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Best curr a/c: Coventry First account
koru
Posts: 1,546 Forumite
Martin's recent article makes the point, and a few other threads have mentioned it, but there's surprisingly little about the Coventry First account in this forum, so I thought I would add a thread.
5.1% interest for the first year is not only higher than A&L Premier Direct, but is paid on the full balance, not just the first £2,500. So, if you are lucky enough to have more cash than £2,500, the Coventry is amazing. Another favourite on this board, Lloyds TSB Classic, has a higher limit of £5,000, but only pays 4%. Again, Coventry wins on both scores.
(OK, full balance isn't quite right. Coventry only pays 5.1% on balances up to £250,000. I think that for most users of this forum, that is the same as having no limit!)
But the real clincher for me is that that the same account is also the best savings account, in my view. ICICI may pay fractionally more than 5.1%, but not enough to make it worth going with a bank whose reliability is still unproven, in my view. Plus with Coventry I don't have to keep shifting cash between current and savings, which saves me hassle and means I don't keep losing 2 or more days interest while each transfer takes place.
The interest rate falls to 4.25% in a year, so at that time there may be a much better savings rate elsewhere, though it is still a very good current account rate. Even if A&L is still paying 5%, you won't earn much extra interest, because they only pay it on the first £2,500. So, if you need to make sure you don't put more than £2,500 in A&L, you will probably have a balance lower than that for most of each month. Assuming an average balance of £2000, 0.75% interest is £15.
The only real downsides:
There's no chequebook. But I'm going to keep my Lloyds a/c for that, and transfer money over from Coventry when I write a cheque.
You have to pay in at least £1000 per month. But it doesn't have to be salary. You could always transfer the £1000 out to another account and then right back in again, once a month.
Coventry don't pay £50 to join up, but then I have already collected my £50 from A&L and LTSB.
5.1% interest for the first year is not only higher than A&L Premier Direct, but is paid on the full balance, not just the first £2,500. So, if you are lucky enough to have more cash than £2,500, the Coventry is amazing. Another favourite on this board, Lloyds TSB Classic, has a higher limit of £5,000, but only pays 4%. Again, Coventry wins on both scores.
(OK, full balance isn't quite right. Coventry only pays 5.1% on balances up to £250,000. I think that for most users of this forum, that is the same as having no limit!)
But the real clincher for me is that that the same account is also the best savings account, in my view. ICICI may pay fractionally more than 5.1%, but not enough to make it worth going with a bank whose reliability is still unproven, in my view. Plus with Coventry I don't have to keep shifting cash between current and savings, which saves me hassle and means I don't keep losing 2 or more days interest while each transfer takes place.
The interest rate falls to 4.25% in a year, so at that time there may be a much better savings rate elsewhere, though it is still a very good current account rate. Even if A&L is still paying 5%, you won't earn much extra interest, because they only pay it on the first £2,500. So, if you need to make sure you don't put more than £2,500 in A&L, you will probably have a balance lower than that for most of each month. Assuming an average balance of £2000, 0.75% interest is £15.
The only real downsides:
There's no chequebook. But I'm going to keep my Lloyds a/c for that, and transfer money over from Coventry when I write a cheque.
You have to pay in at least £1000 per month. But it doesn't have to be salary. You could always transfer the £1000 out to another account and then right back in again, once a month.
Coventry don't pay £50 to join up, but then I have already collected my £50 from A&L and LTSB.
koru
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