The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

PeskyBlunder

Silverbullet036 said:

Chatbot is a no go for me with Santander , nothing happens when I click the link. Oh well it can sit there with nothing in and when the interest drops I will move that out straight away so no more will be built up

Do you have an ad blocker or similar? I had the pihole blocker active but when I disabled it the link became active (after doing a page refresh). Hope this helps.

PixelPound

Stargunner said:

Richchad said:

I opened the Easy Access account yesterday, opted for monthly interest but now having second thoughts on the 5.08% AER, I have asked Santander to confirm if interest is compounded but no reply yet...

I did get caught out a few years ago with Ford Money as they didn't compound interest on the monthly option, although they did actually state that, not sure if latest accounts are like that.

The interest is calculated daily and paid montjly, so surely it will be based on whatever balance is in your account each day. 

Yes, but I guess you don't get interest on the interest until it's added to the balance? Though in reality its going to be negligible, talking pence. probably more lost due to rounding error if they calculate to an interest rate of fixed decimal places

refluxer

nic_c said:

Stargunner said:

Richchad said:

I opened the Easy Access account yesterday, opted for monthly interest but now having second thoughts on the 5.08% AER, I have asked Santander to confirm if interest is compounded but no reply yet...

I did get caught out a few years ago with Ford Money as they didn't compound interest on the monthly option, although they did actually state that, not sure if latest accounts are like that.

The interest is calculated daily and paid montjly, so surely it will be based on whatever balance is in your account each day. 

Yes, but I guess you don't get interest on the interest until it's added to the balance? Though in reality its going to be negligible, talking pence. probably more lost due to rounding error if they calculate to an interest rate of fixed decimal places

Yes, it's 5.08% gross being added (and therefore compounding) monthly that gives 5.20% AER but even if it was to be added / compounded daily (which savings accounts obviously don't tend to be), it would only make 0.01% difference (so negligible, as you say), resulting in 5.21% AER.

There's an AER calculator here if anyone wants to play with some figures... https://www.candidmoney.com/calculators/annual-equivalent-interest-aer-calculator

Section62

2010 said:

pearl123 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Anyone putting more than 85k in santander😛.

Why would anyone put more than 85K? That amount is not covered. 

Remember the Iceland banks?

A lot of folk including local councils thought all their money was safe no matter what amount they had in.

If the gov. hadn`t stepped in they would have lost the lot.

Imagine Sunak and *unt saving your bacon now.

Off-topic, but for accuracy...

Local Authorities of the type that deposited cash with Icelandic banks were not eligible for FSCS cover, so knew the risk they were taking and would have had a similar issue wherever they deposited money.

The FSCS limit at the time was £31,700 (later £35,000), so even if they had been eligible, the local authorities needing to deposit 7-figure sums couldn't have made practical use of the scheme.

The (UK) government didn't 'step in'.  The local authorities grouped together with the Local Government Association and negotiated directly with the administrators to recover the money.

The (UK) government had however set the framework that councils had to follow in formulating treasury policies which led them to seek places (such as the Icelandic banks) to deposit their cash.

mebu60

Silverbullet036 said:

Chatbot is a no go for me with Santander , nothing happens when I click the link. Oh well it can sit there with nothing in and when the interest drops I will move that out straight away so no more will be built up

'Sandi' appears in a pop-up window. Are you using a blocker of some sort? Could also be worth checking your taskbar. 

subjecttocontract

pearl123 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Anyone putting more than 85k in santander😛.

Why would anyone put more than 85K? That amount is not covered. 

1. If it's a joint account.......the limit is doubled to £170k or
2. If they are happy to accept the risk of going over the FSCS limit.....we are all different.

2010

Section62 said:

2010 said:

pearl123 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Anyone putting more than 85k in santander😛.

Why would anyone put more than 85K? That amount is not covered. 

Remember the Iceland banks?

A lot of folk including local councils thought all their money was safe no matter what amount they had in.

If the gov. hadn`t stepped in they would have lost the lot.

Imagine Sunak and *unt saving your bacon now.

Off-topic, but for accuracy...

Local Authorities of the type that deposited cash with Icelandic banks were not eligible for FSCS cover, so knew the risk they were taking and would have had a similar issue wherever they deposited money.

The FSCS limit at the time was £31,700 (later £35,000), so even if they had been eligible, the local authorities needing to deposit 7-figure sums couldn't have made practical use of the scheme.

The (UK) government didn't 'step in'.  The local authorities grouped together with the Local Government Association and negotiated directly with the administrators to recover the money.

The (UK) government had however set the framework that councils had to follow in formulating treasury policies which led them to seek places (such as the Icelandic banks) to deposit their cash.

Regarding the gov. stepping in, I was thinking more of private savers.
Maybe the local authorities could/should have done what we are doing now as savers, spreading the risk by not putting all our eggs -----------------

A brief account of the aftermath of the Icelandic collapse.
Speaking in the Commons on the continuing financial crisis, Darling told MPs the government was working closely with Icelandic financial authorities to help push through claims by UK charities and local councils to recover their money kept in Icelandic banks.

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/oct/13/banking-europe

kjs31

Should have thought this one through before opening it .....

There is no option for moving the 5.2% Santander easy access account from monthly interest to annual. I now would prefer annual interest (for tax reasons - interest is paid on account opening anniversary). The chat function says that I can close the account (takes 2 working days) and open an new one but they can't open a new one for me. Any risk with that? I know the risk is that the product it withdrawn but will it prevent me from opening another 5.2% account? It does say only 1 account per customer though so not sure if the closed one will count as 'the 1'. 

mebu60

If you close the monthly account today there's a good chance it'll be gone by the morning. 

georged123

pearl123 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Anyone putting more than 85k in santander😛.

Why would anyone put more than 85K? That amount is not covered. 

What's the chances of a big bank like Santander going bust in the next year or so? Very, very small but not impossible.

There's a risk to everything, you spread your money across different accounts staying under 85k in each but limiting your returns.

People have to weigh up what's right for them.