The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

GadgetGuru

Has anyone tried GateHouse Bank at all?
Been looking and their rates seem favorable, as are their TrustPilot reviews....

smiley2085

Yeah I've been with Gatehouse since March of this year. Had no issues so far. 

Bigwheels1111

GadgetGuru said:

Has anyone tried GateHouse Bank at all?
Been looking and their rates seem favorable, as are their TrustPilot reviews....

They have just paid out my first fixed rate payment today, Very good and prompt payment.

Baldeagle095

In a world of falling interest rates, how long does an Easy Access account maintain its interest rate before reducing it? Does the old rate apply if you want to add to your funds?
I presume new accounts would not get the old, higher rate.

ForumUser7

Baldeagle095 said:

In a world of falling interest rates, how long does an Easy Access account maintain its interest rate before reducing it? Does the old rate apply if you want to add to your funds?
I presume new accounts would not get the old, higher rate.

It depends on the organisation. Easy access rates are mainly variable, meaning they can be reduced at any time for new and existing applications/accounts subject to the advertised notice period and ts and cs.

If you want a fixed rate you can continue to add funds to, you should look at a regular saver instead. The terms for these all products are different, so you’d need to consult the terms beforehand.

RedImp_2

Baldeagle095 said:

In a world of falling interest rates, how long does an Easy Access account maintain its interest rate before reducing it? Does the old rate apply if you want to add to your funds?
I presume new accounts would not get the old, higher rate.

As was already said by their nature the rates can be changed but in the spirit of what you’ve asked until informed otherwise any subsequent deposits to accounts you have will be at the same interest rate as the existing savings.

allegro120

GadgetGuru said:

Has anyone tried GateHouse Bank at all?
Been looking and their rates seem favorable, as are their TrustPilot reviews....

Yes. I had a couple of fixed bonds with them many years ago and now have EA account. Never had any issues with Gatehouse.

cwep2

snowqueen555 said:

OllyStreet said:

I think the "easy access" section needs an overhaul, perhaps an additional section is required because currently not a single one of the options is easily accessible and the Natwest and Close Brothers accounts both pay crap interest up to 5K and 10k respectively. We need a section for accounts that have zero stipulations, like my Chip account that pays 4.84%

Chip need to increase their rate

Unlikely - it has always been explicit (if you dig a bit, but all from official statements on their website) that Chip put their money with Clearbank which in turn puts it with the Bank of England at the bank rate, which is currently 5.25%. Both they and Clearbank have costs and need to make some money from this enterprise, which worked when they could top the charts with BoE rate -0.4% but don't work now.

Now for much of 2023 - the best instant access savings rates were 0.5% or more below the BoE rate, which was shocking in itself (IMHO) but allowed Chip to use their low cost base and access (via Clearbank) to good deposit rates to offer 0.4-0.6% below the BoE rate and be top of the instant access charts and still cover costs for themselves and Clearbank and presumably make a little profit. But their entire instant access business model was really dependent on no other banks closing this gap. Other banks have different lending avenues, typically to customers at higher rates than the current BoE rate, and can therefore lend high and offer deposit rates lower, but much of this is at fixed rates for some period of time - think car loans and mortgages with 2-3yr fixed rates which then flip to maturity or a variable rate. As short term fixed rate loans were set when rates were overall lower that subsequently mature, people are now borrowing at higher rates which allows lenders to offer higher rates to depositors. 

Honestly the best Chip offered was BoE rate -0.4% which is now, you only have to go back to mid-May (I'm looking at old MSE weekly emails) to see top instant access rate on 16th May was Chip at 3.71%, this was a week after the Bank of England raised their bank rate to 4.5% (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/Bank-Rate.asp). Yes they had to close that gap (of 0.79%) to stay top and were successfully able to do so for much of the next few months but as soon as the top rates jumped to within 0.5% of the Bank Rate they fell behind as the margins weren't there. There were times this year (end of June) when the Newcastle BoE Tracker (Base rate -0.7%) became the top paying easy access account at 4.3%!

TL;DR Chip won't be raising their rates much more than BoE rate -0.4% and given there are trackers now out there (e.g. Skipton) for BoE rate -0.19%  would expect that sort of product to be higher than Chip for next 1year at least although Chip is better/faster access which some people value/need.

alienbearwater

Zopa_Trooper said:

As nobody has risen to the challenge of Metro Bank at the top of the table I think its fair to say the other institutions don't see them as a threat or a real competitor in the Easy Access market.

I've tried signing up for Metro's 5.22% account and the application process is really bad, it allows you to scan the passport but doesn't load the camera app to them take a selfie.

kennmurray

from the Ulster Bank Site - Interest is paid on a tiered basis which means you'll earn one rate on your entire account balance. If, for example, you hold £150,000 in your account your interest rate will be 5.20% AER/Gross p.a. (variable) on your entire account balance. Interest paid annually on the first business day in January.