Ex-ICEsavers - where now?

natman wrote: »

I have also opened up a fix rate Tesco Personal finance internet saver. This has a rate of 6.50% Gross / AER . This includes a 1.5% bonus for 12 months when you open an account.

Hey natman not sure when you opened this but the Tesco Internet Saver on the market today is not a fixed rate account it's variable.
Their website states:
Flat rate of 6.50% Gross/AER. This rate includes a bonus of 1.50% for the first 12 months after the account is opened on balances up to £100,000. After this, the standard underlying rate (currently 5.00 % Gross/ AER) will apply (please see website/ store leaflet for further details).

Flat rate = variable
You may have been told on the phone it was fixed rate I was twice, until I looked it up on moneysupermarket.com rang back and got confirmation from a manager that it's actually variable.

Only fixed rate (not fixed term) accounts on the market seem to be birmingham midshires (you need a cheque book to open one) and Bank of Scotland 6% fixed 12 months - but money needs to be in by Thursday minimum £5,000 (4 penalty free withdrawals) have a look at my previous posts on how to get one.
If anyone else knows of any other fixed rate (not fixed term) accounts be interested to know. Thinking anything 5% and above might be worth grabbing.

Also anyone know how US banks have reacted to their plummeting base rate with regards interest rates on savings accounts? As it seems UK base rate willbe at 2% before long.

I closed my ISA account with Icesave on the 6th, and hoped the transfer would go ahead to my barclays current account before they closed, but of course... it didn't!
So i'm wondering, how does this affect my ISA status, does anybody know?? I'm

i kinda did the same thing. asked for a transfer of all but a few hundred £ to abbey just b4 ice went under. i got a letter saying it was rejected and the account would stay open unless i said otherwise i just contacted abbey and closed the account as i had no allowances left anyway to put it in. i dontthink it would make any difference

I had an ISA and a easy access account with ice. theres about 10K in the easy access. would ppl advise to maybe split the 10K into 2 different accounts.would it worth it intrest wise.maybe put a few grand into a fixed account?just thinking of safety interms of spreading it around

I have gone for Saga 1 yr fixed mthly 6,8% and Nat west e savings 6.5% rest goes into ing. I might just open an account with Tesco 6.5%.

gary

mr_jetlag wrote: »

Hi Tigger123.

I can speak from experience with Natwest as in fact my ISA transfer has already failed. As long as they (Natwest) don't pull the offer before you finally are able to move the cash, it will still be valid. You can re-request a transfer (I assume by filling in another transfer form or the relevant FSCS claim form naming your Natwest ISA as the recipient account).

Even if they pull the offer I am fine with the lower rate for this tax year, and will just move to another British ISA provider next year, lessons learned!

I was under the impression that you qualify for the bonus as soon as you fill in the application and then the bonus is valid for 12 months from when they receive the money.

When I spoke to them they were not sure if I would qualify for the bonus because the money would not be transferred by the traditional route from Icesave to them. I don't think anyone really knows how the money will get to them yet.

Another thing they didn't like, out of interest, is that Icesave don't provide a sort code and account number. I spoke to Icesave (when they were still in business) and they said just give them your icesave number (mixture of numbers and letters) and it will be ok.

Both me and my wife intend to change to Nat West as soon as we get our hands on the money and really want to qualify for the 2% bonus for 12 months, so I think its just a case of fingers crossed.

One more thing - on the news last night there was a fella who said he expects UK interest rates to drop to as low as 0%. In that case, maybe I should be looking for a faxed rate ISA instead?

New update (28/10/08) on the Icesave webpage:

"Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) announced that retail depositors with savings in Icesave will get back their savings through an accelerated process. The FSCS expects to launch the process on or about 3 November 2008 and state that they will prioritise the need to give Icesave customers some certainty and to move to a speedy payout as quickly as possible."

Looking good :j