"The One Account"

blisteringblue

I told you it falls into 2 camps this one !!

People do seem to miss the point of why most people choose the "one account" though. It is in it's name ONE ACCOUNT.

Yes there are cheaper offsetts, and you can get fixed rates etc that will save you interest, but there are none that do it all in a single account.

Now call me lazy, call me too busy, call me whatever, this is the main reason I got the account. For flexibility it cannot be beaten, I don't worry about which account my money is in, it's all in ONE ACCOUNT.

If you are using it as a standard mortgage account though with no overpayments and no savings / stoozing etc then yes it does become an expensive Luxury, but make your money work and enjoy the bonus of an extremely flexible account.

Anyway nothing drives you on to paying it off than seeing -70k on your slip when you draw out a tenner

toonfish

I don't like it personally for the reasons already mentioned.

One of my clients was adamant he doesn't have a mortgage, but owed £90K on his One Account!

blisteringblue

toonfish wrote: »

I don't like it personally for the reasons already mentioned.

One of my clients was adamant he doesn't have a mortgage, but owed £90K on his One Account!

But isn't that the whole point Just because we give a mortgage a friendly name people think it is not "proper" debt !! People think they don't have debt just because they have no overdraft or a credit card but seem to forget the 100k they owe in their mortgage.

I love the fact every time I use the cashpoint it tells me exactly how my DEBT I have.

RabbitMad

I've looked at various offset accounts and never got the sums to add up. The only benefit I could see is that you are not paying tax on your savings interest, but as most of me missus and my savings are in ISAs we're not doing this either and this little benefit did not outway the higher interest rate.

What account have you got SilverCar? the rate seems very good

silvercar

What account have you got SilverCar? the rate seems very good

4.99% fixed until Jan '09 with Coventry Building society incl free valuation. We moved in July I doubt their fixed rate offset has such a good rate now!

FMTC

Rick62 wrote: »

One Account is very expensive. There are flexible mortgages and even full offset mortgages at much better rates.

Such as what. Can you provide some examples?

Very good reading this, and it makes sense about how One account works. I need something that will give me discipline, and I thought the One might.

MarkyMarkD

Off the top of my head, Alliance & Leicester Premier 2 year discount mortgage 4.89% - fully flexible, £499 fee.

Surely accounts like One account give the exact opposite of discipline, as you can basically do what you like with overpayments? At least with a standard flexible mortgage, you have to ask for the money back, which is going to make you think about it a bit.

wymondham

I don't think anyone can truly compare the One Account (or current account mortgages in general) with standard mortgages - they are different beasts for people with different mind sets to debt in my view.

The setup fees are also extremely low - nothing like the costs I've seen elsewhere - I think it cost me a tad under £250 total, and that's it - I won't need to remortgage every two years or so, giving the provider £500+ for the pleasure..

I personally like the One Account as it shows me the whole picture - my mortgage is a debt which I'd like to pay off as fast as I can, and the flexibility of the One Account allows this by default - I don't have to think about it. Sure, you do have to be disciplined and no go mad with the available funds (if you have a mortgage though, you should be savvy enough to know this anyway??), and their rate is not the best, but I personally like the idea of the option to get hold the cash should I really need to, without having to go cap in hand to the bank and asking nicely (it is after all my money - why should i have to ask for it?) - remember this is a current account after all. Watching the balance come down is a real incentive to be money saving!

There will always be people who love it and hate it for their own reasons, but if it suits your lifestyle then great! I personally only have a small mortgage, with a fair bit of savings put into the account so it works well for me, but I can see if you have a large mortgage with little/no savings and can't overpay each month it would be an expensive option.

I've had this account for a massive 2 weeks now (!!) so only new to this, but the flexibility so far is tremendous. I like the excellent UK 24x7 customer service and the online website that gives you all the analystic tools a boffin would need (coming from Barclays it's a breath of fresh air!)

It took me a long time to get my head around how this account works (especially "paying off the mortgage", but still having that money instantly available!), but it makes great sense... if the rate was lower then it would really catch on!

It's very much 'self service' if you like, with you being able to run the whole thing yourself, deciding how much you'll "pay" this month, if at all - you're left to get on with it but they are there if you need them.

As I say it's been 2 weeks so far .... so good...

OverlandLandy

RabbitMad wrote: »

I've looked at various offset accounts and never got the sums to add up. The only benefit I could see is that you are not paying tax on your savings interest, but as most of me missus and my savings are in ISAs we're not doing this either and this little benefit did not outway the higher interest rate.

What account have you got SilverCar? the rate seems very good

I have an offset - I receive no interest on my savings (as it is offset against the mortgage). As a high rate tax payer I also avoid having to pay any additional tax as I get no interest.

I know you can do the same with ISA accounts- but you are restricted in terms of the amount you can invest and in terms of the flexibility that you have.

If you are VERY disciplined an offset is a great idea....but if you are tempted to spend your offset cash....AVOID this type of account.