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4% Rate with Ulster Bank

Hi, I 've just opened an online account with Ulster Bank which pays 4%. This has a bonus of 0.5% for six months - does anyone know if this would be good value without the bonus? I think I've got a good deal. Also, I live in Scotland and had no probs opening my account as Ulster Bank is in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK and fully covered by the government compensation scheme.

Comments

  • Andrew_Mc wrote: »
    Hi, I 've just opened an online account with Ulster Bank which pays 4%. This has a bonus of 0.5% for six months - does anyone know if this would be good value without the bonus? I think I've got a good deal. Also, I live in Scotland and had no probs opening my account as Ulster Bank is in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK and fully covered by the government compensation scheme.

    Not bad for a savings account in the current climate.

    Ulster Bank is now part of the Royal bank of Scotland Group, having come in with Nat West.
  • derrick
    derrick Posts: 7,424 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Minimum £10000. Variable rate. eSavings Plus

    Loss of interest for withdrawals; -
    Instant Access – your money is there when you need it, interest will be lost in any month a withdrawal is made. If a withdrawal is made in any of the first six months after the account has been opened, only the bonus rate (0.50%) will be paid on that month.
    Don`t steal - the Government doesn`t like the competition


  • :confused::beer:
  • KingL
    KingL Posts: 1,713 Forumite
    This account's interest rate had dropped since this thread was started and in Jun 09 was 3.46% (for the 6 months) or 3.26% over the full year (to include the second 6 months which doesn't have a bonus) in Jun 09.

    Heads up - it looks like it has dropped again for July 09. It's now 3.21% over the first 6 months, 3.0% AER. Linky

    I haven't (yet) received any notification of the change. If you opened one of these, keep an eye on the rate!
  • necronom
    necronom Posts: 51 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I opened on of these at the beginning of May. I hadn't noticed the rate change. I'll keep my eye on it.

    This seems to be a very silly question, but either I'm going daft or something is very wrong with my account. How do I put money into it? With my other accounts I have my current account linked to it and I can transfer money between them. With this I can't see anything on their entire site that mentions putting money into it, and I don't have an external account linked to it.

    I'm thinking of closing it the second a better deal appears, as it's no good if I can't add more to it.
  • KingL
    KingL Posts: 1,713 Forumite
    edited 9 July 2009 at 6:50PM
    You 'push' money into it from your external account. Log into the account that would have used as your linked account and use the 'make a payment' type feature to send money to your Ulster sort code and account number.

    To get the money out again, you call them (Ulster) up - see this thread.


    necronom wrote: »
    I'm thinking of closing it the second a better deal appears ....
    if you do, wait until just after you have been paid a monthly interest payment to avoid losing all your interest for the month.


    .
  • necronom
    necronom Posts: 51 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    :T Thanks for that.

    I'm not very impressed with the Ulster Bank.

    It didn't tell me who to make the initial payment cheque to (I didn't know if it was to me, or the bank, etc.), so I had to look it up on forums where other people were asking the same thing.

    It didn't let me know how to pay money into my account.

    If you withdraw anything you pretty much have to close the account. There is no point keeping it if you are going to lose all your interest. Closing the account doesn't help me or them. It seems an odd choice for them to force me to leave.


    I now have to wait for a card reader from my current account bank so I can make the payment. :(

    Thanks again.
  • KingL wrote: »
    You 'push' money into it from your external account. Log into the account that would have used as your linked account and use the 'make a payment' type feature to send money to your Ulster sort code and account number.
    .

    I'm just considering opening one of these accounts. The terms and conditions (28.9) say you can only transfer electronically from another ulster bank account, or "by regular standing order from any UK bank account".

    Can someone confirm that there is no need to mess about with a standing order, and that I can just do a normal one-off bacs transfer into the account from any other bank.
  • samizdat
    samizdat Posts: 398 Forumite
    Can someone confirm that there is no need to mess about with a standing order, and that I can just do a normal one-off bacs transfer into the account from any other bank.
    Yes, I can confirm that. BACS and Faster Payments work as normal from any account.
  • samizdat
    samizdat Posts: 398 Forumite
    necronom wrote: »
    I'm not very impressed with the Ulster Bank.

    If you withdraw anything you pretty much have to close the account. There is no point keeping it if you are going to lose all your interest. Closing the account doesn't help me or them. It seems an odd choice for them to force me to leave.
    Actually, the thing to do if you want access during the bonus period is to withdraw everything just after the monthly interest has been received, without closing the account, then wait until the following month before putting anything back in again.

    I agree Ulster aren't that easy to deal with but hey, it's a bank, what do you expect?! Their procedures do seem fairly convoluted but I have found that if you ring them up they can be quite helpful.
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