‘us’) when you have an Easy Access Cash ISA with us. Our agreement will continue until your account is closed.

Our agreement with you is in English and we will only communicate with you in English. You can ask for a copy of the T&Cs that apply to your Easy Access Cash ISA account at any time.

Each condition of these Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs operates separately. If any court or competent authority decides that any of them are unlawful or unenforceable, the other conditions will remain in full force and effect.

Within these Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs, ‘ISA Regulations’ means the Individual Savings Account Regulations 1998 including any changes to them or any laws which replace them. If there’s any conflicting information between the ISA Regulations and these Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs, the ISA Regulations will apply.

Getting in touch with us

If you have any questions about your account, you can contact us by:

Eligibility

To open and hold an Easy Access Cash ISA, you must meet the eligibility requirements under the ISA Regulations. This means you must be at least 18 years old and a UK resident for tax purposes or a member of the armed forces or a Crown servant (for example diplomatic or overseas Civil Service) or their spouse or civil partner if you do not live in the UK.

You must tell us straight away if your circumstances change using the contact information above.

If you change your address to an address outside of the UK we’ll ask you to confirm whether or not you are still a tax resident in the UK for that year. We may reject any payments you try to make into your Easy Access Cash ISA account, until you confirm this.

If you notify us that you’ve moved abroad and you’ve stopped being a UK resident, you may be able to keep your account open, but:

  • you may not be able to pay any more money into your Easy Access Cash ISA; and
  • we may remove any money paid into your account during the tax years in which you weren’t a UK resident (and any interest earned on that money) and transfer it to your connected account.

You’ll still be able to transfer any money in your Easy Access Cash ISA to another ISA provider (see the section on ‘Transfers’ below).

If your circumstances change and you become a UK tax resident again, you’ll need to give us a declaration that you are resident in the UK and provide your permanent UK address. You’ll then be able to make payments into your account again.

Alternative format

Please let us know if you need these Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs supplied in another format, or if we can help you to use our service in any other way, please contact us using the details in the “Getting in touch with us” section above.

Your data

Protecting your data

When you open an Easy Access Cash ISA, we’ll ask you to give us the details of a UK current account in your name. This is your “connected account”. You’ll use this account to make payments in and out of your Easy Access Cash ISA. You can change this to another UK current account in your name at any time via the app.

We will hold this data in a secure environment, and we will only use it to enable you to make payments in and out of your Easy Access Cash ISA.

We are legally required to share information about interest you earn on your money with the HMRC and tax authorities in other countries where required.

Take a look at our Privacy Policy for more information about how we protect your data.

Your account

Opening an Easy Access Cash ISA

Once you’ve downloaded the app, registered your ID and verified your identity, you can apply for an Easy Access Cash ISA account in the app. We’ll let you know when your application is successful, and your account is open and ready to use.

When you open an account, you’ll receive a variable rate of interest on the money you put in. You can see this rate in the account view in the app.

Account holders

Currently, you can only open an Easy Access Cash ISA as a sole account (just you), joint accounts are not permitted. They are also limited to one per customer.

If you need someone else to operate your Easy Access Cash ISA, we may be able to register a Power of Attorney (POA) for it. If we do this, your Attorney will be able to access information about your account. In some circumstances, we may restrict what you’re able to do.

For security reasons, POA administration of an account is managed via our Customer Support team (rather than in the app). So, please call us on 0333 399 0050 to discuss setting up a POA.

At your request, we may be able to add a named third party to your account(s) to support you by providing account information to the named third party. Please note the named third party will not be able to take any actions in relation to any of your account(s).

Using your Easy Access Cash ISA

The money in your Easy Access Cash ISA (including any interest) will be, and must remain, in your beneficial ownership. This means that you can’t:

  • use your Easy Access Cash ISA for the benefit of anyone else;
  • use your Easy Access Cash ISA as security for a loan;
  • transfer your Easy Access Cash ISA (or any of your rights or obligations under it) to anyone else except as set out in these Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs, (except when you die, the account will be transferred to your personal representatives).

We do not accept:

  • Additional Permitted Subscriptions (APS). If you’re eligible for an APS following the death of a spouse or civil partner who held an Easy Access Cash ISA with us, you may wish to contact another ISA provider that allows APS subscriptions.
  • Defaulted cash account subscriptions or defaulted investment subscriptions.

Interest

You will earn interest on the money in your Easy Access Cash ISA from the day you pay it into the account. We calculate interest on your balance daily. We will pay interest at the rate stated in your Easy Access Cash ISA Summary Box (based on the number of actual days in the relevant period and a year of 365 days).

The interest you earn on your Easy Access Cash ISA is tax free, as long as you comply with the ISA Regulations.

We will add interest to your Easy Access Cash ISA account monthly on the day of the month you open the account. For example, if you open the account on the 16th, we will pay your interest on the 16th every month.

If you open your account on the 29th, 30th or 31st, and that date doesn’t appear in a subsequent month, we will pay your interest on the last day of the month.

Changes to your rate

Your Easy Access Cash ISA has a variable interest rate. This means it may change from time to time, for any of the following reasons:

  • if the underlying rate changes;
  • where a change is needed to maintain our financial strength in the interests of all our customers; or
  • if there are significant changes in the economic environment, and changing variable rates is necessary to address the risks to our business that arise as a result.

When a variable rate changes, it will affect the interest you earn. If your rate is going up, we’ll make the change as soon as possible and let you know once we’ve done it. If your rate is going down, we’ll give you at least 14 days’ notice and confirm what the new interest rate will be.

Charges

There are no charges applied to your Easy Access Cash ISA.

Statements

You can access your account and check your balance at any time in the app. You’ll also receive monthly and annual statements for your Easy Access Cash ISA.

Every month, we’ll put your monthly statement in your Vault and let you know it’s ready. We’ll also let you know when we put your annual statement in your Vault. We will add this within a few days of your account opening anniversary.

If you need a statement for a specific reason, get in touch and we can discuss it.

Closing an Easy Access Cash ISA

Your Easy Access Cash ISA does not have an end date, so you can close your account at any time.

If you tell us you want to close your account, we’ll add any outstanding interest to your balance. You then can transfer all your money out to your connected account and close it immediately.

Once your account is closed, we’ll put your closing statement in your Vault and let you know it’s there.

In some circumstances, we have a right to terminate our agreement immediately (see ‘Our right to terminate’ in our General T&Cs).

You’re responsible for using a compatible device and operating system for as long as you have an Instant Saver with us. For more information about this, please see the ‘Device compatibility’ section in our App T&Cs. If you refuse to meet this requirement, we may close your account immediately and transfer the balance and any interest due to your connected account.

We can close your Easy Access Cash ISA at any time by giving you at least two months’ notice. If we do this, we will transfer your balance and any interest due to your connected account before closing your account.

We can also close your Easy Access Cash ISA immediately without notice if we are instructed to do so by HMRC, or if we reasonably believe your account has not been managed in accordance with the ISA Regulations. If this happens, we will let you know that we have closed your account.

If we are notified you have become bankrupt, we will close your Easy Access Cash ISA on the date that the trustee’s appointment takes place, or the date when the official receiver became a trustee. We can only do this when we get the legal documents that confirm your bankruptcy and confirm that the person administering your estate has the authority to do this.

Cancellation

You can cancel your Easy Access Cash ISA within 14 days of your first deposit. If you do this, we will return any funds to your connected account and close your account. We will treat this as if you have not opened an ISA and:

  • we’ll pay any interest earned and as long as you’ve complied with the ISA Regulations, it will be free of tax; and
  • any money you added to your Easy Access Cash ISA will not count towards your ISA Allowance for that tax year.

Death of the account holder

In the event of your death, we will manage your Easy Access Cash ISA according to the ISA Regulations.

No further money will be able to be paid into your Easy Access Cash ISA but it will continue to earn tax free interest until the earlier of:

  • the person managing your estate closing the account;
  • the person managing your estate confirming the administration of your estate has been completed; or
  • three years from the date of your death.

After three years from the date of your death, if the account hasn’t already been closed, we will close your Easy Access Cash ISA and transfer the balance to a holding account and any interest earned will be subject to tax.

Payments

This Easy Access Cash ISA is designed to help you save money in a tax efficient way. It’s not designed for making day-to-day payments.

Connected account

When you open an Easy Access Cash ISA, we’ll ask you to give us the sort code and account number of a UK current account in your name, registered at your address. This is your “connected account”. It will be the only external account you can use to make payments into or withdrawals from your Easy Access Cash ISA unless you choose to transfer your Easy Access Cash ISA to another ISA provider in accordance with these T&Cs.

You can only have one connected account for your Easy Access Cash ISA, but you can change it at any time. It is your responsibility to ensure you have a valid connected account linked to your Easy Access Cash ISA. This means that if you close your connected account, you’ll have to replace it with a different one.

If we can’t verify the current account details you give us, for any reason, you won’t be able to connect it to your Easy Access Cash ISA. This may mean you’re unable to open an Easy Access Cash ISA or change your connected account.

Payments in and out

You can only make payments in and out of your Easy Access Cash ISA using the Faster Payment Service.

You can only make payments into your Easy Access Cash ISA by sending money from your connected account. All accepted inbound payments will usually show in the app immediately. If a payment isn’t visible in the app, it’s worth checking with the bank you’re sending it from, to ensure they’ve released it.

You can make payments out of your Easy Access Cash ISA at any time by logging into the app, following the instructions and confirming you want to make the payment. Your instruction will be received by us immediately and the amount requested will be sent to your connected account straight away. As long as there’s enough money in your account, there is no limit on the number of payments you can make. If you have any problems making a payment out of your Easy Access Cash ISA, please contact us using the details in the ‘Getting in touch with us’ section above.

Your Easy Access Cash ISA is not a flexible ISA, so we do not accept replacement subscriptions. This means that any amount you withdraw cannot be replaced and will still count towards your ISA Allowance.

All accepted outbound payments will leave your account and show in the app immediately. This means that once you’ve confirmed you want to make a payment, you won’t be able to change your mind. We’ll confirm in the app whether the destination bank has accepted your payment request. Usually, your money will show up in your connected account immediately, but it may take up to 2 hours depending on the other bank’s processing times. We monitor transactions to keep your account safe. If we see unusual activity, we may contact you and there may be a delay in processing payments while we complete fraud prevention checks.

To retain the ISA tax benefits, funds should be transferred directly to another ISA provider rather than withdrawn and re-deposited.

Transfers

Transferring away from us (Transfer Out)

You can transfer all of the funds in your Easy Access Cash ISA to another ISA provider at any time. Partial transfers from your Easy Access Cash ISA are not permitted.

To initiate a transfer out, you will need to contact your new ISA provider. They will then manage the transfer process and send us a formal transfer request. Once we receive a valid transfer request from your new provider and they confirm they are prepared to accept the transfer, we will send the money and any relevant information to them. If you change your mind after you’ve made a transfer request, you should contact the other provider - we can’t cancel it once you’ve started the process.

We’ll send the money and information to your new provider within 5 working days of receiving the transfer request from the other ISA provider. The transfer process should typically be completed within 15 working days.

These timescales don’t apply if we have a reason to stop the transfer. For example:

  • We may delay the transfer if we reasonably believe it is necessary to protect you from fraud or other criminal activity.
  • We may refuse a transfer if the request is incomplete or contains incorrect information.

We’ll pay interest on your Easy Access Cash ISA up to the date of transfer.

Transferring to us (Transfer In)

We do not currently accept ISA transfers into the Easy Access Cash ISA from other ISA providers.

This means you cannot move funds held in an existing ISA elsewhere into this account. If this changes in the future, we’ll let you know.

Balance limits

There is no minimum deposit required to open an Easy Access Cash ISA and there is no minimum balance you need to keep in your Easy Access Cash ISA.

The maximum amount you can deposit into your Easy Access Cash ISA in each tax year is set by the Government and is known as your annual ISA Allowance. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.

The annual ISA Allowance is shared across all the ISAs you hold with any other ISA providers. We don’t track how much you subscribe to or deposit with other ISA providers. It’s your responsibility to ensure that you don’t exceed the annual ISA allowance across all of your ISA products. You can find out more about your ISA Allowance here: Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs): Overview - GOV.UK

If you deposit more than the annual ISA Allowance into your Easy Access Cash ISA in any tax year, we may need to do certain things to fix this, such as return excess funds to your connected account. See ‘If you breach the ISA Regulations’ below for more information.

If you breach the ISA Regulations

You must act in accordance with the ISA Regulations. If you breach any of the ISA Regulations, for example by paying in more than annual ISA Allowance or making subscriptions when you aren’t a UK resident, there may be various consequences which mean you may lose the benefits of this account.

For example, if you breach the ISA Regulations:

  • your Easy Access Cash ISA could be declared void;
  • you may have to pay tax on some or all of the interest you’ve earned; and
  • you may not be able to pay any more money into your Easy Access Cash ISA, or take any money out of your Easy Access Cash ISA.

If this happens, we may:

  • stop any further payments into your Easy Access Cash ISA;
  • remove some or all of the money (including interest) from your Easy Access Cash ISA;
  • close your Easy Access Cash ISA; or
  • take any other action if we’re told to by HMRC or other regulatory or government authorities.

We may do any of these things without your consent. We might not tell you beforehand, but we’ll let you know within 30 days.

We’ll tell you if your Easy Access Cash ISA has or will become void and stops (or will stop) being exempt from tax because of a breach of the ISA Regulations.

Where we remove money from your Easy Access Cash ISA due to a breach of the ISA Regulations:

  • the interest removed will count towards your personal savings allowance; and
  • you may have to pay tax on any interest it earned before being removed.

The legal stuff

Changes to these T&Cs

We’ll give you 30 days’ notice to consider any changes to these T&Cs, unless they’re to your advantage, when we’ll make them straight away.

In some circumstances, we may be required by regulation to give you more or less notice. In these cases, we’ll tell you how much time you have to review the changes.

You can object to the changes before they take effect, and, depending on the circumstances, you may be able to close an impacted account. Otherwise, you’ll be deemed to have accepted the changes from the date they take effect.

We’ll only make changes to these T&Cs to:

  • reflect developments in our app or proposition (including our products / services);
  • respond proportionately to changes in the law or decisions of the Financial Ombudsman Service;
  • meet regulatory requirements;
  • reflect new industry guidance or codes of practice which raise standards of consumer protection;
  • proportionately reflect other legitimate cost increases or reductions associated with providing the particular product or service you use;
  • ensure we are being fair to all our customers; and/or
  • respond to changes in general banking practice for the benefit of all consumers.

We’ll only do this if we reasonably expect to be affected by one of the above reasons.

If we delegate our authority

If we ask someone else to carry out any of our functions or responsibilities under this agreement, we’ll make sure they are competent to carry them out.

Compensation

Atom is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to savers if a bank is unable to meet its financial obligations. Most savers — including individuals and small businesses — are covered by the scheme.

An eligible saver is entitled to claim up to £85,000. For joint accounts, each account holder can claim up to £85,000 (a total of £170,000 where there are two account holders). The £85,000 covers all the funds held in the eligible customer’s accounts with the bank, including their share of any joint accounts, and not to each separate account.

We’ll share detailed FSCS information with you when you apply for an Easy Access Cash ISA. We’ll save this in your Vault once your account is open.

For more information about the FSCS (including amounts covered and eligibility to claim) visit http://www.fscs.org.uk/. You can contact the FSCS directly with any compensation-related queries on 0800 678 1100 or 020 7741 4100.

Applicable law

These T&Cs are governed by the laws of England and Wales and if there’s any disagreement about them, or between us about your account, we each agree that this’ll be dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales.

Easy Access Cash ISA T&Cs_v1.2. Effective from 28/10/2025.