The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

1spiral

BigBlueSky said:

First Direct's fraud team are definitely one of the worst I've experienced.  I believe it is one and the same team as HSBC Fraud team.

I recently moved to FD after NW introduced their new limits (25K for new payees). I originally opted for Starling (1million limit)  but the first 5 figure sum I tried to transfer was held up by the fraud team. That wasn't my issue though, it was the fact that it took them 5 hours to get round to contacting me that I didn't like.

With FD I have a joint account so between myself and my partner, we can send 99999.98 online so plenty good enough for moving 85K from A to B. I have been contacted by the fraud dept. around 10 times since the start. All contact has been within the hour which I see as acceptable. Sometimes they call me, sometimes I receive a text to call them.

A few things I do find odd is that if we make 2 payment, say 49K and 36K to make an 85K transfer, they block the first for fraud checks but allow the second to go through no problem despite the first one still under investigation. Equally in some instances I make the transfer across 2 days and despite accepting everything I say on day 1 and releasing the funds, they block it again on day 2. It seems the process for blocking payments does not have any intelligence to it. They also seem to ignore the fact that if confirmation of payee sees my name as an exact match, that they don't really need to be checking if I have been forced to make this payment and if I still wish it to go ahead.

That said, to date I have been quite happy with how it's panning out but with NW in over 10 years of unlimited daily transfer limits, I never received 1 call from their fraud dept.

liamcov

SirHugo said:

BestSeagull said:

SirHugo said:

BestSeagull said:

janusdesign said:

castle96 said:

Just to confirm - no£3 fee ... TRUE?if I dont bother with cashback, etc. Just want to bung £4k in there

just chatted with Santander...

14:00, Aug 17 - Sarah: The fee is applied after the conditions of the account are met for the first time.
14:01, Aug 17 - You: so if I never use the current account, there is no fee? also, is there a hard credit check done on an application for the current account ??
14:01, Aug 17 - Sarah: That's correct There is, yes

i'm not sure that I can be bothered to apply for a current account that i'm never going to use, just to access a savings account that lasts for a year for £280 in interest - i'll likely wait until there is a switch offer and then use one of my other unused current accounts for that.

I don't think I'm going to bother with this one either, too many hoops.
 And when you think about it, we're not  missing out on £280. Just on the 2% difference between Tandem at 5% and Santander at 7% so that's what, £80. Less if rates continue to rise.

No hoops - less than 10 mins to open the account, opening the Edge saver was immediate, put the 4k in and that's that.

Probably won't use the account but good to have an extra fee free card for abroad. At the end of the day it's a nice little burner account for when the next switch offer comes around that I'm eligible for. I just switched my Santander Everyday account last month.

What about the £3 fee though, and this from MSE? 

"To get it, you need a Santander Edge current account – a bills cashback account with a £3 monthly fee. And to keep the current account you must deposit at least £500 a month and have two or more active direct debits."

If you have a look through the last several pages of this thread you'll see that you don't have to fulfil the criteria you mentioned - it's only needed to activate the cashback element of the account. If you don't set up two direct debits - or pay in the £500 a month - then the £3 fee never kicks in.

The comments about this started around the morning of the 15th August.

Does this work as I also have a San Lite? Can you have both current accounts at the same time?

flaneurs_lobster

When in the month do Santander usually levy their account fee? Be good to get through a whole billing period to prove  the "No DD, No £500, No fee" hypothesis.

Bridlington1

flaneurs_lobster said:

When in the month do Santander usually levy their account fee? Be good to get through a whole billing period to prove  the "No DD, No £500, No fee" hypothesis.

From the terms:

grumbler

liamcov said:

SirHugo said:

BestSeagull said:

SirHugo said:

BestSeagull said:

janusdesign said:

castle96 said:

Just to confirm - no£3 fee ... TRUE?if I dont bother with cashback, etc. Just want to bung £4k in there

just chatted with Santander...

14:00, Aug 17 - Sarah: The fee is applied after the conditions of the account are met for the first time.
14:01, Aug 17 - You: so if I never use the current account, there is no fee? also, is there a hard credit check done on an application for the current account ??
14:01, Aug 17 - Sarah: That's correct There is, yes

i'm not sure that I can be bothered to apply for a current account that i'm never going to use, just to access a savings account that lasts for a year for £280 in interest - i'll likely wait until there is a switch offer and then use one of my other unused current accounts for that.

I don't think I'm going to bother with this one either, too many hoops.
 And when you think about it, we're not  missing out on £280. Just on the 2% difference between Tandem at 5% and Santander at 7% so that's what, £80. Less if rates continue to rise.

No hoops - less than 10 mins to open the account, opening the Edge saver was immediate, put the 4k in and that's that.

Probably won't use the account but good to have an extra fee free card for abroad. At the end of the day it's a nice little burner account for when the next switch offer comes around that I'm eligible for. I just switched my Santander Everyday account last month.

What about the £3 fee though, and this from MSE? 

"To get it, you need a Santander Edge current account – a bills cashback account with a £3 monthly fee. And to keep the current account you must deposit at least £500 a month and have two or more active direct debits."

If you have a look through the last several pages of this thread you'll see that you don't have to fulfil the criteria you mentioned - it's only needed to activate the cashback element of the account. If you don't set up two direct debits - or pay in the £500 a month - then the £3 fee never kicks in.

The comments about this started around the morning of the 15th August.

Does this work as I also have a San Lite? Can you have both current accounts at the same time?

I have both - joint Edge and sole Lite.

PixelPound

oz0707 said:

slea11 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Anyone having trouble logging into cynergy.😎

Yes. I had a text message telling me I had a new secure message to read, but can't currently access the online banking to log in and read it.

I've just logged in to read it and was
"It's important to review your savings regularly. Could another account work better for you? Visit the Cynergy Bank website for details of our full range of savings accounts."
I thought it might be something important, basically spam. Do they have any new account out easy access i've already got the 4.8%

I guess everyone got the spam and tried ti check the important message and their computer systems were overwhelmed.

allegro120

BlackthornU said:

TiVo_Lad said:

This is a useful ready-reckoner

https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/payment-systems/faster-payment-system/transaction-limits/

Thanks. Looks like FD are one of the better/higher limit ones - although their fraud team hopefully isn't one of the best as the others would be dreadful if they were.
Current UK personal banking is just not set up for people to frequently swap around their savings accounts.

I use FD as a nominated for all savings account that need nominated bank account.  It has been a while since I had payments blocked and calls from fraud departments from a number of banks. I have to say that "fraud experts" from TSB and FD asked me the identical silly questions and both didn't have a clue about products the banks they are representing are offering.  I wonder if the "fraud thing" is outsourced... The only calls to unblock payments that were short and professional were from Al Rayan. 

Kazza242

The Principality BS Online Double Access (Issue 2) account interest rate is increasing from 4.45% to 4.75%

Source: Moneyfacts

Edit: I logged into Principality online banking to check and the new interest rate has been applied.

Further account details, here.  

oz0707

Is the coventry 4 access saver at 4.8%? The one which went NLA? I can't find current interest rates without logging in

grumbler

oz0707 said:

Is the coventry 4 access saver at 4.8%? The one which went NLA? I can't find current interest rates without logging in

It is.