The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

Bigwheels1111

worriednoob said:

Thanks @housebuyer143 and @kaMelo for alerting me to this.  Yes, your absolutely right that she shouldn't be getting Carers Allowance.  I have made them aware of this and she plans to contact the benefits office immediately.  Although it's unintentional as she may not have been aware of it, I explained that she will most likely need to pay the CA back, which she's happy to do so.

The main thing I have learnt is that due to the husband's small amount of earnings, his pip isn't affected and he is save to earn upto around £6k in interest, hence he can continue to build a lot of savings before being taxed.  I've also learnt that his wife has a seperate, albeit smaller allowance of around £1k interest before being taxed.  If I've got any of this wrong, I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could correct me.

Thanks again for all your help.

He can get £12,570 in interest tax free.
With earnings that’s a total of £18,570. No tax payable.

jaypers

Anyone know why Atom are so poor with their Easy Access still only being 3.2%? Not looking after their customers here, unlike Investec who went to 3.51% and then to 3.82% pretty quickly. 

intalex

jaypers said:

Anyone know why Atom are so poor with their Easy Access still only being 3.2%? Not looking after their customers here, unlike Investec who went to 3.51% and then to 3.82% pretty quickly. 

My guess is they tried to prioritise fixed rate funds and gain an early mover's advantage with a 5.10% rate (but Tandem very quickly blew them out of the water on that too)

allegro120

Zaul22 said:

Investec out of the left field there, bet Mr Chip didn't see that one coming. While it's the same rate, I wonder if he might go up a bit just because they are a more well known alternative for the people who don't like Chip. 

I suspect most people who don't like Chip are already not using it.  I've had no issues with Chip so I won't bother opening new IA accounts that offer the same rate. But the offers from Investec and HTB might push other providers to raise their rates and if any no strings attached IAs go above 3.82% Chip will probably best it.  We'll see what happens but I won't be surprised if we'll see IA rates moving more closer to 4% soon.

dgpur

allegro120 said:

Zaul22 said:

Investec out of the left field there, bet Mr Chip didn't see that one coming. While it's the same rate, I wonder if he might go up a bit just because they are a more well known alternative for the people who don't like Chip. 

I suspect most people who don't like Chip are already not using it.  I've had no issues with Chip so I won't bother opening new IA accounts that offer the same rate. But the offers from Investec and HTB might push other providers to raise their rates and if any no strings attached IAs go above 3.82% Chip will probably best it.  We'll see what happens but I won't be surprised if we'll see IA rates moving more closer to 4% soon.

Investecl make you jump the unnecessary ID documents hurdle. Don’t have, so can’t open. But I doubt others (especially Chip) are going to ignore it.

happybagger

Investec require a smartphone so that was out for me. HTB suits me nicely. Also opened the Hanley account as I can manage my cash well enough to make do with the withdrawal restrictions

ircE

Maybe @soulsaver intentionally excluded these from the ToTP thread, but in case it helps some people, these accounts are also offering top rates:

Hanley Economic BS' Branch Saver @ 4.50% (note the faff)

West Bromwich BS' Double Access Account @ 3.85%

My Community Finance's Easy Access Account @ 3.83% (min £20k)

Eirambler

Investec is looking good for me, not a company I have used before but at 3.82% my first deposit has gone in seamlessly and I'm up and running - ID checks seemed unnecessary but only took five minutes.

10_66

Re Hampshire Easy Access.  I see that they say payments into their account are credited the day they receive funds, if sent before 1pm, but does anyone have any experience of when withdrawals are received into nominated account, please?

Zaul22

happybagger said:

Investec require a smartphone so that was out for me. HTB suits me nicely. Also opened the Hanley account as I can manage my cash well enough to make do with the withdrawal restrictions

The app store page for the Investec app says the opposite. The app is for the private banking but savings accounts can't be accessed through the app and are browser only. 

... oh I see it's to take a picture of your ID. Yeh that's really stupid to require a phone for an account that doesn't even have an app.