Best offline savings account?

bristolsaint

My 81 year old mother has £10,000 to put in a savings account. She doesn't use a computer (and won't) so online access only is not an option. She wants unlimited access. She wants to keep her current account with HSBC but doesn't necessarily want to save with them.

Any suggestions?

psychic_teabag

Is a postal account an option ? If not, I'd have thought one of the more important requirements would be that there's a branch situated nearby. Or is it sufficient to have a card that will allow withdrawals from a nearby ATM ? Would she allow you to shuffle money between an online account and a branch account for her ?

Another question is will she want to move the money around to keep a good rate ? e.g. the post-office are offering 2.1% on a branch-based account, but 2% of that is a 1-year bonus, so after a year it will get almost nothing. Halifax offering 2%, 1.5% of which is first-year bonus.

tesco offer a savings account that, I think, allows access from in-store (customer services). Looks to be 1% for £10,000 (but 0.75% for less than that). Doesn't seem to mention an introductory bonus.

Does she pay tax ? If so, has she used her ISA allowance ?

psychic_teabag

Northern rock / virgin money seem to be offering 2.85 for their branch-based easy-access saver. Doesn't seem to mention a first-year bonus rate.

alanq

Unless things have changed recently NR branch-based accounts come with a passbook rather than a card. Most banks run only card-based accounts even in branch. Many people, especially the elderly, favour passbooks. I expect that eventually Virgin Money will make its accounts card-based like its rivals.

opinions4u

Cheltenham Gold from C&G pays 1.90% to 2.00% on a passbook account.

It includes a bonus rate.

atush

HSBC has a good faster payment system ( i use to to send money around incl to my son's uni acct). If you foudn a good online one, you couldset ti up for her and make faster payments into her acct as and when she needed it. this is only if she didn't like telephone banking and didn't have a branch nearby of a bank with good rates.

IanManc

If your mother wants unlimited access to her savings then one option is the Leeds Building Society Albion Cheque Account.

As the name says, it hasn't got a card or a passbook, but you get a cheque book instead, and a statement through the post either yearly or at the end of every month in which you've made a transaction.

You can pay into it at a branch or by post, and set up standing orders or direct debits just like any other cheque accout. Interest rates are tiered, and at £10K the rate is 1.7% gross.

The account is run from the old Mercantile Building Society head office at Wallsend, and the service is exemplary. You can always speak to someone easily and quickly, and they know what they're talking about.

Although the interest rate isn't the best on the market there is no introductory bonus and the rate has been held for a long time, so you don't have to chop and change after a year. Having a cheque book is very useful for people who are older and who might begin to be less mobile or not want to go out in cold or icy weather, and the efficiency and service are big plus points. I guess you're in Bristol from your name (!) but I don't know if your mother is - but there's a branch there in Wine Street.

http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/savings/albioncheque.html

xylophone

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1604879/Best-savings-rates-Telephone-postal-phone-accounts.html

alanq

atush wrote: »

HSBC has a good faster payment system ( i use to to send money around incl to my son's uni acct). If you foudn a good online one, you couldset ti up for her and make faster payments into her acct as and when she needed it. this is only if she didn't like telephone banking and didn't have a branch nearby of a bank with good rates.

OK for sending YOUR money from YOUR account to your son. Not OK for son / daughter to make online payments from MOTHER's account (even to another account belonging to MOTHER) unless acting under Power Of Attorney.