Current/Savings Account

mc24915042

I have a good chunk of instant access savings (ISA is already done) that I use frequently at short notice and therefore want to keep my current and savings account in the same place, as the delays in transferring money between banks is an issue. I have an ICICI saving account and am thinking about moving my current account there. Or is there a better alternative for a combined current / savings account.

Thanks

MC

mc24915042

I have a good chunk of instant access savings (ISA is already done) that I use frequently at short notice and therefore want to keep my current and savings account in the same place, as the delays in transferring money between banks is an issue. I have an ICICI saving account and am thinking about moving my current account there. Or is there a better alternative for a combined current / savings account.

Thanks

MC

PosterBoy77

At the moment I use the Coventry First combined savings/current account. 5.35% interest on up to £250,000 as long as you pay in £1000 per month. You get all facilities DD, SO and Debit Card. Just no cheque book.

Dagobert

More information on the Coventry First combined savings and current account, can be found in the Coventry First - operating the account thread. The first year introductory interest rate currently beats any instant access savings account. However, if this is your only account, I would think that the lack of a cheque book might be an issue.

Alternatively, you have to go for a combination of online accessible instant access saver and current account.

You probably want to look at the Transaction Limits which most banks impose.

• Coventry First Current a/c 5.35%
• Bank of Scotland/Halifax High Interest Current a/c 5.12% up to £2500, Websaver 4.5%
• Cahoot Current a/c 3.65%, savings a/c 4.8%
• Norwich & Peterborough Gold Current a/c 3.04%, Netmaster Gold 4.65%
• Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct a/c 6.1% up to £2500, Online Saver 4.65%

FirstDirect's and HSBC's online savings accounts penalize you for withdrawals. They would be no use to you.

interest rates quoted above are AER

Moggles_2

Many thanks, Dagobert, for this useful post.

I believe the rates paid on the Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct & Halifax High Interest current accounts are slightly different, as follows.

A&L Premier Direct 4.89% gross 5.00% AER
Halifax High Interest 5.00% gross 5.12 AER

The Coventry First account is an innovative product which pays a very attractive rate of interest. Unfortunately, the secure part of the website only works with Internet Explorer and that's a major drawback for some of us.

koru

Moggles wrote:

The Coventry First account is an innovative product which pays a very attractive rate of interest. Unfortunately, the secure part of the website only works with Internet Explorer and that's a major drawback for some of us.

That may be what Coventry say, but I found it works fine with Firefox and Safari on a Mac. If you haven't tried it, give it a go.

Dagobert

Moggles wrote:

Unfortunately, the secure part of the [Coventry] website only works with Internet Explorer

This is not correct. I don't use Internet Explorer (I don't even have Winblows ) I use a Mozilla-based browser and I don't even need to identify as a different browser.

If you experience problems with a website it might well be because it expects Internet Explorer. Most of the time you can fool the wbsite by identifying as a different browser (e.g. IE). All browsers I know of allow you to do so.

Dagobert

Moggles wrote:

A&L Premier Direct 4.89% gross 5.00% AER

This information is now out of date, see.

My post (#4) above has been updated to reflect the change.

Moggles_2

That may be what Coventry say, but I found it works fine with Firefox and Safari on a Mac.

Thanks for your feedback, Koru.

I use:
Firefox 1.5.0.6 on Windows 98
and Opera or Firefox 1.5.0.6 on SUSE Linux

I haven't tried since May. I'll give it another go.

humfer

mikael wrote:

At the moment I use the Coventry First combined savings/current account. 5.35% interest on up to £250,000 as long as you pay in £1000 per month. You get all facilities DD, SO and Debit Card. Just no cheque book.

Very interesting indeed - up to £250,000! Sort of put the other banks usual £2,500 limit to shame really doesn't it.

koru

humfer wrote:

Very interesting indeed - up to £250,000! Sort of put the other banks usual £2,500 limit to shame really doesn't it.

Indeed. This makes the account very usable.