Instant Access Savings Accounts Article Discussion Area

JohnnyD

koru wrote:

Coventry First pays 5.35% AER and will do this, as it has all the features of a current account apart from a cheque book.

Martin's savings article has the best rate for a savings account as 5.15% with ICICI.
Suppose I had 30000 to save. Would I not just use Coventry First (moving my main current account to them) and put all 30000 in there? Then I am getting 5.35% beating the best other rate of 5.15%?

koru

JohnnyD wrote:

Martin's savings article has the best rate for a savings account as 5.15% with ICICI.
Suppose I had 30000 to save. Would I not just use Coventry First (moving my main current account to them) and put all 30000 in there? Then I am getting 5.35% beating the best other rate of 5.15%?

That's what I would do. Martin picks ICICI as the best savings account with no catches. The catch with Cov First is that the rate includes a bonus which only lasts for a year. So, in a year's time, Cov 1st might not be the best deal anymore and you might have to switch.

An extra 0.25% on £30k is £75. Most people would be willing to have the hassle of switching in a year, for the sake of £75. But your choice.

pennineman

If you apply for Martin's latest high interest instant access savings account with Icesave note that there is a time-out on the application screens which you may exceed if you don't have the needed data to hand.

It was the passport number and driving licence number which caught me out - so have them with you - or better somewhere you can copy and paste them.

And on the final confirmation screen my browser crashed !! so be aware that Opera might do this.

Moggles_2

Also, monthly interest can be left to accrue in the ICESAVE account.

Apparently, there's a glitch in the application system which IT staff are working to put right.

Meanwhile, the advice is to apply for annual interest initially. Then, when you log on, you can switch your account to the monthly interest option, if you so wish.

The pledge to pay 0.25% above the BoE base rate until October 2009 is a valuable guarantee. This launch is just what was needed to shake up the UK savings market!

Goosey

Martin's article really helped me here, so I just wanted to leave a note of thanks. I opened a current account with the Coventry BS last month (paying 5.35% interest before tax). I put £200k into the account & have set up a direct debit from my main account to transfer the £1k minimum monthly requirement. I originally planned to pay off the mortgage but there is a penalty clause for early redemption for about another year. The interest payable on the mortgage is lower than the interest I'm getting paid on the savings so it's all worked out rather well.

Martin_Carter

I followed the recomendation for the Icesave instant access acount from Lansbanki of Iceland. They give a superb rate of 5.2%.
After spending 20 minutes filling the online forms I then pressed the 'submit' button. However many times I tried it kept giving an error message.
I then phoned to be told that their system does not support Apple Mac! Do they run on steam in Iceland or are they still stuck in an ice age; I have never encountered this problem before. And why don't they say on page one that they don't want Apple Mac users?

whambamboo

Martin is pushing the A&L 5.38% as the best on the market. But he fails to point out that it's not as good as Icebank, unless:

1. you never want to withdraw a part of your balance (as you will lose interest on the rest), AND
2. when you do close the account, you have to do so the day after interest is paid, otherwise the effective rate can drop up to 0.5%. This is an important moneysaving tip.

If you plan to make any withdrawals from A&L in the time between now and when you move it to a better payer (which will come along), then it is not suitable.

MSE_Martin

Whambo - please would you let me know where I am failing to point out the problems with A&L? As I tried diligently to ensure it was pointed out?

In the tip it says

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This week's seen a rash of new market leading savings accounts. If you've got over £5,000 to save, [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Alliance & Leicester’s Direct Saver*[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] pays 5.38%, though withdraw cash and it won't pay interest in that month, but for those who just want somewhere to stash cash away, untouched, it's great. There's also a new top 'clean' account, Landsbanki's [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Icesave*[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif], at 5.2% if you save at least £250, plus old stalwart [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ICICI HiSave*[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] at 5.15% from £1 up. For full options, pros and cons read the article[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

Within the article (which is where the main detail it is) Icesave is listed as the top clean payer and then in options

[/FONT]

• Are you saving over £5,000? Alliance and Leicester’s DirectSaver* No-notice account pays a whopping 5.38%, providing you’ve a minimum £5,000 and maximum £100,000 balance. It’s available online or over the phone.
  
  The only negative is that in any month you make a withdrawal, no interest is paid. Therefore those looking for a simple long term place to stash cash should be fine, but if you regularly access the money, look elsewhere.

Thus I am left rather confused as to where I'm failing to mention it? If there is a place I've posted about A&L without mentioning this please let me know as I will change it asap

Kind regards

Martin

whambamboo

MSE_Martin wrote:

Whambo - please would you let me know where I am failing to point out the problems with A&L? As I tried diligently to ensure it was pointed out?

In the tip it says

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

Within the article (which is where the main detail it is) Icesave is listed as the top clean payer and then in options

[/FONT]Thus I am left rather confused as to where I'm failing to mention it? If there is a place I've posted about A&L without mentioning this please let me know as I will change it asap

Kind regards

Martin

I didn't say you hadn't said there were problems, I just pointed out that it wasn't made clear the exact effect of the account's problems.

It would be worth pointing out in the article just how bad the effect of losing one month's interest is: a reduction of AER to 4.9% effective with one withdrawal per year.

It's not even if you "regularly access the money". Even once a year (which is not regular IMO), would damage the rate, and more often than that would be far worse.

And it would be worth pointing out the closing the account trick (i.e. close it on the day they pay the interest), for when another account makes this one obsolete.

The Icebank has an above base-rate guaranteed, and for the average Joe is better.

I think the A&L is designed to trick the saver, as very many people will haveand if you are going to push an account with tricks, it should be very clear how to outfox them.

koru

Martin_Carter wrote:

I followed the recomendation for the Icesave instant access acount from Lansbanki of Iceland. They give a superb rate of 5.2%.
After spending 20 minutes filling the online forms I then pressed the 'submit' button. However many times I tried it kept giving an error message.
I then phoned to be told that their system does not support Apple Mac! Do they run on steam in Iceland or are they still stuck in an ice age; I have never encountered this problem before. And why don't they say on page one that they don't want Apple Mac users?

Try Coventry First, which are paying 5.35%, and I can vouch that they work fine with a Mac on Safari (even though their website says they don't). The only drawback is you need to make a regular minimum deposit and the rate drops after 12 months, but as long as you are willing to make the effort to move in a year's time, why not pick up 0.15% more for the next year? This site recommends being a credit card tart and a current account tart, to pick up time-limited deals, so why not be a savings account tart?