Savings Comparison sites including MSE. . .

Hern

A poster on MSE's The Top Instant Access Savings Discussion Area asks why the Post Office's 2.35% AER online saver doesn't rate a mention in this site's Saving section / Top Savings Accounts.

I've been wondering about this omission, too, but perhaps the savings market is too difficult to track?

MSE isn't alone in being less than definitive. The most unreliable savings comparison site we've come across is moneysupermarket.com. It makes much of its "independence" and comprehensive coverage --

Britain's No. 1 comparison site, offering you free, independent and whole of market comparison tables for all savings accounts, all in one place

-- yet for the UK's so-called "Number 1" comparison site is anything but dependable, as its own table of Easy Accesss Savings Accounts currently confirms: its top recommendation is ING Direct's 2% AER account, which isn't covered by the UK's financial compensation scheme anyway.

In practice when it comes to savings accounts we've come to depend on just two of the plethora of comparison sites:

thisismoney.co.uk and
which.co.uk/money/savings-and-investments

Currently, both these sites are highlighting Easy Accesss Savings accounts that MSE hasn't picked up on.

Perhaps not surprisingly, neither are mentioning MSE's highlighted West Bromwich BS account whose appearance on this site seems inexplicable anyway: it's hardly an 'easy access' best buy seeing as it restricts the account holder to just one withdrawal per year.

I just wondered if other MSErs had their own favourite savings account comparison sites that they'd recommend?

coastline

I sometimes check here..

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/

innovate

I think I already responded to the original article.

MSE is not a price comparison website, and has never reliably listed all top accounts. May be they maintain their site manually.

moneysupermarket.com is a comparison site, and does indeed have at least as many savings accounts listed as have Which? and other comparison sites. You just need to use the site properly.

Hern

innovate wrote: »

I think I already responded to the original article.

MSE is not a price comparison website, and has never reliably listed all top accounts. May be they maintain their site manually.

moneysupermarket.com is a comparison site, and does indeed have at least as many savings accounts listed as have Which? and other comparison sites. You just need to use the site properly.

Gosh golly, innovate! You're infinitely more clever than Mrs H and I!

We've clearly been mis-using the moneysupermarket website because, in seeking that site's rankings of Easy Access Savings Accounts, we've been daft enough to to the following:

1) go to the moneysupermarket website
2) click on the "Money" tab
3) click on the "Savings" entry in the drop-down menu
4) choose "Easy Access" from the grey buttons ranged down the lefthand side of the Savings page so as to bring up:
5) a fresh page headed: Find the right Easy Access Account for you at Moneysupermarket beneath which appears:
6) Updated Daily / Ordered by AER and, and. . .

. . . ING Direct at 2% AER as the top ranked entry.

Somehow, for some reason, we've completely missed all those many other accounts which you say are definitely there, seeing as how you know that moneysupermarket lists just as many accounts as Which? and other comparison sites.

But maybe -- due to our inability to navigate a website -- we shouldn't be going to moneysupermarket's Easy Access Savings Accounts comparative rankings when in search of, er, um, Easy Access Savings Accounts at all.

Perhaps moneysupermarket's listings of, for example, the Marks & Spencers account, or The Post Office account, are actually filed not in Easy Access Savings Accounts but elsewhere on that same website: the Mobile Phones section, perhaps? Or Broadband? Or Deals & Vouchers?

I imagine, you'll know. After all, you know how to use the moneysupermarket website. . . Properly.

innovate

Well, you just need to enter Search all UK easy access accounts, tailor to your liking, and hey presto, see them all.

mulronie

You've fallen into the trap of assuming a commercial website (moneysupermarket) is your friend and always acting in your best interests.

They are a FTSE 250 company with lots of hungry shareholders to feed dividends to. And they way they do that is to encourage you the consumer to open accounts with their best-paying partners... one would guess that ING pay more in referral fees than the market-leaders, which is why they get pride of place on the website (unless you do a bit of digging).

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi,

We do list the Post Office savings account. It is in the 'Spread cash for Safety' section below the M&S and West Brom accounts.

It is there rather than higher because in our judgement, the bigger bonus of M&S makes it more attractive, but we list PO (and many others too) to give people the option.

As has been pointed out, we aren't a comparison site as we make editorial decisions and give context - but we check the accounts every day and hopefully its rare that something good is missed.

HTH

Dan

SavingFish

As others have said, mse isn't really a comparison site.

Advantage: They can make decisions based on factors other than just the 'headline' interest rate (which may not be the whole story).

Disadvantage: They may exclude some offers which may be of interest to some (but not all) of their readers.

The site that I personally find most comprehensive is money.co.uk (that's just my experience though, ymmv). The downside to this site is that half the time, when you click through to the provider, you'll find that the 'headline' figure has been horribly twisted in some way, or there are some hideous conditions attached to accessing the account.

Reaper

Hern wrote: »

1) go to the moneysupermarket website
2) click on the "Money" tab
3) click on the "Savings" entry in the drop-down menu
4) choose "Easy Access" from the grey buttons ranged down the lefthand side of the Savings page so as to bring up:
5) a fresh page headed: Find the right Easy Access Account for you at Moneysupermarket beneath which appears:
6) Updated Daily / Ordered by AER and, and. . .

... and you missed a step
7) click on "Search all UK easy access accounts", or the big green button down the bottom of the page. They both do the same thing.

They ought to make it clearer that the page is only showing a selection of accounts though.

twizzel

I always use as many savings comparison websites as I can because I don't trust that they're, 1) up to date and, 2) unbiased.
I do the same for energy comparisons too.

grey_gym_sock

if only there were a saving comparison site comparison site