The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

chugbug

I have just opened a new Post Office online account provided by the bank of Ireland because it pays 2.99 % interest on easy access. Unfortunately on the first day of use the Post office website lost two sets of my personal banking details. Their Help desk are not very helpful in trying to resolve the problem, possibly due to lack of training. In my opinion the website may have some security problems which they are unable to resolve at the moment. So I suggest caution if considering transferring any of your hard earned cash to the somewhat unprofessional Post Office Online saver. Bank of Ulster still pays around 2.5%

galba

Salar wrote: »

Just opened an eSaver Issue 2 account paying 2.75% for instant access. I could not find info on daily withdrawal limits so phoned them to ask. Apparently there are limits but they're not prepared to disclose them. When you try to withdraw funds you'll be told to phone their 'retention team' who will decide whether you can take money out. Doesn't sound like instant access to me. I shan't be putting anything into this account.

I believe ATM withdrawals are limited to £300/daily as with all Santander accounts.

Never had any problem transferring large amounts on-line to a linked current account and with a linked Santander group current account the cash has been instantly available.

Will any bank allow 'over the counter' withdrawals from an account that is supposed to be managed on-line or by telephone ?

MBD1

I recently opened an on-line Post Office savings account, however, as this is provided by one of the Irish banks, I'm now a little concerned about whether I should be using it due to what I've seen in the news about the Irish economy and the Irish banks possibly needing EU bail outs.

I know that £50k is covered by the UK insurance scheme but in the event of things going belly up I don't know how long that takes to pay out and the reason most of us use instant access is because we need it.

I'd be interested to know how others are feeling about investing here at the moment?

Thanks

Mr._H_2

MBD1 wrote: »

I recently opened an on-line Post Office savings account, however, as this is provided by one of the Irish banks, I'm now a little concerned about whether I should be using it due to what I've seen in the news about the Irish economy and the Irish banks possibly needing EU bail outs.

I know that £50k is covered by the UK insurance scheme but in the event of things going belly up I don't know how long that takes to pay out and the reason most of us use instant access is because we need it.

I'd be interested to know how others are feeling about investing here at the moment?

Thanks

When IceSave and others failed, it paid out within a few weeks. Extra time was involved with IceSave because strictly speaking, the FSCS didn't have an obligation to cover the money as IceSave had a passport exemption.

Since then, efforts have been made to put in place an even quicker mechanism. If an account that is officially covered by the FSCS fails, you should get your money back in a few days.

Note also that the covered amount is set to rise to £85,000 from 1st Jan 2011.

haze2807

MBD1 wrote: »

I recently opened an on-line Post Office savings account, however, as this is provided by one of the Irish banks, I'm now a little concerned about whether I should be using it due to what I've seen in the news about the Irish economy and the Irish banks possibly needing EU bail outs.

I know that £50k is covered by the UK insurance scheme but in the event of things going belly up I don't know how long that takes to pay out and the reason most of us use instant access is because we need it.

I'd be interested to know how others are feeling about investing here at the moment?

Thanks

I also opened an Online Saver and am in the process of opening an Online Bond. My next plan was to open a growth Bond for 2yrs at 3.65% but then I heard about the Irish problems so now I'm not so sure.

As Mr. H says, when IceSave went to the wall people did get their money back. We even had the option of leaving bonds to run for their alloted time to receive the full amount of interest,which I did.

Still, it seems a bit daft to go ahead with this bond when there is the possibilty of the Irish economy collapsing.

Baldur

haze2807 wrote: »

I also opened an Online Saver and am in the process of opening an Online Bond. My next plan was to open a growth Bond for 2yrs at 3.65% but then I heard about the Irish problems so now I'm not so sure.

As Mr. H says, when IceSave went to the wall people did get their money back. We even had the option of leaving bonds to run for their alloted time to receive the full amount of interest,which I did.

Still, it seems a bit daft to go ahead with this bond when there is the possibilty of the Irish economy collapsing.

With Britannia's 2 Year Fixed Rate Bond - Issue 61 offering 3.5%, is the extra 0.15% worth the possible hassle?

Stavros_Fatley

Hi,

Ive been saving up for a couple of years and now have £27k sat in a Barclays account which is only earning about £11 per month in interest after tax. Ive finally realised I need to pull my finger out and search around for an account where my money can earn more interest. The reason ive put up with this is convenience but nowadays I do most of my banking online anyway.

Ideally I want an account with easy access but willing to consider some sort of arrangement where a proportion is locked away at a higher rate but not accessible e.g a fixed term bond.

Ive seen the Post Office account advertised for 2.9% - is this the best option. I'd be greatful for your advice as Im not very good when it comes to money!

Stav

Baldur

Stavros_Fatley wrote: »

Ive seen the Post Office account advertised for 2.9% - is this the best option. I'd be greatful for your advice as Im not very good when it comes to money!

If you search these forums, you'll find many posts from people who are disgruntled with the opening procedures for the Post Office account, e.g. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2857872

Check out the main savings articles on the main site and the usual comparison sites, such as moneyfacts, moneysupermarket, etc., for current savings 'best buys'.

Mr._H_2

Stavros_Fatley wrote: »

Ive been saving up for a couple of years and now have £27k sat in a Barclays account which is only earning about £11 per month in interest after tax. Ive finally realised I need to pull my finger out and search around for an account where my money can earn more interest. The reason ive put up with this is convenience but nowadays I do most of my banking online anyway.

Ideally I want an account with easy access but willing to consider some sort of arrangement where a proportion is locked away at a higher rate but not accessible e.g a fixed term bond.

Hi Stavros,

I'm assuming you already have a maxed-out ISA for this year. If not, use the best-buy tables to find yourself the best one and fill it up.

In order to earn the highest amount possible whilst maintaining instant access, you need to jump through hoops, but you can earn an average of 4.2% instant access if you do this:

Get yourself 3 Lloyds Vantage accounts. With 7k in each that's 21k earning 4%. Open two Santander current accounts with 2.5k in each and that's another 5k earning 5%.

For the remaining 1k, this won't be instant access, but you can open a Lloyds regular saver, saving the maximum £250 a month and within four months you'll have the remaining 1k earning 5%.

Whilst the Lloyds Vantage and Santander accounts are current accounts, you do not need to switch to them in order to get the decent rates of interest. All you have to do is deposit £1000 a month into them; the key is to understand that this does not have to stay in the account for any appreciable amount of time. You can set up the accounts as above, then set up standing orders in the middle of the month that:

Transfers £1000 from Lloyds 1 to Lloyds 2
Transfers £1000 from Lloyds 2 to Lloyds 3
Transfers £1000 from Lloyds 2 to Santander 1
Transfers £1000 from Santander 1 to Santander 2
Transfers £1000 from Santander 2 to Lloyds 1

You'll lose a very small amount of interest in this process because Santander still don't do faster payments out, but transfers between Santander accounts does happen instantly. So, in the above scenario only the last payment wouldn't be instant and the Lloyds 1 account would have only £6000 in it for 3 to 4 days a month.

Is it worth the hassle*? That's for you to decide...

*FYI, the extra 1.3% interest over a year relative to just using a PO account would be £351. If it takes you 10 hours to get everything set up you've effectively earned £35 an hour.

mrschaucer

Wow, that's clever!