Sainsbury’s Bank Online Saver

ggmf

I have held a Sainsbury’s Bank online savings account for some time. After the initial period the bonus element was removed and the account dropped to around 0.75% or 0.5% if I remember correctly. The account has been running at this low level for some time, due to my laziness to find a new account for my money. The new Online Saver account was advertised offering 3% as long as a maximum of 3 withdrawals is made on the account during the 12 month period. Stipulations on the account also state that the first deposit must be between £1,000 and £500,000 else the standard online saver rate will be received; this appears to be listed as 0.5%.

When I set up any online account, my initial deposit will always be £1, just to ensure that all sort and account codes are correct for any transaction that I may to make (I do not want my money disappearing into the wilderness while any errors are corrected). Once the £1 successfully arrives at the new account then I will transfer a larger sum of money into it (in this example it was approx. 18 hours from the £1 deposit to a larger sum being transferred in.

So my questions are:-
Having only deposited and initial £1 I have assumed that I will only receive 0.5% on the account regardless of the sum of money that the account now holds (in excess of £18,000), would this be true?

Is the Sainsbury’s online account one of the best for holding around £30,000 for a 12 month period? (I have read too many horror stories regarding Citi bank and do not fancy ING either)

If the Sainsbury’s account is still one of the best for my needs, and by default I am now receiving 0.5% on my money, then should I close the account and apply for a new one (which now offers 3.2% for 12 months)?

I am a basic rate tax payer, and the Sainsbury’s online service no longer lists the interest rate that the account attracts, after you login.

Thanks.

rb10

ggmf wrote: »

Having only deposited and initial £1 I have assumed that I will only receive 0.5% on the account regardless of the sum of money that the account now holds (in excess of £18,000), would this be true?

This would generally be the case, unless they specify otherwise (e.g. state that £1000 must be deposited on the same day).

The best way to do this would be to pay in £1000, and once you've seen that that has arrived, then transfer the remaining money. If you double check the sort code and account number, then it's certainly going to be correct. If you want to be absolutely certain that they aren't waiting for anything before the account is activated (e.g. signature), then why not phone them up to ask?

Is the Sainsbury’s online account one of the best for holding around £30,000 for a 12 month period? (I have read too many horror stories regarding Citi bank and do not fancy ING either)

It's good if you (potentially) want access to your money. Otherwise, you can probably get higher if you tie it up for a year with no access/heavy penalty for access.

If the Sainsbury’s account is still one of the best for my needs, and by default I am now receiving 0.5% on my money, then should I close the account and apply for a new one (which now offers 3.2% for 12 months)?

Yes.

psychic_teabag

ggmf wrote: »

I have held a Sainsbury’s Bank online savings account for some time. After the initial period the bonus element was removed and the account dropped to around 0.75% or 0.5% if I remember correctly. ..

When I set up any online account, my initial deposit will always be £1, just to ensure that all sort and account codes are correct for any transaction that I may to make (I do not want my money disappearing into the wilderness while any errors are corrected). Once the £1 successfully arrives at the new account then I will transfer a larger sum of money into it (in this example it was approx. 18 hours from the £1 deposit to a larger sum being transferred in.

I usually do the same for new online accounts. However, with sainsburys you can fund the new account by transferring from an existing sainsburys account, which reduces the risk of mistakes somewhat. I've done that a couple of times now (from 0.75% account to 2.8% account, then recently to the 3.0% account.)

Note that internal transfers between accounts in sainsburys online seems to have been broken for the last week.

ggmf

psychic_teabag wrote: »

Note that internal transfers between accounts in sainsburys online seems to have been broken for the last week.

Thanks, yes noticed that hence the reluctance to move more than £1 just in case, it's not the greatest or most informative web site is it. I have now opened a new Online Saver, and put £18,000 in as the initial deposit.

psychic_teabag

You can phone them to get them to do the transfer for you.

moonshine

I am thinking of opening one of these now, seeing as Intelligent Finance have just done the dirty on customers (done an ING in my opinion) so hopefully it will be fairly straitforward.

psychic_teabag

In the "spreading cash for safety" section on the top savings account page http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#instant it says that the 3.2% is only available to new customers. I hadn't noticed that restriction on Sainsburys site. Can anyone confirm or refute ?

Iconic

Does anyone know what this means? If it's variable for 12 months they could reduce it to 0% the day after you open it. No bonus is quoted so why say it's variable for 12 months?

'Online Saver variable rate conditions: This variable rate is only available for a limited period and may be withdrawn at any time. For qualifying Online Saver accounts opened and funded, the variable rate will apply for 12 months from your account opening date and is currently 3.20% AER/gross pa.'

http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/savings/sav_onlinesaver_os_skip.shtml

cautioussue

Hi,

I am an existing Sainsbury saver and opened the 3.2% account yesterday. I didn't see anything about new customers and it when it asks where will the money be coming from it knew my existing account and was happy with my selection.
I have always found them helpful when I ring up.
I wasn't able to move the money yesterday but I will try again tomorrow and if it doesn't work i will ring them. They sorted it out last time.

chris1

psychic_teabag wrote: »

In the "spreading cash for safety" section on the top savings account page http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#instant it says that the 3.2% is only available to new customers. I hadn't noticed that restriction on Sainsburys site. Can anyone confirm or refute ?

According to their helpline (if you can bear the 58 minute wait), 3.2% is only paid to customers opening the account on or after 2nd October.

psychic_teabag

chris1 wrote: »

According to their helpline (if you can bear the 58 minute wait), 3.2% is only paid to customers opening the account on or after 2nd October.

Doh! I had only just opened it at 3.0% - I'll need to check up on that. At least they make it relatively easy to open new accounts.

But my reading of the "previous interest rates" at http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/savings/support/support_onlinesaver.shtml is that the rate used to be 3.0, and is now 3.2 for the same account. Otherwise it probably ought to have said something like "for accounts opened between x and y, the interest rate *is* 3.0"