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Yes I have just opened a 123 Current Account as well and had no issues so far.0
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Have recently switched from Santander to Nationwide Flex account to take advantage of Online ISA.
All DDs and SOs switched without problem, one DD for my M&S loan took longer to sort than the others but that seemed to be the fault of M&S rather than Nationwide as I had a letter from Nationwide stating they had not heard back from M&S.
Handed in the ISA transfer form in branch and within a week it had all been transferred.
Personally I cannot fault them.LBM 24/05/2012 :TAugust NSD 10/12 * £2 savers0 -
Re the idea that the Co-op Bank is an ethical alternative.......... Well maybe it is, but I'd like to add a note of caution. The issue we had with the Co-op a couple of years back was with their Pensions business. Ok that's not the bank but it has the same owner. My wife had a personal pension with them, and on retiring got a quote from them for the Transfer Value (TV), which was only valid for a set time period. She wanted more information on various options; over a couple of months she got conflicting advice, and having become disenchanted with the way they were responding decided to accept the offered TV - WITHIN the time limit they'd set. To cut a long story short, they reneged on the deal and offered a lower TV; we spent months fighting them, but it was only with superb help from the The Pensions Advisory Service that we finally got the original figure. They never did apologise. Our advocate at the TPAS told us that of the cases they were currently dealing with, a substantial number involved the Co-op.0
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I find it odd that my bank is never mentioned, it is wonderful, never have charges, in fact they pay me each month, I have a a free 6000 overdraft and it is really flexible, it has any number of jars to keep track of, and save up for any eventuality, and is all done on the webpage, never ever had any problems.0
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I find it odd that my bank is never mentioned, it is wonderful, never have charges, in fact they pay me each month, I have a a free 6000 overdraft and it is really flexible, it has any number of jars to keep track of, and save up for any eventuality, and is all done on the webpage, never ever had any problems.
You mean Intelligent Finance? They don't accept new customers for current accounts anymore so I think that would be why. Useless to include it in the list if nobody can sign up.0 -
I have a Lloyds classic with vantage and have never got under £8 per month. I am never sure on the wording though, for example, if you have 6000 in the account, will they still pay you interest for just 5000 worth of it or for nothing at all? If the latter, is the max they will pay interest for 4999 or the 5000 mark?I can't understand why Lloyds Vantage account is never quoted as a current account to be considered. If you can keep the £5,000 in all the time you get 3% on the whole balance. We have two Vantage accounts, so are getting 3% on £10,000 that has easy access. We pay in the £1,000 from the first account to the second and return it the next day, all set up by standing orders online.
We also have a deposit account with Lloyds to keep the balance at £5,000, not too much in this account as the rate is only 2.5%.
It takes a bit of effort, but we are retired and it is is worth it.0 -
I am never sure on the wording though, for example, if you have 6000 in the account, will they still pay you interest for just 5000 worth of it
YesI am never sure on the wording though,....is the max they will pay interest for 4999 or the 5000 mark?
£5000.
If you qualify for the new Vantage offer and have £6000 in the account, you will get 4% on the whole £6000.
HTH0 -
Thanks for that!0
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But you could be getting more. There are many accounts with rates over 3.00% that have easy unrestricted access. They may not be current accounts, but it seems you are using your vantage accounts as savings accounts.
Santander gives 3.00% on it's 123 current account way beyond just 5K and gives cashback on many household DD's. It also gives 3.20% on its savings. That's why vantage is not considered a top account.
I'm not saying it should be listed as the top account, just that it should be mentioned! The Vantage account interest rate has just gone up to 4% on up to £6,000. Even more reason to mention it.0 -
But you could be getting more. There are many accounts with rates over 3.00% that have easy unrestricted access. They may not be current accounts, but it seems you are using your vantage accounts as savings accounts.
Santander gives 3.00% on it's 123 current account way beyond just 5K and gives cashback on many household DD's. It also gives 3.20% on its savings. That's why vantage is not considered a top account.
I don't think that's the reason. Lloyds were paying 4% on Vantage for a long time before that Santander account existed, it still wasn't mentioned on MSE.
I appreciate your post was some time ago, but MSE's top Instant Access is currently only 2.8%. You can get 4% on your first £18,000 with 3 Vantage accounts (though you do have some Direct Debit hoops to jump through).
I honestly can't understand why anyone with >£5k wanting the best rate on Instant Access savings wouldn't use Lloyds Vantage, unless they can't rustle up some Direct Debits. If anyone can tell me a better way, please do!
For this reason, I no longer consider MSE a one stop shop for the best advice, as I know they don't always cover all the options.0
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