NOW CLOSED - Northern Rock - 3% easy access - for those with 10K

oldfella

re the opening deposit - have opened a esaver3 - intend to FP to that and then internally transfer to the esaver4.

ultrawomble

If you pay into NR by FP, your money normally clears the next day.

Just remember, you can't FP out of Northern Rock, you're looking at BACS so your 'instant access' is 3 working days in reality.

ericpode

problem is you need to transfer in £10K as a first deposit

Are you sure? It seems a bit odd. I would have expected the interest rate to be some small amount until the balance was over 10k and then the 3% would kick in (until the balance dropped below 10k).

It's a bit restrictive if the very FIRST deposit has got to be over 10K otherwise you will forever get a lower interest rate even if the balance later goes over 10k.

oldfella

Are you sure? It seems a bit odd.

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from the web site

You can open an E-Saver with a minimum amount of £10,000 up to the maximum deposit limit, as detailed within the Summary Box.

Old_Slaphead

Just tried £1 transfer to test the water

skitskut

ericpode wrote: »

Are you sure? It seems a bit odd. I would have expected the interest rate to be some small amount until the balance was over 10k and then the 3% would kick in (until the balance dropped below 10k).

It's a bit restrictive if the very FIRST deposit has got to be over 10K otherwise you will forever get a lower interest rate even if the balance later goes over 10k.

It wouldn't be the first time this has happened although I think it's unlikely. Sainsburys online account last year had the same restrictive condition in that the very FIRST deposit had to be over a certain amount otherwise you would never be able to achieve the full rate.. see here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1984317

Stompa

ericpode wrote: »

Are you sure? It seems a bit odd. I would have expected the interest rate to be some small amount until the balance was over 10k and then the 3% would kick in (until the balance dropped below 10k).

I think that's correct. The interest rate page states:

Where the balance falls below £10,000, interest will be earned at the prevailing basic rate, currently 0.10% gross p.a.

I also opted for a £1 test deposit.

oldfella

I also opted for a £1 test deposit.

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I reckon you have breached the T&Cs and they are within their rights to take the money and not pay the bonus

SnowMan

My reading of the terms and conditions

'Where the balance falls below £10,000, interest will be earned at the prevailing basic rate, currently 0.10% gross p.a'

is that they will pay you 0.1% AER while there is the test £1 in the account and when you top up to 10K it goes up to 3% AER. I think if you really really stretched the wording you could just about read it as saying they will pay you only 0.1% AER indefinitely even after it was topped up to 10k but you could put up a strong argument against that interpretation if they did do that.

Technically by paying in £1 you are infringing the terms and conditions which says that the initial deposit must be at least 10K, however their sanction if they don't like that is I guess to close the account or return the £1, rather than pay you 0.1% after the account balance is 10K. In reality I suspect they will let you pay in £1 and then top up to 10K shortly afterwards although who can say.

Personally if I had put a £1 test deposit to be topped up to 10K later I would send them a message through the contact us email facility accessible when you log in just to ask for confirmation you are getting 3% AER from when the account has 10k in it, they say they will reply within 2 working days if you do that.

Stompa

SnowMan wrote: »

Personally if I had put a £1 test deposit to be topped up to 10K later I would send them a message through the contact us email facility accessible when you log in just to ask for confirmation you are getting 3% AER from when the account has 10k in it, they say they will reply within 2 working days if you do that.

Done. Though my interpretation is the same as yours, I'll be very surprised if that turns out to be wrong. Still, better safe than sorry, I'd not want to find out a year from now!