The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

2010

Opened a Paragon triple 3.1% all done within 10 minutes.

FindingBBob

Zaul22 said:

Zopas blog says they raised £75m so they might not need need any more and be content with lower rates now. 

That £75m has absolutely no bearing on their deposit requirements. They will be content with their rates based on their lending business and margins that they are getting and how much loan business they are writing. Capital raising to fund their growth is a totally different requirement. 

patpalloon

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

FindingBBob

patpalloon said:

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

I have been on Chip for while  - I like it. Really easy to use open banking, I like the sweeping function as well. I dont keep all my money there, just use it as slush for day to day savings. Easy to access. 

Hattie627

patpalloon said:

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

Chip is fine, definitely a no brainer. It is listed as one of the current top instant access accounts on the MSE Best Savings Accounts page. Unlike some of the accounts listed there, it is genuinely unlimited withdrawals, no plummet in the interest rate once 3 withdrawals are reached.

For reasons which are unclear, it is not listed on the "no chat" easy access top accounts thread, although mentioned. 

cwep2

FindingBBob said:

patpalloon said:

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

I have been on Chip for while  - I like it. Really easy to use open banking, I like the sweeping function as well. I dont keep all my money there, just use it as slush for day to day savings. Easy to access. 

If you want it to be like a ‘normal’ savings account you’ll need to switch off the auto-sweep. Buried in the options. You can also set a minimum balance for your current account sufficiently high that it won’t do anything. 

Some people will like this (horses for courses and all that) but for me it sent me a message it was going to take £xxx from my current account in a few hours, an amount that would have taken me overdrawn. I really didn’t like that so turned all that stuff off. They will also charge you 25p for some of these auto save transactions which I found a bit cheeky. 

Once this was done I have had no problems. Can withdraw whole balance, no limits. Seems quick enough. 

10_66

patpalloon said:

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

I was looking at Chip today, but was put off by the mention of money possibly taking 3 working days to reach ClearBank, the following** is from their T&C's.  I see it says this can depend on how money is deposited.  I think I must be missing the point though, as it's clearly very popular with others.  

** "It can take up to three working days for the money to get to ClearBank depending on how you deposit via the Chip app. You’ll only earn interest on your money once ClearBank has received it. Interest is not calculated on ‘processing’ or ‘pending’ deposits and will only be calculated once the funds show as ‘confirmed’ to be with ClearBank..."

Hattie627

10_66 said:

patpalloon said:

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

I was looking at Chip today, but was put off by the mention of money possibly taking 3 working days to reach ClearBank, the following** is from their T&C's.  I see it says this can depend on how money is deposited.  I think I must be missing the point though, as it's clearly very popular with others.  

** "It can take up to three working days for the money to get to ClearBank depending on how you deposit via the Chip app. You’ll only earn interest on your money once ClearBank has received it. Interest is not calculated on ‘processing’ or ‘pending’ deposits and will only be calculated once the funds show as ‘confirmed’ to be with ClearBank..."

The 3 working days applies if you deposit using a debit card. May be useful for some people to use debit card (eg making small deposits to clock up debit card transactions for current account cashback available on the likes of TSB Spend and Save). You can also deposit by bank transfer which is more or less instant.

piker57

10_66 said:

patpalloon said:

Next on my hitlist is Santander.
What is Chip like? I know there were some issues with the bonus/interest but afaik these issues are gone.
3.05% monthly interest unlimited withdrawals - looks like a no brainer?

I was looking at Chip today, but was put off by the mention of money possibly taking 3 working days to reach ClearBank, the following** is from their T&C's.  I see it says this can depend on how money is deposited.  I think I must be missing the point though, as it's clearly very popular with others.  

** "It can take up to three working days for the money to get to ClearBank depending on how you deposit via the Chip app. You’ll only earn interest on your money once ClearBank has received it. Interest is not calculated on ‘processing’ or ‘pending’ deposits and will only be calculated once the funds show as ‘confirmed’ to be with ClearBank..."

I opened an account with Chip yesterday and used open banking to make a deposit. It credited within a couple of hours.  I think the 3 days would apply for a debit card payment which is normal.  I also clicked through TopCashback so hope to get the equivalent of the friend referral payment.

I missed the autosave function and was surprised to receive text messages this morning to say that a number of auto deposits were going to be made today, unless I cancelled them before 3PM.  With Google being my friend I found the button to turn off the autosave and cancelled the deposits, all of which were going to go into the Prize Draw account, with the added annoyance of a 43p charge for each deposit.

I've now just received an email telling me that for 1 week only the friend referral is increased to £25.

10_66

Thank you both, Hattie627 and piker57.  That makes sense.