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Natwest Savings Builder
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Yes, but there is no other instant access savings account that pays 1.50% on £5,000 from day 1.
BOS also pay 2% on £5000 (and you could have three such accounts).Eco Miser
Saving money for well over half a century0 -
This post is about the savings builder and Alexland ignores this and says the biggest downside is that it is NatWest. Contrary to this opinion, my experience is that the bank is excellent for basic banking services which is what I said.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.I have 43 years and Alex has had a couple of weeks to come to our conclusions. I have had banking experience with NatWest and Alex probably only has experience of the bank account opening process. Furthermore, this was gained at a time when thousands were opening accounts to get their £125 with customer services under much higher pressure than usual. Not an ideal time to be judged.
To be fair, if a bank launches a switch offer then they know to expect a significant upsurge in account opening and switching applications. They should get their house in order before launch. That many people have experienced a chaotic process is not a great introduction to the bank and has left many thinking that NatWest are a bit of a shambles. That is a logical conclusion to take, and NatWest only have themselves to blame for, in this instance at least, being a bit of a shambles. This will cost them customers in the long run.I accept that my view will be influenced by familiarity but here are some specific reasons for my view on NatWest. As noted earlier, my only comparators are Santander, Nationwide, Tesco and First Direct.
NatWest online banking has a well balanced, concise front page which lists all accounts with cleared and available balances and a drop down for recent transactions. The others I have mentioned are either more cluttered or need a drill down to a full transaction list.
Santander, First Direct, Tesco and Nationwide also provide a list of all accounts held with them on the front page, which shows the current and available balance in each. To find recent transactions you simply click on the account you want. This is no different to NatWest, other than the list of recent transactions in the drop down. Surely a single click is not that much of an issue?NatWest has a transaction search facility going back 7 years. This allows several selection criteria including a text search. I believe only Tesco among my other banks has a text search.
Fair enough. I have my bank statements, which I check each month and file. I don't personally have any use for such a function, but I can see why it might be of interest to others.The export/download to Excel facility is the cleanest and easiest of my banks with the others producing a very messy Excel file.
I'll take your word for it. Not something I ever bother with.I have a very good experience of their telephone customer services and whilst I have had very few occasions to call them I have always got through quickly and had my issues addressed quickly, efficiently and courteously.
I've never phoned Tesco or Nationwide, but Santander answer quickly and are polite and efficient. First Direct is always answered by a customer adviser (never an automated system) who is able to deal with any problems in a polite and efficient manner. My only gripe with First Direct is that I didn't phone for a chat!Staff in my local branches are always helpful and if I have a problem always take ownership to ensure that my problems are resolved.
Of your list of banks I have branch experience in both Santander and Nationwide. I can report exactly the same.Overall, whilst I have no complaints about NatWest banking services I am critical of other areas. I was overcharged for insurance for a couple of years before I realised and moved elsewhere. Instant savings rates are a joke and I have moved these as well. There is no interest on current accounts so I have to sweep any surplus on a regular basis.
Got to go now as the missus is dragging me out to shops. :eek:
You are entitled to your view that NatWest are something special in terms of customer service, but nothing you have said persuades me that they really offer anything that other banks don't and, in First Direct's case with telephone banking, actually offer an inferior service. Nonetheless, what makes you happy is all that matters in your choices.
I did ask in a genuine manner and I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Unfortunately for NatWest, my initial experience of them is woeful and they have seriously prejudiced me against their products (helped along by the fact that, as you comment, their products are a bot poor in comparison to rivals).0 -
Hi Alexland,
Apologies for misquoting you. The OP asked for pitfalls and you said an obvious pitfall was that it was with NatWest. Clearly your comment was not as negative as I had implied. I also wouldn't have submitted the post if ValiantSon had not asked me for more details. In fact ValiantSon talked about the biggest drawback so I was mixing up posts and misquoting!
All banks have good and bad features and NatWest is no different. Nevertheless, as EachPenny has so eloquently outlined, the NatWest Savings Builder if correctly managed can be a very good option.
Just to be clear, I said that the interest rate payable was the biggest drawback, not that the account was with NatWest!
Post #5:ValiantSon wrote: »For me the biggest drawback is that you only get 1.5% on balances up to £5,000. It is just a personal view, but I don't consider the difference in rate between this and a normal easy access account to be worth the effort of the messing around.0 -
For people who have opened a NatWest current account recently for the switching bonus, opening a Savings Builder is almost a 'no-brainer'. If you've gone through the hassle of getting online banking set up and waited for the card reader, then opening a Savings Builder as well requires no significant effort. With the potential to have somewhere to keep up to £5k @1.5% when it is 'resting' outside of the normal regular savers.
Except for the fact that I earn 1.5% through Santander 123 on £20,000 and don't have to jump through any ludicrous hoops to get it.0 -
ValiantSon wrote: »Just to be clear, I said that the interest rate payable was the biggest drawback, not that the account was with NatWest!
Post #5:
As regards NatWest, I have a curious tendency to defend them from what I see as undeserved criticism. God knows why, it’s not as though they pay me. If they did I’d be worth a fortune after my time on their forum (sadly now defunct).0 -
You can also adopt EachPenny's method to further improve the return. Nobody would deny that is can be a bit fiddly but correctly managed, it is currently the highest rate for an instant access account.
I'd define an instant access account as one that gives you instant access to your money. In which case the highest rate I get is 3% with Tesco and Nationwide. Your definition may be different.Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.0 -
ValiantSon wrote: »Except for the fact that I earn 1.5% through Santander 123 on £20,000 and don't have to jump through any ludicrous hoops to get it.
Yes, if you ignore the need to pay a £5 a month fee and/or arrange your DD's so you earn at least £5 per month cashback. And then remember to 'top the account up' by a certain (variable?) amount (perhaps on several different days?) each month to replenish the amounts taken out by the direct debits.
Makes paying in £50 per month (by SO if you wish) sound like child's play to me
The 123 account just has different 'hoops', but nevertheless they are still hoops. We all make choices about which ones we are willing to jump through to get a bit more interest."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
Yes, if you ignore the need to pay a £5 a month fee and/or arrange your DD's so you earn at least £5 per month cashback. And then remember to 'top the account up' by a certain (variable?) amount (perhaps on several different days?) each month to replenish the amounts taken out by the direct debits.
Makes paying in £50 per month (by SO if you wish) sound like child's play to me
The 123 account just has different 'hoops', but nevertheless they are still hoops. We all make choices about which ones we are willing to jump through to get a bit more interest.
I think you are making a lot more of this than there actually is!
My salary is paid into Santander 123 and my direct debits cover my fee. I don't need to top the account up in any way shape or form beyond having my salary paid in (because, unsurprisingly, my utility and council tax bills are substantially below my income!). None of this is possible with the NatWest Savings Builder.
The NatWest Savings Builder is not a "no brainer" for people who have opened a NatWest current account to get the switch incentive. Santander 123 doesn't require me to play silly beggars with depositing and withdrawing money from it to get my 1.5%; they just pay me it every month, without fail, for having the account. Oh and I get that 1.5% on four times the amount that NatWest will pay me. Sounds like child's play to me!0 -
ValiantSon wrote: »I think you are making a lot more of this than there actually is!
My salary is paid into Santander 123 and my direct debits cover my fee. I don't need to top the account up in any way shape or form beyond having my salary paid in (because, unsurprisingly, my utility and council tax bills are substantially below my income! None of this is possible with the NatWest Savings Builder.
As your main current account, without regular top-ups, I assume the balance isn't a constant £20,000 (and no more than that) then?
I'm not suggesting the Savings Builder account is the best thing available, but the reasons people generally give when knocking it apply to virtually all the decent interest paying accounts as well.ValiantSon wrote: »The NatWest Savings Builder is not a "no brainer" for people who have opened a NatWest current account to get the switch incentive.
More importantly, should you encounter the need to find somewhere to save up to £5k one month (let's say when a RS account matures, for example) it might be a convenient place to put the £5k if your 123 account (and all other higher interest accounts) happen to be 'full' already.
NatWest do not charge for having a Savings Builder, and a single pound sitting in the account earning no interest is not exactly going to bankrupt anyone. So, as I suggested, if "you've gone through the hassle of getting online banking set up and waited for the card reader, then opening a Savings Builder as well requires no significant effort".
Where is the downside? That's why I described it as "almost a 'no-brainer'"."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
So you use your 123 account as your main account... a lot of people on here don't. And for them the process I described is necessary each month.
No reason why they couldn't. I was pointing out why there are other (and potentially better) options available.As your main current account, without regular top-ups, I assume the balance isn't a constant £20,000 (and no more than that) then?
The balance is always in excess of £20,000, so I receive the maximum interest each year. Santander 123 is, effectively, an easy access savings account that pays me 1.5% p.a. with a current account facility on top.I'm not suggesting the Savings Builder account is the best thing available, but the reasons people generally give when knocking it apply to virtually all the decent interest paying accounts as well.
My objections to it are that the hoops are ludicrous and I can get close to that amount (aside from Santander 123) elsewhere, without any such nonsense, e.g. ICICI paying 1.35%, which is only £7.50 less per year. Indeed, I could get 2% on the same amount from Club Lloyds or Bank of Scotland Vantage and only have to find two direct debits for it, not keep messing around with withdrawals and deposits so as to get my interest!Let me put it another way. If you've gone through the process of applying to be a NatWest customer and setting up online banking (by no means easy), then what do you have to lose by opening a Savings Builder account and putting £1 in it? If you switch the current account away the Savings Builder will keep the online banking registration active, and make applying for new accounts in the future easier.
I'm not sure what you have to gain! This assumes that NatWest will offer something worth bothering with in the future, but if that's what someone wants to do then so be it.More importantly, should you encounter the need to find somewhere to save up to £5k one month (let's say when a RS account matures, for example) it might be a convenient place to put the £5k if your 123 account (and all other higher interest accounts) happen to be 'full' already.
If I've got a spare £5,000 that I can't think what to do with then it could either go into a fixed rate savings bond, which would pay me significantly more, or a notice account, which would pay me significantly more, or into an S&S investment. If you have that kind of cash then it doesn't make a vast amount of sense continuing to hold it as cash, and if you do decide to do so for some particular reason, then you are extremely unlikely to need quick access to it (because you have tens of thousands of pounds already available at your fingertips), so either a fixed rate savings bond, or a notice account will give you a better return without impacting on your access to cash in any meaningful way.NatWest do not charge for having a Savings Builder,
I should hope not! It would be an infernal cheek if they did.and a single pound sitting in the account earning no interest is not exactly going to bankrupt anyone. So, as I suggested, if "you've gone through the hassle of getting online banking set up and waited for the card reader, then opening a Savings Builder as well requires no significant effort".
And offers no significant advantage.
This also isn't what your initial post implied, which was that those of us who have recently opened a NatWest account should move £5,000 into the Savings Builder because it was a greater deal than we would get elsewhere.Where is the downside? That's why I described it as "almost a 'no-brainer'".
Where is the upside? That's why I disagreed with your view and sought to point out that it was far from a "no brainer", almost or not.0
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