The One Account?

WendyR14

I'd like to add to the tide of 'love one account' posts. As a number of posters have said I'd echo that:

It works best if you roll ALL your accounts into this one, then you pay off the mortgage scarily quickly - less than 9 years for us against the 19 it otherwise would have been. We COULD have made overpayments but having absolute certainty that we can just write a cheque to draw it right back out again made us able to commit to clearing it.

Although it seems to need lots of financial determination to handle it - in fact the simplicity of it actually creates the financial clarity that anything you owe is a debt (including a mortgage) and anything you spend slows you from clearing it. We were not in any other debt but tended to fritter money on nothings and the One Account stopped that (and we've stayed that way).

Although technically other accounts may offer better rates, you spend so much less of your time on those rates that the phychological gain from the One Account outways that technical gain from others.

And a final point - the account has truly superb customer service and clear paperwork. I've asked them and have been delighted to discover that we don't actually have to end the account when our original 19 years is up - can still run it for its great service. We've been mortage free for 5 years (with bit less than 5 still to go until the original term expires) and rather plan on keeping it as our current account as long as possible.

wymondham

Just out of interest, is there anyone out there who has had/still has a One Account and did'nt like it? I can't recall a previous post whereby I have seen this....

jamesd

wymondham, I have seen some who have switched but I don't recall anyone unhappy with the customer service. It seems likely that the interest rate discourages many of those who would be unhappy with it... and that the customer service really is good.

Hopefully the discussions here also increase the proportion of those who have it who are really benefitting from it.

bunking_off

jamesd is right. There have been a few who tried it and moved on to a more conventional mortgage, but largely it was either because they couldn't handle that "paradigm shift" of moving away from a loan and regular repayment, or because they hit the "kid in the sweetshop" syndrome of having this huge facility available to spend.

I've not come across anyone exploiting the One Account to the full who'd want to change, and not heard anyone with a bad word on the customer services.

crockpot

I too have been looking at `the one account` and have been impressed with the figures given.

However as my smallish mortgage of £20k with a term of 9 years left, it came out that I would re pay in 15 months, which would be great.

But what are the fees like?

Also if I ring them are they really pushey?

I already have an off sett mortgage, which if I stick with will be paid in 2 years, it is a savings pot not current account one.

Just had a thought, I put a lump of savings in the one account calclator,is it expecting that this will be a capital repayment? and thats why the term is less.

Thanks

wymondham

crockpot wrote: »

But what are the fees like?

Also if I ring them are they really pushey?

Just had a thought, I put a lump of savings in the one account calclator,is it expecting that this will be a capital repayment? and thats why the term is less.

The fee's are very low - I got a complete remortgage for £350 and that included the valuation!

They are not pushy in the slightest in my experience.

Everything going into your account is seen as a mortgage payment, so yes it would be seen as a capital repayment. In a nutshell everything you earn goes to pay off the mortgage, and your bills come out of this, hence you overpay quickly as it uses ALL of your spare income as an overpayment - you don't really decide how much you are going to overpay as such, just whatever is left! (simplistic, but explains the principle..). Don't be alarmed though as all of this money is available to draw on if required without any authorisation. I tend to think of the One Account as an 'adult' mortgage - they tell you the rules and it's up to you to stick with them - you don't have to keep going back to ask them if you can do x or y etc....

Look at your finances (remove your current mortgage payment as an outgoing and include it as 'spare') and your monthly 'spare' money is how much you'll be paying off the account by (obviously this will be quite variable!) - it will be much higher than you probably would imagine (I paid off mine in 9 months)

your mortgage amount is low at present, i think One Account is minimum £30k, but you could do as i did and get a £30k+ and immediately pay off the difference on day 2 - they were fine with this!

i hope this helps, let me know if any other queries...

jamesd

If the savings are in ISAs do remember that the ISA tax break will last long after the end of the mortgage, so you lose out long term by using it. In this case you might instead look at one of the mortgages that will let you offset with cash ISA money. First Direct is one, I think.

missprint

Intelligent Finance is another.

crockpot

Hi

It`s got me thinking now, how easy is it to set up?

Also is there a mortgage calculator that will help me compare the two products?

Got to factor into it the fees and higher interest rate to make sure it`s worth while,

Thanks

Capricorn_One

I'll always be glad I found the One Account website, particularly, the Mortgage Shrinker calculator as it got me thinking seriously about overpaying.

However, some investigation made me realise that it's probably not the best offset mortgage out there because of the high interest rate.

Maybe I'm missing something but isn't it just an offset current a/c mortgage?

The high interest rate and fee for switching over makes me think I'd be better off with the offset-tracker I have, even though it doesn't include a current a/c facility.