The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

janusdesign

sibby_cash said:

Has anyone opened a Shawbrook EA account recently? They are asking me to provide proof of income. I can’t see how that is relevant for a savings account. Im probably going to decline but just wondering if it’s usual. 

opened one last week - I was asked about income during the application (dropdown list), but was not requested to provide proof. I've seen mentions on other threads where users have been asked to provide income proof, though I can't recall ever being asked to myself when opening any savings account in the last couple of years.

SanguineOnSaturn

Band7 said:

With CHIP, I just withdraw, say, £45k and 10 seconds later it is in my current account.

I think there are valid arguments either way for extra layers of protection vs no questions asked.

Band7

SanguineOnSaturn said:

Band7 said:

With CHIP, I just withdraw, say, £45k and 10 seconds later it is in my current account.

I think there are valid arguments either way for extra layers of protection vs no questions asked.

In both, Cynergy and CHIP, your withdrawals can only go to your nominated account, and you can't just willy-nilly change the nominated account. With Kroo, however, you can send your money to any sort code and account number. SO I would consider CHIP and Cynergy considerably more safe than Kroo, despite the Kroo £10k limit.

SanguineOnSaturn

"In both, Cynergy and CHIP, your withdrawals can only go to your nominated account, and you can't just willy-nilly change the nominated account. With Kroo, however, you can send your money to any sort code and account number. SO I would consider CHIP and Cynergy considerably more safe than Kroo, despite the Kroo £10k limit."

Yes, I expect that's probably partly the reason they have the threshold (but not a limit it seems). I had a 10k withdrawal held up at chase for 'checks' some time back so maybe these checks are more common where transactions are not limited by nominated accounts.

andyhicks88

I just applied for Kroo, the app kept freezing during application but I managed to do it and I got accepted within 10 minutes.  Trouble is, it doesn't seem like it's just the application process that is laggy, played around with the app a bit and it's laggy and slow in general for me and frozen up a couple of times and seems a bit buggy to me. I don't know if it's just my phone or that's anyone elses experience too.   At the moment I've deposited the £50 for the cashback but that's all I feel comfortable with right now, I'll maybe wait until the hype has died down a bit see if the app performs better and then decide whether I feel okay actually using it.

tg99

Band7 said:

RG2015 said:

k_man said:

RG2015 said:

Am I correct in saying that the Zopa easy access account has the highest unrestricted interest rate at 2.86% AER / 2.82% gross?

I am excluding Aldermore, Shawbrook, Monmouth, Sainsbury's, Cynergy, Yorkshire BS and Chip as each has some sort of restriction along with the Virgin Money 3.00% ISA.

What is the restriction on Cynergy?

Okay, that's tenuous as I viewed the 1 year bonus as a restriction. In practice, this is really not a restriction.

2.90% at Cynergy is currently the leading unrestricted EA savings account. 

I have both, Cynergy and CHIP (alongside Kroo and many others). My preference is without doubt CHIP because of the true instant nature of deposits and withdrawals, and general ease of use. The drawback with the CHIP bonus is easy to overcome, and will be history in a couple of weeks, anyway. Cynergy can't match the CHIP functionality IMO. I appreciate that those who insist on online banking will disagree. Such is life.

Next Wednesday I will also shift some of my instant access funds from CHIP into Kroo, as I like to spread my risks. It's got a £10k daily withdrawal limit, though, so not quite as flexible as CHIP, where the limit is your balance. Again, Kroo is not an option for those who insist on online banking.

Isn’t the £10k limit per transaction rather than daily? Eg may be able to do £10k then straight away another £10k if had a balance of day £20k? Not sure if this would trigger their review process though.

Band7

#

SanguineOnSaturn said:

"In both, Cynergy and CHIP, your withdrawals can only go to your nominated account, and you can't just willy-nilly change the nominated account. With Kroo, however, you can send your money to any sort code and account number. SO I would consider CHIP and Cynergy considerably more safe than Kroo, despite the Kroo £10k limit."

Yes, I expect that's probably partly the reason they have the threshold (but not a limit it seems). I had a 10k withdrawal held up at chase for 'checks' some time back so maybe these checks are more common where transactions are not limited by nominated accounts.

All banks can, and do, randomly hold up outgoing payments. They don't do this because they are concerned about your money but to mitigate their risks of having to pay you back in the case of an APP scam. All banks also have limits for individual and/or daily Faster Payment transaction limits. Natwest/RBS are now defaulting it to £5k, though you can up it to £10k (?). Others have limits between £10k and £100k. There are different limits for other withdrawal methods (phone banking, debit cards, in-Branch banking, CHAPS etc). 

SanguineOnSaturn

andyhicks88 said:

I just applied for Kroo, the app kept freezing during application but I managed to do it and I got accepted within 10 minutes.  Trouble is, it doesn't seem like it's just the application process that is laggy, played around with the app a bit and it's laggy and slow in general for me and frozen up a couple of times and seems a bit buggy to me. I don't know if it's just my phone or that's anyone elses experience too.   At the moment I've deposited the £50 for the cashback but that's all I feel comfortable with right now, I'll maybe wait until the hype has died down a bit see if the app performs better and then decide whether I feel okay actually using it.

It does feel a bit laggy I agree. They mentioned high volume of applications on a facebook post so I'm also hoping it'll improve over time. I don't seem to be able to edit a contact (payee) once created, also it would be nice to see the current interest rate displayed somewhere.

Band7

SanguineOnSaturn said:

 Kroo............. also it would be nice to see the current interest rate displayed somewhere.

I agree, they should display the current interest rate in the app. They say in their T&Cs that they are doing so........obvs not true.

There's a bit of a longwinded way of seeing your interest rate, on your statement. Looks like you can generate a statement for the current month anytime you like.

flobbalobbalob

Band7 said:

All banks also have limits for individual and/or daily Faster Payment transaction limits. Natwest/RBS are now defaulting it to £5k, though you can up it to £10k (?). Others have limits between £10k and £100k.

Natwest daily limit is £20k and for week days only. £50k for premier customers