Have just received £7000 what account is best

nickrat

Me and my partner are getting married next februrary and her very generous mum and dad have just given us £7000 toward it,Can anyone reccomend an account were we can ...

1.Make interest quickly on it
2.Possibly receive a freebie for a big deposit
3.Be able to access anytime with a card
4.Not have to pay anything into the account per month as we want it solely for the wedding.

Thanks in advance.

sav4it

Just how desperate are you for a card? If not, how about opening a mini cash ISA each ( Halifax has instant access but not the best interest rate now I don't think http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/isasaverdirect.asp) and the extra £1k in Sainsburys online saver ( 6.25%) http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/savings/sav_internetsaver_is_skip.shtml?
Although you don't get a card, all money can be got at within 3 days by transferring out to your current account.
HTH

Lavendyr

Well, since it's for February, an ISA won't help you too much as interest will only be paid at the financial year-end and you will have to take it out before the year-end anyway. What might suit you best would be a high-interest instant access savings account I expect - however this would not give you a card to access with.

If having a card is important, you could look at one of the current accounts that give you good in-credit interest rates, such as A&L Premier Direct or Halifax.

My suggestion would be:
- Open an A&L Premier Direct Current Acct and as they pay 6.5% gross on balances up to £2500. You'll get a Visa debit card and chequebook on that account as well.
- Open an A&L DirectSaver for the rest of the money, which is at a current rate of 6.3%.
- You need to feed £500 into the Premier Direct every month. So every month, just transfer £500 into the Direct Saver and then back into the Premier Direct account - or if you're going to spend a certain amount each month, just top it up by £500 from the Direct Saver each month - just make sure it doesn't go over £2500 unless you don't mind losing out on potential interest.

Interest is paid monthly on the Premier Direct account so in terms of getting interest in time for the wedding, that's probably best.

I'm sure others will come up with very good suggestions but hope that helps

sav4it

Lavendyr wrote: »

Well, since it's for February, an ISA won't help you too much as interest will only be paid at the financial year-end and you will have to take it out before the year-end anyway.

Even if they spend the money in January, they don't need to close the accounts and can enjoy the interest at a later date and at least have used their tax free allowance.

Also point 4 of OP states that they don't want to pay anything in.
Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you lose interest for the whole month of any withdrawal with A&L direct saver? Is the in-out process for Premier account allowable? I thought the £500 had to come in externally.

sav4it

Ok, I've checked out what Lavendyr put and I don't think it will suit you.
A&L Direct Saver won't pay interest in any month when a withdrawal is made so you would be far better off with Sainsburys online Saver for the sake of 0.05% gross. I presume you will want to pay for things as and when leading up to your wedding.
I still think you SHOULD use your ISA allowance even if it means you may not see the interest until after your wedding ( perhaps that's a bonus as you'll be skint then:D).
If a card is essential then why not try a Halifax high Interest Current account? All money would be instantly accessible ( Halifax ISA and Sainsburys online saver as part of HBOS group) but you would need to feed £1000 per month so maybe the £1000 in the Sainsburys could be transferred to halifax HICA and back out again and who knows you might get some more money from nice people to add to your fund and could switch your present accounts to them?
And no, in case you are wondering. I don't work for HBOS.

Lavendyr

Ref enjoying the interest at a later date, I suggested what I suggested because they said they wanted to earn interest quickly, so I presumed they wanted to receive it before the wedding.

Regards the Direct Saver, Sav4it you may be right, I forgot to check that bit out. In that case don't go for the Direct Saver - either a high-interest savings account such as Sainsbury's Internet Saver or a high-interest in-credit current account would be best. Or both - you could stick the £7000 in a savings account and meanwhile keep a high-interest current account topped up (assuming the Sainsburys internet saver doesn't penalise you for withdrawals as well).

Halifax high-interest current account, by the way, pays a lower in-credit interest rate than A&L (6.17% vs 6.5%) and is also only on balances up to £2500, above which it reverts to 0.1% (as does A&L). A&L only requires you to pay in £500 per month whereas Halifax requires £1000. So if it were a choice between those two, I'd plump for the A&L Premier Direct over the Halifax.

sav4it

Lavendyr wrote: »

Halifax high-interest current account, by the way, pays a lower in-credit interest rate than A&L (6.17% vs 6.5%) and is also only on balances up to £2500, above which it reverts to 0.1% (as does A&L). A&L only requires you to pay in £500 per month whereas Halifax requires £1000. So if it were a choice between those two, I'd plump for the A&L Premier Direct over the Halifax.

Hi Lavendyr,
The reason I suggested the HHICA was for instant access if card important due to Sainsburys being part of the same group and all eggs would be in same basket if they went for the H ISA as well. And can fund the required £1000 straight from the Sainsburys ( no withdrawal penalties) and straight back out again.
I hate paying tax so if it was my money, I would rather get as much tax free interest as possible even if it did mean waiting a little longer to see it.
Oh and the other reason why I suggested HHICA was because unless the about-to-be-newly-weds already bank with A&L, they will lose interest each month drip feeding the account with £500. Haven't done the calculation to see if that compensates for the difference in rates though.

Lavendyr

Ah gotcha

jem16

Lavendyr wrote: »

Well, since it's for February, an ISA won't help you too much as interest will only be paid at the financial year-end and you will have to take it out before the year-end anyway.

If you close the ISA, interest will be paid at that point so it's quite possible to use an ISA.

Lavendyr

Ah *should not try to give advice on accounts anymore* :P

sav4it

Lavendyr wrote: »

Ah *should not try to give advice on accounts anymore* :P

Of course you should, Lavendyr.
We all know not to believe everything on these forums but to do our own research. Everyone's contributions are perfectly valid in helping people in the right direction.
I'm surprised no-one else has come up with anything.
Have a great day soon-to-be-newlyweds.