The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

ForumUser7

happybagger said:

A reminder to anyone joining this thread now, who lives in Wales, that listed as one of @soulsaver 's oddballs is Swansea BS with it's 'true' instant access account at 3.25% from Wednesday

From £1, instant access via cash in branch, cheque, online access and online withdrawals, unlimited number of deposits and withdrawals, no need for a mandatory app. The only restriction is: must be resident of Wales or existing customer.

Does anyone happen to know when Swansea BS last dropped their residency requirements please? Thanks!

*EDIT - I know it’s unlikely to happen again any time soon due to the high rates, but wondering whether it’s worth keeping an eye out or not

happybagger

I've never known them to drop them (and I've been in there for 20 years)

Snapdragon

ForumUser7 said:

happybagger said:

A reminder to anyone joining this thread now, who lives in Wales, that listed as one of @soulsaver 's oddballs is Swansea BS with it's 'true' instant access account at 3.25% from Wednesday

From £1, instant access via cash in branch, cheque, online access and online withdrawals, unlimited number of deposits and withdrawals, no need for a mandatory app. The only restriction is: must be resident of Wales or existing customer.

Does anyone happen to know when Swansea BS last dropped their residency requirements please? Thanks!

*EDIT - I know it’s unlikely to happen again any time soon due to the high rates, but wondering whether it’s worth keeping an eye out or not

Swansea BS Instant Access Saver - Their information page for the product seems to contradict itself. 
"Who is eligible for an Instant Access Savings account?"
>> To open an instant access savings account with Swansea Building Society, you’ll need to be a UK resident and aged 18 or over.
Followed by 

Summary Box - Key Product Information: To open an account, you must be resident in Wales.

It also appears to be quite restrictive in regards the daily amount that can be withdrawn. 

• The maximum cash withdrawal per customer per day is £1,000.

happybagger

Snapdragon said:

It also appears to be quite restrictive in regards the daily amount that can be withdrawn. 

• The maximum cash withdrawal per customer per day is £1,000.

Not really, that refers to cash. You can transfer as much as you want into your nominated account and withdraw it as you normally would in cash, subject to that account's limit.

And yes, you do need to be a UK resident. It's not contradictory. Wales is in the UK. You can not open one if you are a resident of RoI for example. Additionally they have geographical restrictions for *new* customers (they must be resident in Wales)

Bridlington1

Snapdragon said:

ForumUser7 said:

happybagger said:

A reminder to anyone joining this thread now, who lives in Wales, that listed as one of @soulsaver 's oddballs is Swansea BS with it's 'true' instant access account at 3.25% from Wednesday

From £1, instant access via cash in branch, cheque, online access and online withdrawals, unlimited number of deposits and withdrawals, no need for a mandatory app. The only restriction is: must be resident of Wales or existing customer.

Does anyone happen to know when Swansea BS last dropped their residency requirements please? Thanks!

*EDIT - I know it’s unlikely to happen again any time soon due to the high rates, but wondering whether it’s worth keeping an eye out or not

Swansea BS Instant Access Saver - Their information page for the product seems to contradict itself. 
"Who is eligible for an Instant Access Savings account?"
>> To open an instant access savings account with Swansea Building Society, you’ll need to be a UK resident and aged 18 or over.
Followed by 

Summary Box - Key Product Information: To open an account, you must be resident in Wales.

It also appears to be quite restrictive in regards the daily amount that can be withdrawn. 

• The maximum cash withdrawal per customer per day is £1,000.

On the website it says:
Our Savings products are only available to existing Members / Customers or new applicants resident in Wales.

I would interpret the terms to mean that to open this account you must be an existing member who lives anywhere in the UK. If you are not an existing member you must live in Wales to open the account.

Snapdragon

happybagger said:

Snapdragon said:

It also appears to be quite restrictive in regards the daily amount that can be withdrawn. 

• The maximum cash withdrawal per customer per day is £1,000.

Not really, that refers to cash. You can transfer as much as you want into your nominated account and withdraw it as you normally would in cash, subject to that account's limit.

And yes, you do need to be a UK resident. It's not contradictory. Wales is in the UK. You can not open one if you are a resident of RoI for example. Additionally they have geographical restrictions for *new* customers (they must be resident in Wales)

Thanks.  I was aware (having been born in Wales) that it's part of the UK Just wondered why they differentiated? Why state in one place UK resident and then in the other resident of Wales? I'm no longer in Wales, so not going to qualify.

ETA: Thanks Bridlington - missed that.

happybagger

All correct, if you have an account and leave the UK they do not automatically close it / repay your 'shares'

FishInGlass

happybagger said:

A reminder to anyone joining this thread now, who lives in Wales, that listed as one of @soulsaver 's oddballs is Swansea BS with it's 'true' instant access account at 3.25% from Wednesday

From £1, instant access via cash in branch, cheque, online access and online withdrawals, unlimited number of deposits and withdrawals, no need for a mandatory app. The only restriction is: must be resident of Wales or existing customer.

Just to say that as someone who lives in Wales and has already opened the account, online withdrawals are not instantaneous. They get processed the same day if the request is prior to 3pm on a working day otherwise they are activated on the next working day.

esksbanker

Richard1212 said:

cloud_dog 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 with Shawbrook? 

I'm not aware of any (2.92%).

If the interest goes below £1000 then the interest becomes 0.5%.

Richard has got it wrong.  

If the account balance goes below £1000 the interest rate reduces to 0.05% would be the correct term.  

Snapdragon

I'm trying to figure out, what are my best options, if I have a lump sum which I want to put into one or more instant access accounts, so that I can gradually draw it down monthly, yet earn the max possible in interest during the year. 

I imagine those who fund multiple regular savers may have calculations they use to guide them in how to combine the best paying accounts. Hopefully some of those savers are on this thread too 

A lot of the Top Easy Access (Ranked) actually only allow 2 or 3 withdrawals. I do have the Coventry Online 6 @ 3.25% (NLA) allowing 6 withdrawals per year, which is better than most of the current rates listed, so was thinking of using that. They have a similar account available Coventry Online 7 @ 2.85%, so presumably could use a combination of those 2 accounts for 12 withdrawals a year, putting 50% in one and 50% in the other and alternate which I withdraw from each month.
Or will I actually earn more interest if I just stick 100% in the 3.25% account and only withdraw every other month, an amount equivalent to what I need for both months? Not sure what the calculation would be, to work out which is the better method? Or whether there are better options available to achieve what I want? 

Would anyone be able to provide some assistance on how to calculate this please? 
Appreciate any thoughts, if there are better options.