Alliance & Leicester accounts

Beate

Hi there! I am new to this forum so please bear with me and my question.

I read about the Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account which pays 6.1% with a minimum of £500 paid in each month, and on going on their website I discovered a Savings Account that pays 12% fixed for one year. You can pay a maximum of £250 a month in and get the interest added at the end of the twelve months. I have one just like that with HSBC which pays 8% but expires soon (I also have an Online Saver and a Flexible Saver with them, as well as an ISA. Yeah I know, never give your entire business to one bank, sorry about that).
On phoning the local branch for details, I was told I could not have the two accounts together. I could either have the 6.1% Current Account with a different savings account or the 12% account with a Current Account that pays only 1%, and I would get a 4.5% Savings account “thrown in for free”. He also said that if I could comfortably afford to save £250 a month, then I should rather go for the 12% Savings account.
He probably has got a point as I have no intention of culling my HSBC Current Account just yet, and the Current Account would pay the 6.1% only for the first £2,500 which means I would have to transfer anything above that in another Savings account then to make the most out of it. Also, the 0% overdraft that comes with that Current Account does not make a difference to me as I happen to possess no debts and never go into overdraft.

But I might miss out something vital here or maybe there is an even better deal around so I would like to ask you what you think, please.

Thanks
Beate

Cannon_Fodder

12% of gradual deposits is like 6% on the whole £3000.

6.1% on £2500 is less, by a little. Plus will you always keep £2500 in there? Unlikely, especially if run as your current account with DDMs etc. And the danger of getting 0.1% on amounts above £2500 means you'll probably err, to stay below...

Think the 12% wins at A&L...maybe worth checking if Lloyds are still doing two years for their regular saver - its 8%, which is not so good for the first year, but in the second you actually get 8% on the full first years £3000, instead of drip-feed effect...

Don't forget ISAs for spare cash after Regular Saver...

Beate

Thanks, I have an ISA and I was planning to put the £3,000 from my current 8% Saver in it in April. I will check Lloyds out. I must say I have never been very good at maths so hearing that 12% on dripfeed is about 6% on the whole amount is slightly depressing. It kind of explains what happened to my Bradford & Bingley Christmas Saver which ran for ten months with a maximum amount of £150 allowed per month. The interest rate was quoted as 10%, so naive me expected at least £150 at the end of the run. What I got was about £50. To say that I was fed up is an understatement. So much about "make a tidy sum for Christmas"!

BSingh

I agree with CannonFodder... go for the Premier Current account (0.1%). YOu also get an overdraft with that which you can put in an online savings account and earn approx 4-5% anyway so thats probably the best bet!

Steve_xx

BSingh wrote:

I agree with CannonFodder... go for the Premier Current account (0.1%). YOu also get an overdraft with that which you can put in an online savings account and earn approx 4-5% anyway so thats probably the best bet!

Not forgetting the annual free european travel insurance cover that is also inclusive with this account.

isayoldchap

Just got my £50 validated and due for payment in February.Opened account
on 27/11/06

www.quidco.com

BSingh

yes thats right! good point steve!! forgot about that!

masonic

Cannon_Fodder wrote:

12% of gradual deposits is like 6% on the whole £3000.

...Plus you can also earn an extra 2-3% on the same money by putting it into another savings account before you transfer it in to the regular saver. Using the 12% regular saver and a decent easy access account, you can earn nearly 9% on that £3000.