Opening a Savings account

macgyver

HI friends,
I am new to this country and I came to UK 20 months back.
After a strugle I anaged to open a currents account with HSBC. Then I opened up a savings account with them (Instant access) but the interest rates are appalling!!!
I have tried many banks like Loyds, Alliance and Liester, Abbey etc after readind from the advice from Martin and others over here. But all other banks ask for a minimum of 3 years residence here in Uk for openning a savings account.
I tried even the premium plus account at Loyds and A&L but same thing there as well.
Any suggestions what to do and which banks to go for better interest rates.
Thans for reading all this!!!!

grumbler

HSBC Interest Rates - Savings Accounts :
Regular Saver Interest paid annually 8%
Online Saver Interest paid monthly 4.7%
Cash ISA 4.35%-5.25%

macgyver

Thanks Grumbler.
I think I will go with HSBC ISA only seeing that it has a high interest rate.
Do you know if I need any notice to withdraw money out of this account?
Or should I just put 3000/year in ISA and open up an Online saver as well?
Many thanks

grumbler

macgyver wrote:

Do you know if I need any notice to withdraw money out of this account?

HSBC Cash Mini ISA:
'An instant access savings account that's free from income tax......Withdrawals can be made instantly without notice'
HOWEVER:
'If you have fully subscribed in a tax year, any amount withdrawn cannot be re-invested until the following tax year.' - as for any ISA. If you are not sure that you fully understand this read 'ISAs - save tax' article in SAVINGS section.

Or should I just put 3000/year in ISA and open up an Online saver as well?

If you have enough money to save the best way is to put £3000 to ISA, the rest to Online Saver and then 'drip feed' Regular Saver from Online Saver. Read about 'Savings Fountain' in 'Starting Saving' article.

P.S. And do not wait 3 years to start looking for other accounts. I am sure that generally you do not need 3 years of being resident to open even current accont. For saving account this should be even easier.