Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

Gromitt

It is amazing, when you think of it, the various incentives offered by banks:

Halifax: "We'll give you £5/month for banking with us"
TSB: "We'll give you interest of upto 3% on a balance upto 5K (£10/month)"
FD: "We'll charge you £10 for banking with us"

You would have thought, considering FD don't even have any branches, that FD would be offering the most!

I've just had a letter from FD saying "Wouldn't it be easier to keep all your savings in one place? Move them to FD and we'll give you a high interest rate of 2% (includes a 1% bonus for 12 months)". I read it and laughed, then promptly fed it to Mr Shredder who enjoyed it very much.

seriousDFW

Gromitt wrote: »

It is amazing, when you think of it, the various incentives offered by banks:

Halifax: "We'll give you £5/month for banking with us"
TSB: "We'll give you interest of upto 3% on a balance upto 5K (£10/month)"
FD: "We'll charge you £10 for banking with us"

You would have thought, considering FD don't even have any branches, that FD would be offering the most!

I've just had a letter from FD saying "Wouldn't it be easier to keep all your savings in one place? Move them to FD and we'll give you a high interest rate of 2% (includes a 1% bonus for 12 months)". I read it and laughed, then promptly fed it to Mr Shredder who enjoyed it very much.

Ha that's true, but surely FD's £10 charge isn't actually paid by anyone? There's the £1 savings account workaround if you don't actually pay in the required minimum.

DonnaKebab

seriousDFW wrote: »

Ha that's true, but surely FD's £10 charge isn't actually paid by anyone? There's the £1 savings account workaround if you don't actually pay in the required minimum.

How does this actually work? Pay in £1 every month to one of their other savings account I guess? Can you withdraw it straightaway once its gone in (not that im that hard up i need a pound that desparate!)

What would happen if someone was paying in their salary to FD's 1st account and had a regular savings account, but then their salary dropped below the criteria? Would FD have to close all the accounts and send the person a cheque?

myth123

DonnaKebab wrote: »

How does this actually work? Pay in £1 every month to one of their other savings account I guess? Can you withdraw it straightaway once its gone in (not that im that hard up i need a pound that desparate!)

What would happen if someone was paying in their salary to FD's 1st account and had a regular savings account, but then their salary dropped below the criteria? Would FD have to close all the accounts and send the person a cheque?

If open another account/service with First Direct then they will not charge you the £10 account fee on their 1st Account. One of the accounts you can open is their everyday e-saver. I have just transfered £1 into it when I opened it and then left it open (not set up a regular payment to it).

You can also instead open a credit card or some other accounts (sorry, cannot remember them all but they told me over the phone), the only account I recall that will not waive the fee is the Regular Saver (8%) account. So if you are looking to open the account for the regular saver account and avoid paying the account fee, you will have to open another service and then the Regular Saver once your account is up and running.

Other ways of avoiding the account fee is to continue to have over £1500 sitting in your account as a balance, or to have £1500+ deposit per calendar month.

In terms of criteria, the only criteria for FD to qualify from what I can see is to get the bonus when you join. For that you have to pay in £1500 a month within the first 3 months of opening your account and use their switching service.

So if your salary drops later in life it won't really have an effect on your FD account and the account fee of £10 won't be charged if you opened a separate service (i.e everyday e-saver).

At least that is my understanding of it anyway!

furtor

I can't understand why Lloyds Vantage account is never quoted as a current account to be considered. If you can keep the £5,000 in all the time you get 3% on the whole balance. We have two Vantage accounts, so are getting 3% on £10,000 that has easy access. We pay in the £1,000 from the first account to the second and return it the next day, all set up by standing orders online.
We also have a deposit account with Lloyds to keep the balance at £5,000, not too much in this account as the rate is only 2.5%.
It takes a bit of effort, but we are retired and it is is worth it.

exel1966

furtor wrote: »

I can't understand why Lloyds Vantage account is never quoted as a current account to be considered. If you can keep the £5,000 in all the time you get 3% on the whole balance. We have two Vantage accounts, so are getting 3% on £10,000 that has easy access. We pay in the £1,000 from the first account to the second and return it the next day, all set up by standing orders online.
We also have a deposit account with Lloyds to keep the balance at £5,000, not too much in this account as the rate is only 2.5%.
It takes a bit of effort, but we are retired and it is is worth it.

But you could be getting more. There are many accounts with rates over 3.00% that have easy unrestricted access. They may not be current accounts, but it seems you are using your vantage accounts as savings accounts.

Santander gives 3.00% on it's 123 current account way beyond just 5K and gives cashback on many household DD's. It also gives 3.20% on its savings. That's why vantage is not considered a top account.

mazkiwi

Can anyone recommend a good free business account for a small business (that's been operating for more than 5 years)...mainly for the odd deposit and transfer.
Many thanks

Teatwosugars

mazkiwi wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good free business account for a small business (that's been operating for more than 5 years)...mainly for the odd deposit and transfer.
Many thanks

HSBC do a 6 month free banking for businesses that switch. After your free banking period they have a business direct tariff that lets you pay in 5 free cheques a month and a 2.5% charge on cash paid in and withdrawn. There is no monthly charge, of and you can make payments up to £10000.00 free.

mazkiwi

Very helpful...if anyone else has any tips re business accounts please let me know..

mrs.scarper

Hi,
I have looked through the site and cannot find any reference to bank accounts for under 16s - can anyone advise please?
We live in a remote village, with no easy access to banks or post office apart from on line, and we also shop on line quite a lot. I am keen for my 15 year old to appreciate that she can only make purchases when SHE has the money in her account - not when my credit card is available......
I would like her to have an account that we could pay her allowance into (less than £250 per month!) but which will give her own switch card that she can use to buy things. No overdraft facility is required or anything like that - just a basic account....

Can anyone advise?

Thanks