Overwhelmed by all the choice of savings accounts! 30 April 2007 at 8:21AM in Savings & investments 3 replies 1K views

jane22

Hi!

My husband and i are students and we would like to open a joint savings account that we can add to and dip into as and when we choose. I already have an ING account but understand that they aren't offering a competitive interest rate any more. So we would like to open a new account, together. It needs to fulfill the following criteria:

* Interest rate does not change no matter how often we withdraw the money
* No minimum balance (well, a minimum of £1 or whatever is ok, but definitely not £100+)
* Instant access
* Can be a joint account which we can both link to our current accounts
* Internet access

Does the ICICI account recommended on here fulfill this? I don't like the Icelandic one becuase of the £250 minimum. I don't know what Martin meanss when he refers to a clean account and I can't find an explanation of this technical (to me!!) term - anywhere. Is it what I am looking for?

Are ICICI a trustworthy bank? I'm a little wary about sending my money to this unknown (to me) Indian bank. I want a safe option! I'm assuming they're all regulated etc so am I wrong to be wary about choosing them over a UK / larger bank who I've heard of?

Thanks in advance. I know there's lots of information on this site but I think there's just too much for me to be able to just pick an account.

nilrem_2

Hi,

When you say

Interest rate does not change no matter how often we withdraw the money

I presume you don't mean that it shouldn't change due to rate fluctuations?

Personally I wouldn't save with ICICI but I imagine that others are happy with them, if you can get over the £250 I would recommend Icesave they have a good record of responding to rate rises and I have had no trouble running my joint account with them.

Many mainstream banks now have higher interest Internet savings accounts that are linked to your current account where money can be transferred between accounts instantly, it is worth having one of these IMHO, (as well as a high interest access account such as Icesave) The rates are not as high as you will get with the likes of Icesave but they are handy to keep an overflow of your current account cash in where the money is still available to you with out waiting several days for a transfer.

dancingfairy

a 'clean' account as far as I know is one where it just pays a good rate - ie not one that pays you a bonus for 6 months or a year etc and then the rate is rubbish ie a clean one is consistently good and you don't have any strange you must pay this amount in each month/ do this/ that or the other to get the high rate clauses. If you don' want the hassle of switching everytime an offer comes to an end you're better off going for a 'clean' rate.

Nilrem: I think the OP meant that the interest they are earning is not affected by the number of withdrawls made - ie some accounts say not more than 1 withdrawl per year or you earn a pitiful amount of interest.

exel1966

jane22 wrote: »

Hi!

My husband and i are students and we would like to open a joint savings account that we can add to and dip into as and when we choose. I already have an ING account but understand that they aren't offering a competitive interest rate any more. So we would like to open a new account, together. It needs to fulfill the following criteria:

* Interest rate does not change no matter how often we withdraw the money
* No minimum balance (well, a minimum of £1 or whatever is ok, but definitely not £100+)
* Instant access
* Can be a joint account which we can both link to our current accounts
* Internet access

Does the ICICI account recommended on here fulfill this? I don't like the Icelandic one becuase of the £250 minimum. I don't know what Martin meanss when he refers to a clean account and I can't find an explanation of this technical (to me!!) term - anywhere. Is it what I am looking for?

Are ICICI a trustworthy bank? I'm a little wary about sending my money to this unknown (to me) Indian bank. I want a safe option! I'm assuming they're all regulated etc so am I wrong to be wary about choosing them over a UK / larger bank who I've heard of?

Thanks in advance. I know there's lots of information on this site but I think there's just too much for me to be able to just pick an account.

Most standard savings account carry no penalty for multi withdrawls, though there are some which will lose you one months interest. In those cases it's best to withdraw on the 1st of each month. ICICI is not one of them.

ICICI fulfils most of the criteria you have set yourself and their interest rate is very competitive, though you would need to double check as to whether you can both have separate current accounts linked to the savings account. I opened an account with them 18 months ago and rate them as very efficient. Have done many online transfers to/from my current account all hassle free and quick.
They did have a few intial problems but those are long gone from my experience.

Your money with them is as safe as it would be with any high street bank. You are protected by the FSCS (Financial Service Compensation Scheme), the same protection as from any high street bank.

100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the next £33,000 are protected.

I think they are yet to be regulated by the FSA, but that is in the pipeline from what I can gather.

Clean accounts are those which can be operated with minimal or no restrictions attached to them.

eg. the loss of one months interest for withdrawl or a competitive AER without limited time bonuses attached to them