Egg - 6.55% !!!

dag_2

Has no-one else noticed this? Egg are now offering a rate which matches - um - Kaupthing Edge (which I notice that Martin has dropped from his recommendation). And unlike the Alliance & Leicester eSaver account, there's no withdrawal penalty, you can make as many withdrawals as you like and the rate will still be 6.55%.

It's only for new accounts - however, if you already hold an Egg savings account, there's nothing to stop you opening another one. Also, the rate only applies to deposits that have been made from sources other than from transferring them from other Egg savings accounts. The rate includes a one-year bonus, and there doesn't appear to be a rate guarantee. Interest is only paid annually, on anniversary of account opening.

I've just opened account and made my first deposit by debit card from my current account, which went through immediately. I have also tried to make withdrawals by transferring to my Egg Money account, but that doesn't appear to have gone through yet.

Only drawback I can see is that there is no means of scheduling withdrawals in advance.

Anyone aware of any other possible pitfalls with Egg Savings? Thanks.

YorkshireBoy

dag wrote:

Has no-one else noticed this?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1213627

cheekykid

How safe is egg?

dag_2

How safe is egg?

Egg, and its parent Citibank are fairly safe - perhaps not as safe as Lloyds TSB and Barclays, but way way way safer than the Icelandic banks were, apparently, according to this article:
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/savings/2008/10/17/super-savings-rates-are-still-available.aspx

Also, Egg has a separate FSCS registration from Citibank.

So I'd say safe enough for me.

Thomas99

cheekykid wrote: »

How safe is egg?

You've got to be careful of Salmonella with some of them.






....owned by Citigroup, so you've got to think how safe are Citi?

BiggaThanBen

dag wrote: »

I have also tried to make withdrawals by transferring to my Egg Money account, but that doesn't appear to have gone through yet.

It says somewhere you need to wait 3 days before making any withdrawal initially ..

The main drawback for me is that there is no egg's current account with a debit card that can be linked to it, so you can't take some money out in one day (dont think they are using faster payments system yet)

EDIT: .. and also its showing "[an error occurred while processing this directive]" message instead of my account statement ATM

dag_2

Thanks for pointing out the thing about having to wait three days initially.

Maybe once those three days have passed, though, I'll be able to make transfers directly to my Egg Money account. Apparently, you can withdraw up to £500 a day from an ATM with an Egg Money account without any transaction charges, and it seems that as long as you have a credit balance big enough to cover the withdrawal, there's no interest charges either.

Might even be possible to do those transfers on the same day, I'll have to see. Thanks.

YorkshireBoy

dag wrote: »

Apparently, you can withdraw up to £500 a day from an ATM with an Egg Money account without any transaction charges

That used to be the case until very recently when they introduced a 3% cash withdrawal fee (if the withdrawal was from, or created, a negative balance).

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,2388,3_79766--View_1709-bID_EMonRatesFAQ-dva_1,00.html#isthereafeeforcashadvances?

Milarky

dag wrote: »

Might even be possible to do those transfers on the same day, I'll have to see. Thanks.

Yes it would be.

Bank of X --(debit card aka 'Card Deposit')--> Egg Savings--(payment to EM aka 'additional payment')--->Egg Money--->ATM withdrawal

Why anyone would want to take money out of their bank account this way is another matter - and it does complicate operation of the EM as a spending credit card. Go 1p over a nil balance (due to a spending item coming through that day) and that will cost you £3.50+ (£3+ for creating a negative balance by cash withdrawal and 50p+ minimum interest for having a negative balance with nil days interest-free)

dag_2

Yeah I realise that EM spending complications. If you wanted to use your EM card to withdraw cash from your savings account, then clearly you'd have to transfer enough from your savings account to cover the total of (a) the whole outstanding balance plus (b) the whole amount you plan to withdraw through the ATM plus (c) any amount you plan to spend on EM in the same day.

What's not clear, though, is if you'd also have to withdraw enough to cover all the spending that you might want to do after the current day up until your next statement date, to avoid interest. I'm hoping that you don't have to do this.

The only reason I'm interested in this is because I've still got money stuck in the Kaupthing Edge transaction backlog, and am therefore trying to see how I can ensure the best possible savings liquidity. But I also realise that if you're not in that much of a hurry, you can make a normal BACS transfer from Egg Savings to your current account in three or four days.

M3_Sussex

I just opened this account and then realised they don't pay monthly interest, only annual. As I live off of my interest payments, this is no good to me!!