Looking for a Hard to access account

SweetMoFo

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a hard to access savings account for my wife. She is good at putting the money in to a savings account but equally good at taking it out again.

She is looking for something like a 60 day access account and nothing with a cash card. She wants to save £200 a month starting with just £200.

Interest would be good but it is more important that the money is hard to get out. She doesn't use her ISA allowance if that helps.

I've had a quick look around but all the accounts seem to have restrictions like a minimum deposit of £1000 or they don't like regular saving.

She almost opened an account but failed at the last moment because she has an Irish passport and not a British one.

Thanks in advance.

trikidy

Perhaps ING direct savings account?
It pays 3% for the first year and you can deposit when you like.
It is online only as far as I'm aware, so she could not take money out at a branch, nor does it have a cash or debit card to use.
The only way to get the money back is to do a transfer.

MoneySaverLog

Pick a building society where you have to travel to get to in order to access your money open it up and close it down (No postal, phone or internet access i.e. branch only).

Set up a standing order to make payments into it.

Save

Alternatively just be disciplined.

[Deleted User]

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Pick a building society where you have to travel to get to in order to access your money.

I have an account like this for my Cash ISA - works for me.

alanq

Generally, apart from offering poor rates, notice accounts allow instant access by paying a penalty. Someone with no self-discipline may choose to forget this when they get the urge to spend.

MoneySaverLog's proposal seems a good one - as does the suggestion to "just be disciplined".

Alternatively, a postal account which would require at least a few days between planning a withdrawal and receiving the funds may be an option.

SweetMoFo

alanq wrote: »

Generally, apart from offering poor rates, notice accounts allow instant access by paying a penalty. Someone with no self-discipline may choose to forget this when they get the urge to spend.

MoneySaverLog's proposal seems a good one - as does the suggestion to "just be disciplined".

Alternatively, a postal account which would require at least a few days between planning a withdrawal and receiving the funds may be an option.

I am counting on the fact that my wife knows very little about banking and will not realise that she can take the money out at any time and just lose the interest.

The far away bank will be no good as she enjoys going on long drives but it has given me the idea of setting up the account for her in a bank/building society she doesn't know and only giving her the account number and sort code.

Thanks for the help.

westy22

Put the money into Santander - it's virtually impossible to get it back!:rotfl:

alanq

I am sure that there are accounts that don't offer the option to pay a penalty instead of giving notice but I suspect that they will be hard to find among major financial institutions.

I did find RBS Bonus 30 which does not mention paying a penalty as an option. Not much use unless you live in Scotland as English RBS branches are moving to Santander and branches operating under the NatWest brand don't seem to offer a similar account.
http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/savings/g3/notice/bonus30.ashx

lr1277

I bought premium bonds on the basis they were safe, I wasn't worried about the interest and at the time, to withdraw the money, I would have to go to the post office, fill in a form and send to NSI.

Since then NSI has made all aspects of account management easier, but since I haven't found out what these easier things are, I am happy to remain under the impression, getting the money out involves effort, so I would really need the money to withdraw it.

calypso_rhapsody

the first direct regular saver (8%) and the HSBC reg saver (6%) don't allow any withdrawals in the first year ... would that be too harsh for her? Or Norwich % Peterborough have one paying 4% that allows one withdrawal a year.

You need to have a current account to open the FD or HSBC accounts but they are easy to set up.

agrinnall

Give the money to me, I guarantee you'll never get your hands on it again.