Instant Access Savings Accounts Article Discussion Area

wayne42

Complete Banker..Thanks for the warning re ICICI !!

We will shortly be moving abroad and are interested in offshore banking so that we can receive the interest gross.
The best I can find thus far is from Bank of Scotland international.
We will sometimes need to withdraw the interest to help provide a monthly income.
The only thing is that the rate is fixed for 3 years so perhaps I`ll wait for further base rate hikes before opening this one..

http://www.bankofscotlandinternational.com/savings/international-fixed-rate-account.asp

Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

Complete_Banker_2

Thanks Wayne 42. There used to be a whole load of banks and building societies that had offshore facilities in Jersey that pay interest gross - this may help you. Alternatively, I understand that Citibank offer accounts in currencies other than sterling that allow you to withdraw funds wherever they have branches (most countries). I can understand the gross interest approach but do you need to keep your money in sterling?

wayne42

Complete Banker

I suppose because I cant see a need to change currencies.
The ££ still seems to be doing well against most currencies and is more stable than gold IMO.
These days its pretty easy to get access to money from ATM cash machines. Nationwide debit card for example can be used anywhere in the world with no fees.
I am using Citibank at the moment but my 6 months is almost up so still looking elsewhere. Capital one looks favourite until its time for us to leave..

CharleneUK

I've just had my money back from a fixed bond.

I now have £11,000 I want to move from Egg, as it's only 5.2. Alliance and Leicester have 5.64 which is the highest instant access rate according to most comparison websites.

Does anyone know if there are any higher around?

Any advice much appreciated.

p.s - Has to be instant access as it's towards a house deposit.

Mr_Mumble

With the A&L account you don't get any interest for the month in which you withdrawal money. Icesave pay 5.7%, ICICI 5.65%.

CharleneUK

Mr_Mumble wrote:

With the A&L account you don't get any interest for the month in which you withdrawal money. Icesave pay 5.7%, ICICI 5.65%.

Thanks for that! I'll look into those two now.

MarkyMarkD

But Icesave and ICICI have already increased rates following the last base rate rise, haven't they, whilst A&L have yet to announce their increase? It might be premature to put your money into Icesave or ICICI based on a comparison of rates whilst the playing field isn't level.

That's if you are happy with the loss of interest in the month of withdrawal at A&L - but ways around that have been discussed previously and it's not a serious drawback for anyone wanting to deposit a large amount for a period of time without intervening partial withdrawals.

Update: According to this thread and the links contained within it, the A&L DirectSaver rate is increasing by 0.16% AER to 5.80% AER. (The Thisismoney link actually states 0.15% but that's the increase in the nominal rate, not the AER which is more meaningful on a monthly interest account). So the A&L account still out-pays Icesave and ICICI, subject to the proviso re the loss of interest detailed above.

CharleneUK

MarkyMarkD wrote:

But Icesave and ICICI have already increased rates following the last base rate rise, haven't they, whilst A&L have yet to announce their increase? It might be premature to put your money into Icesave or ICICI based on a comparison of rates whilst the playing field isn't level.

That's if you are happy with the loss of interest in the month of withdrawal at A&L - but ways around that have been discussed previously and it's not a serious drawback for anyone wanting to deposit a large amount for a period of time without intervening partial withdrawals.

Update: According to this thread and the links contained within it, the A&L DirectSaver rate is increasing by 0.16% AER to 5.80% AER. (The Thisismoney link actually states 0.15% but that's the increase in the nominal rate, not the AER which is more meaningful on a monthly interest account). So the A&L account still out-pays Icesave and ICICI, subject to the proviso re the loss of interest detailed above.

I've definitely decided to go with A&L. I have a current account with them anyway, so will make transferring easier.

Thanks!

MarkyMarkD

koru wrote:

No. The interest rate varies on a monthly basis, based on the monthly RPI. This is currently equivalent to an annual rate of 4.4%, but the rate has been lower than that for most of the last 12 months, so you would have earned less than 5.5% if you had invested 12 months ago.

5.5% is what you will have earned in a year's time if the RPI stays exactly the same as it is this month. Maybe it will do. Maybe it will go even higher. But the Governor of the Bank of England is going to be in big trouble if inflation isn't brought down pretty quickly. I think it is misleading advertising for National Savings to emphasise the current very attractive rate which will almost certainly last only a few months, on a product that locks you in for 3 years. OK, they do mention that the rate may vary, but it isn't given the same prominence.

Koru is NOT right. Webwiz was almost right - 5.5% IS the rate of interest you would have earned if you had invested a year ago, except that the 5.5% is a three year investment rate.

If someone had invested 3 years ago, they would NOT have got the compounded equivalent of 5.5% AER because the RPI hasn't been 4.4% for each of those three years (just the last one).

The reason koru is wrong is that they do NOT "vary the interest rate on a monthly basis". They index-link the capital value of the invested amount, and ALSO add 1.1% interest per annum.

And even if they did vary the interest rate on a monthly basis, 4.4% is the compounded equivalent of the RPI increases for each of the months in the past year, so the same effect would be achieved if they did so.

cwillnic

We all like a baragin and IceSave appeared to be offering a market leading interest rate to savers. I thought so and opened an account. Everthing was find until I made a mistake in the log in to my account and locked myself out. No problem you think, just telephone and get the account login re-activated. Easier saidthan done. So far I have been unable to get through by telephone - just try ringing and listen to the automated message stating it may take 20 minutes to answer your call at peak times on an 0845 number and no answer after 10+ minutes each time. Engaged totally at 9 in the morning and the same message between 7 & 8 in the night. No reply to letters, a promise to telephone me after an email, but still waiting after 6 days. Have written to the FSA, but not holding my breath, meanwhile I have emailed a letter requesting termination of the account- still nothing. If you want a good interest rate try ING internet acces account - beats IceSave and they have a customer service department that actually answers the telephone! My advice give IceSave a wide berth.