Instant Access Savings Accounts Article Discussion Area

rail.link

grn.w.nv wrote: »

Hi all,

I think I'm on the right thread for this one. There was a discussion going on a while back regarding Sainsbury's Internet Saver. I signed up for one of these accounts, but seem to have been waiting for around a month. I've signed up for the internet access, but have not received confirmation that the identity check has been completed so am reluctant to hand any money over to them. Anyone else being kept waiting?

I had to call them to confirm that the identity check was in order. No news is good news, as far as they're concerned.

Additionally, I sent them a cheque last week but nothing is showing in my account to-date. Don't know if it's delayed in the post, lost or still being processsed ?

poppy10_2

bobster_uk wrote: »

Ok, my question after reading the articles is which should I open an account and put my money in:

1) ICICI's 6.41% interest or
2) Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account at 6.5%

Would I be right in going with Alliance & Leicester which has the higher interest?

No. The A&L comes with lots of catches. The high rate is only for the next 18months, then it will revert to the base rate minus 1% which is rubbish.
The high rate only applies to the first £2500 you invest - if you invest more than this you only get 0.1%. You have to pay in £500 each month or they will charge you fees. Avoid.

ICICI is the best no-catches deal, and is guaranteed to be above the base rate till 2011.

Dyson

poppy10 wrote: »

No. The A&L comes with lots of catches. The high rate is only for the next 18months, then it will revert to the base rate minus 1% which is rubbish.
The high rate only applies to the first £2500 you invest - if you invest more than this you only get 0.1%. You have to pay in £500 each month or they will charge you fees. Avoid.

ICICI is the best no-catches deal, and is guaranteed to be above the base rate till 2011.

I applied for an ICICI account last week - actually the day before it was in Martin's bulletin. I received an automated email advising they would email me again after verifying my details, which would take 2 days. It is now 9 days later and still no email.

Yesterday I emailed their customer service to find out what is going on - today I received an automated email advising they would respond within 4 days!

They've got until the end of the week before I switch to ICESAVE instead. I've had enough problems with poor service from banks in the past and don't want to open another chapter... imho 0.11% isn't worth the hassle

Pitchshifter

I've been with A&L Directsaver for about 1 year now and have saved quite a lot, but I am considering ditching and switching to ICICI simply because it's 6.41% instead of 6.3% for A&L and the penalty of losing a months interest for making a withdrawal. The Directsaver account has run perfectly smoothly, but it's only of value to me at the moment because I don't need to make any withdrawals, if I did I would stand to lose significant money. If my situation changed and I had to access the cash, I would then have to take all the money out (at the beginning of the month) and stick it somewhere else. Might as well just do it now anyway and get a few extra quid in the bargain.

Anyway, from what I'm reading about ICICI, I'm a little concerned. Also, on the application form they want your occupation details, is this normal for a savings account? I don't see how it's relevant. I don't think the A&L account required that info. I also might consider Icesave but IMHO 0.11% is worth the hassle, it all depends how much money you have.

tonyhamm

Been transferrring money from one savings account to the other for years now, all the while property prices have been going insane over the period

Property - not in the 'inflation measure' of course, yet we all know its real world inflation.

So, after tax of 20% I work out - like most here - I am getting less than 3% on average over these years and all these effort of chasing savings in these 'top' accounts.

If you live in a world where you have to afford property, eat, pay for council services (also out of inflation) and don't buy lots electronic gadgets everyday, in real terms (real price rises) the value of money has dropped massively during all this saving, while the lucky ones have taken on debt.
Property won't go down much IMO.

Now food prices and other costs are rising over 8% per year. Not that the RPI 'inflation measure' which is laughabily falling to under 3.9% will show that.

Real costs are rising faster than my income, or 3% after tax return on savings.

Whats the point of moneysaving and being frugal assuming you live in the real world - might as well spend the stuff as fast as possible!

Pitchshifter

Basically what you're saying is that the top saving accounts' interest rates are rubbish. I think we can all agree on that. It's just a safe place to store cash until you find something else to invest in with a better safe return. How about fine wines? Shares? Paintings? Property? More risk more return.

House price OVER inflation is driven by the fact that people have been borrowing stupidly high multiples of their incomes to buy houses and now even first time buyers have to do that just to get a 1 bed flat. At some point the prices will have to stop going up. If people had saved up more before buying and refused to borrow 8 times their salary just to get on the property grindstone, prices wouldn't be so high.

Having said that, if you are going to use a savings account, you still want the best rate. There's only so much money I can spend in one day.

sopplayer

Hi,

Can anyone defo confirm that if you withdraw money out of First Direct you will loose a months interest.

I am thinking of closing my First Direct internet saver account but am worried what amount they will take of me for doing so. Would I lose a full months interest?

Please advise

murphydavid

sopplayer wrote: »

Hi,

Can anyone defo confirm that if you withdraw money out of First Direct you will loose a months interest.

I am thinking of closing my First Direct internet saver account but am worried what amount they will take of me for doing so. Would I lose a full months interest?

Please advise

I think you will find that if you close your account (take out all your money at once) on the first day of the month then you will loose 1 days interest and if you do it on the last day of the month you will loose one months interest (less a day). Close it at any other time and you loose as many days interest as the the number of the day you close it (ie close it on the 15th and you loose 15 days interest)
Dont forget if you leave yourself with only a current account and no other product you will be charged a current account fee.

murphydavid

Recently I have noticed that interest comparison sites have started quoting a lot of off shore accounts as being the best.
ie from moneyextra.com
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]S & F (IOM)[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]Instant/Direct Access[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]0 days[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]6.55%[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]S & F (IOM)[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]Instant/Direct Access[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]0 days[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]6.54%[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]Derbysh IOM[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]Instant/Direct Access[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]0 days[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]6.52%[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]A & L Int[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]Instant/Direct Access[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]0 days[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]6.51%[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]B & B Int (L)[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]Instant/Direct Access[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]0 days[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif]6.50%[/FONT]


These all beat Martins best of ICICI.

Do they pose an additional risk or are they worth considering?

Nick_C

As I understand it, they either pay gross interest or deduct a withholding tax. Either way, it means you should be filling in a UK tax return to stay within the law. Not worth the hassle IMO.