The One Account?

bunking_off

Not sure about (1), but the answer on (2) is no. They insist you have life insurance to the level of the facility (NB facility rather than current balance), but never actually check it and certainly don't insist on you using their's. Similarly, they don't insist on you using their buildings insurance. From memory I think they checked mine when I originally took out the account, but haven't done so since.

catshark88

The Woolwich (Barclays) offset has up to 12 savings pots linked to the mortgage, along with a current account. Balances are worked out daily. You can also make any number of extra payments to your mortgage online and see a monthly mortgage summary detailing that month's and your overall interest saving by being offset.

It is a pretty flexible mortgage with lots of useful features for MFin3 devotees.

I don't think they insisted on life insurance type things but we do have it and they don't care who does your buildings insurance as long as someone does.

On the downside you have to put up with Barclay's LOUSY customer service and for some reason payments take 3 working days to get from your current account to your mortgage one.

Worth considering if the customer service bit would not wind you up too much!

dredwing

According to the One Account website Life Insurance is strongly recommended rather than required (I have a work based policy so taking out another life insurance policy would be an unwelcome additional cost).

The bad customer service really puts me off the Woolwich, I reckon with this kind of account you need people who can assist regularly particularly at first.

Anyway, I pretty sure I'm going to go with the One Account - I'll post my progress if I come across issues or pluses that might be of interest to others.

Again, thanks for all the info, where would we be without this stuff :beer:

wymondham

dredwing, i took my oneaccount out last april, and have a £75 fee payable if i redeem in full within 5 years. that's not to say when i go into the black, just at the point where i ask them to remove the charge on the property (which in my case will probably be in a few years time anyway)...

the setup fee's for the oneaccount are very small compared to other lenders (I paid a total of £399 and this included the valuation) and this was also a factor in me choosing them. with my mortgage amount i still save even though the interest rate is higher due to the astronomical fees charged elsewhere..

Remember though it's not all roses and that one account are like any other bank in that they hope you manage it badly (very easy to do if you are prone to temptation etc!!) , as this how they make their money - manage it your way and well, and you'll be laughing!

they don't insist on their insurance policy, just recommend you have a policy of some type. Their whole attitude is laid back and very different from other lenders around.

i did call one account a few times in the first weeks, but other than that I've not had to since then. They have a good 'live chat' which works well on their website (especially good if you're at work and need to look busy!!)

good luck with whatever you decide - you'll be surprised how quickly you can pay off the mortgage without actually having to do anything (other than work!)..

happy new year everyone!!!!

jamesd

dredwing, I suggest that you use the Egg Mortgage Calculator to compare deals. It's valid for all modern daily interest calculation mortgages, including the One Account. Just make sure that that total of all monthly payments is the same for all deals and compare the total payable numbers to get a fair comparison. Costs should be added to the mortgage borrowed amount, discounts subtracted from it.

It'll slightly penalise the One Account by interest on your current account average balance, so add up all of your monthly bills for a single month only and multiply by 0.03 to get the extra interest potentially saved per year by the One Account being a current account mortgage, assuming that all of the bill money is in your account until the last day of the month. Or use whatever you think is a more accurate interest rate (the example calculation is 3%) for the difference between your mortgage and after tax current account interest rate. At 3% interest rate difference the improvement is 60 a year for the One Account on 2,000 of monthly bills, less if they don't all go out on the last day of the month.

wymondham

Well, as of today I'm MORTGAGE FREE!!
I'll be posting on the MFW Roll of Honour as soon as I sober up!!! :j :j :j

Happy New Year everyone!

catshark88

That is FANTASTIC! Good for you!

It would be interesting to know how many people on the Roll of Honour have used offset mortgages. They do seem a very handy vehicle as long as you are disciplined.

wymondham

now posted!

MoneyMac

Hi

Sorry to jump in but i want to get my head around this One Account thing as we were possibly considering it.

We have a £70,000 mortgage and £40,000 savings and only want to use to One Account for this but keep our current account with salaries and household bills seperate (we also have emergency savings but want to leave them where they are, so the £40,000 is seperate to use against mortgage).
So am i grasping this correct that the One Account mortgage is offset against the savings, is this until the £70,000 mortgage is paid down (which would hopefully be alot less years than if left where the mortgage is) and are we then left with the original capital of £40,000 to then do with what we want.

Is it as simple as that?

Many thanks

wymondham

Hi MoneyMac!

You are correct in all your assumptions, but as the One Account is a Current Account Mortgage, you'll only get the full benefit if you also use it as your main bank account - the more money put into it, and passing through it the better - as soon as you think you'll have other savings elsewhere etc then it does not work as well. As you don't plan this then you'd probably be better off with an Offset type mortgage as their rates are cheaper and you won't be using the One Account how it was designed. I love the One Account so I've surprised myself here by not recommending it!! :rolleyes:

For the One Account to work to it's full potential, it really needs to be the ONLY account you have and use (mortgage/current account/savings etc..). This also keeps things really simple, and don't forget you can still get at your all your money when needed - it does take some time to get your head around the concept, but in the end it does work very well for people who are suitable, and operate it to their advantage.