egg savings account loophole

JimmyTheWig

I'll be honest I like egg as a bank. I've been with them pretty much from when they started and my wife has been with them pretty much since she met me.
But I am very aware that their savings interest rates are nothing what they used to be. So my wife (a non-taxpayer) has an ICICI savings account for the bulk of our savings (stoozed money, mainly!). I know Kaupthing Edge is slightly better, but we'd only just opened the ICICI account when they dropped from the top of the best buy list.

Anyhow, we like egg as it is easy to have multiple savings accounts where you can put little bits of money. You get to call them their own names. I know we sacrifice interest for this but we're only talking small balances so it doesn't matter. We needed a new one of these accounts, so my wife opened one. Was surprised to see that it said it would be 6.3% fixed interest as opposed to her other two accounts which are four point something. Sent them a secure message and had it confirmed.

So the loophole I am pointing out is that the 6.3% fixed rate egg is offering for new accounts is for any new account, not just for new customers.

This is a very easy way for existing egg customers to get a near-top rate with very little hassle.


Needless to say, we've just taken most of our money out of ICICI, headed for this new account...

YorkshireBoy

I opened one (just after they lifted it (from 6.05%?) to 6.30% as an insurance policy against (dramatically) falling savings rates. It still only has £1 in but at least I know I can shift funds in fairly quickly should the need arise.

Beware the small print though. You only get 6.30% on 'new' money, ie you can't move funds (and get 6.30%) from a standard Egg Savings account...so, in your case, I don't think you'd get it for transferring Egg Money positive balances in.

JimmyTheWig

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You only get 6.30% on 'new' money, ie you can't move funds (and get 6.30%) from a standard Egg Savings account...so, in your case, I don't think you'd get it for transferring Egg Money positive balances in.

Good spot about egg Money.

In our case, though, the egg Money is in my name and the new savings account is in my wife's name.
And the balance of her other egg savings accounts currently total twelve pounds something!

Don't know what they'd think if someone had a balance on, say, £1000 in an old egg savings account and moved it to their current account and then a few days later put £1000 from their current account into the new savings account.
Like I say, not relevant for us but may be of interest (npi) to others...

Josepina

Thats what I did, transferred £10K from 4% egg to current account then 2 days later back into 6% new egg account.
I assume the interest will be 6% but I'll keep an eye on it.
Only problem is interest is annual?

JimmyTheWig

Note that this rate is still available according to egg's website, despite the cut in the base rate yesterday.
Note that although it's a fixed rate for a year it doesn't mean you have to keep money in there for a year.

Beware, however, that the good rate ends after a year, at which point you should move any money in there or its not really worth it.

Milarky

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Note that this rate is still available according to egg's website, despite the cut in the base rate yesterday.
Note that although it's a fixed rate for a year it doesn't mean you have to keep money in there for a year.

Beware, however, that the good rate ends after a year, at which point you should move any money in there or its not really worth it.

Interest will be paid on the anniversary of opening - so that will be the signal that the rate has dropped...

JimmyTheWig

Milarky wrote: »

Interest will be paid on the anniversary of opening - so that will be the signal that the rate has dropped...

Good thinking. Take the intreest - and the capital - and run...

ought

I opened one of these accounts a few months ago. Can I now open another account and put fresh money in so extending the length of the fixed rate 6.3%?

I was thinking of getting a bond fixed at 7%ish, but I am not sure I want to be stuck for a year. Mmm..

guli

no, you can't you can only have one fixed rate account.with Egg. It's in their T&C

ought

Oh, that is a pity. Is there anybody else offering a similar deal?

Would quite like to get a years fixed interest at a good rate before they drop. But I really need to be able to get my money out should I need it.

ought

Oh. Is Egg even a safe bet at all. I have just read:
"Do you have money in Egg?

They are owned by Citigroup (they bought the poorly performing Egg from Prudential for around £575 million in 2007)who have been downgraded and are currently listed on Fitch ratings system as a negative outlook. Should you worry more about that than the Icelandic banks?"