Saving account for elderly

breezyman

Hi can anyone help. My mother was widowed a few years ago and has had the proceeds from my dads will in one bank for ages. She is frightened of the situation of the markets at present, but to compound it she wont transfer money into another bank etc because they dont do passbooks anymore and she prefers that type of banking.

Does anyone know of a simple savings account that does not use phone/internet banking and one that would be easy for an ederly person to go and pay in /withdraw money from.

Thanks
craig

martinman3

Most instant access accounts with decent rates and branch access seem to have restrictions on number of withdrawals or charges for withdrawals.

After doing a search there is the Tesco Instant Access Savings account which has a good rate but has a card instead of a passbook. You pay money in and withdraw it from Tesco stores at the till or at the customer service desk.
http://www.tescofinance.com/personal/finance/savings/savingsaccounts/instantaccess/index.jsp

I assume that there is a PIN for the card to verify your identity when it is used.

martinman3

There is also the Access Saver from Yorkshire BS which has a passbook, instant access but only one withdrawal per month. You can also operate it from a Britannia BS branch if you don't have a Yorkshire BS branch near you.
http://www.ybs.co.uk/savings/easy_access/access_saver/index.jsp

Note that the Access Saver is better than the Access Saver for Pensioners which requires a pension to be paid into it, the plain Access Saver does not.

alanq

There is no shortage of passbook accounts from building societies, and former building societies, it's just that most of them pay next to nothing in interest. With a passbook the first thing to consider which organisations are nearby. It is no good recommending a good account when there is no branch to access.

Some of the better offerings:
Bradford & Bingley Rate For Life - minimum £1000 - BoE base rate + 0.25%.
Chelsea B.S. - Senior Savers - save £200-£1000 pm. 4.85%
Nationwide B.S. Monthly Income 60+ - requires a Nationwide Current Account - 5.07%
Northern Rock Silver Savings - min £5000 - 5.12%

breezyman

Thanks for all the good replies. I have possibley found an account which I think my mum could handle on her own. Its a N S & I savings account which uses a passbook. This account can be used via the post office, and Seeing as the town in which my mother lives does not have any major building societies, only two high street banks think this may be what she wants.

(:cool: Lets hope they dont close the post office- as she would be snookered then)

alanq

If you are referring to the NS&I Investment Account - despite having a passbook all withdrawals must be by post! http://www.nsandi.com/products/invac/howitworks.jsp#taking_money_out