starting up savings instead of under my pillow

greeny21

hey gents/ladies,
i am looking at starting a savings account for me and my girlfriend asap. i can easily put aside £250 a week at the moment and within 6-8 weeks ill be able to put aside £500+ a week. trouble is i want easy access to it if i need it for an emergency or for buying my first house but also want a good interest rate. i have attempted to search through money saving expert but just get side tracked by all other information then lose interest. does anyone have a good suggestion wether its better for me to use online savings for higher rates or high street banks?

thanks!

bendix

You want instant access and a high rate of interest? Man, why on earth didnt I think of that before?

My recommendations: National Bank of Cambodia (around 14%), Venezuala Savings and Loans (13%), Trust Bank of Jakarta (12%) or the Vietnamese Revolutionary Post Office Trust Bank (17%).

Good luck opening the accounts. You might need to take some ID.

psychic_teabag

Assuming you are under 35 and have never owned a house, one option available to you is the Santander First Home account (or something like that). It pays 5% as long as you pay in between £100 and £300 per month. You can't do a partial withdrawal but you can close the account with no notice to get the funds in an emergency. (well, there is some nonsense that you must have an interview them before you can withdraw the money, or something weird.) Despite the name, you don't have to use the money to buy a home.

Note that a lot of people on the forum would advise you not to deal with Santander - very poor customer service, etc.

Jake'sGran

I have some shares of Santander (can't remember why) but I would never bank with them. They have an awful reputation on this forum.

At the top of the page, underneath the green strip with Martins head on it there is "Banking-Saving". If you click on there and scroll to the section that has instant access accounts you will find the one with the best rates.

Egg Banking is paying 2.5% with instant access and I am using Northern Rock which is paying 3.15% but only for a year but with no instant access.

Cash-Strapped.T32

bendix wrote: »

Vietnamese Revolutionary Post Office Trust Bank (17%).

.A good rate but they still make it a right PITA to deposit cash over the counter - hmm I think what they need is a Counter-Revolutionary Post Office Trust; yeah, that would be far more convenient for the average account holder, although I wouldn't want to live on a street with opposing branches on either side.