The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

FindingBBob

Ford Money have cut their rate to 4.85 %  ??

wiseonesomeofthetime

FindingBBob said:

Ford Money have cut their rate to 4.85 %  ??

Still showing 4.84% gross monthly in my app, however, you are correct.

Website clearly shows a rate of 4.85% AER variable now

janusd

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

FindingBBob said:

Ford Money have cut their rate to 4.85 %  ??

Still showing 4.84% gross monthly in my app, however, you are correct.

Ford gives at least 30 days notice to decreases in rates (which I guess we'll get any day now) - so existing customers will continue to get the old rate until at least this time next month.

Zopa_Trooper

snnexus6 said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I was thinking that maybe now is the time to lock in those rates?

We peaked a while ago, as well as analysing the easy access rates, I've been keeping an eye of the fixed rates and have taken advantage of some of them over the last few months....

For the various fixed saving rates on offer:

5 year savings peaked in July at 6%, was 5.8% for months but has just plummeted below 5%!
3 year savings peaked a bit later in July at 6.06% now 5.2%
2 year savings peaked July 6.2% - now 5.5%
1 year savings peaked October 6.2% - now 5.8% (Metro...)
6 mth savings peaked November 5.7% - now 5.49%

Thanks for that.

So the only thing still at its highest rate is the easy access, I can't recall anybody above the current 5.22% offer by Metro Bank, which seems to have held top spot for ages.

PloughmansLunch

Zopa_Trooper said:

snnexus6 said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I was thinking that maybe now is the time to lock in those rates?

We peaked a while ago, as well as analysing the easy access rates, I've been keeping an eye of the fixed rates and have taken advantage of some of them over the last few months....

For the various fixed saving rates on offer:

5 year savings peaked in July at 6%, was 5.8% for months but has just plummeted below 5%!
3 year savings peaked a bit later in July at 6.06% now 5.2%
2 year savings peaked July 6.2% - now 5.5%
1 year savings peaked October 6.2% - now 5.8% (Metro...)
6 mth savings peaked November 5.7% - now 5.49%

Thanks for that.

So the only thing still at its highest rate is the easy access, I can't recall anybody above the current 5.22% offer by Metro Bank, which seems to have held top spot for ages.

Gatehouse EA was a whisker above at 5.23%

janusd

Tawny_Owl_2 said:

Ulster Bank are a pain in the butt. Like NatWest, they use a third party called HooYu to verify your identity. I dislike HooYu because you have to upload a selfie of yourself if applying online - which I find intrusive & intimidating.

for me, it was a quick 5 minutes to verify - already had a scan of my passport on my desktop and verifying selfie on the phone was easy and painless... 2 days later, I had full online access and can make instant deposits and withdrawals... the UB application process is cumbersome (it took a week from application to access), but once at the HooYu stage, it was straightforward and things progressed quickly... though if you don't use HooYu, I could well imagine the application to have been long-winded.

Tawny_Owl_2 said:

My advice : Don't bother with Ulster/NatWest. Shop around for the next best deal. Cynergy Bank are quite good, as are Marcus by Goldman Sachs & Shawbrook Bank. Also consider Building Societies like Coventry, they're very approachable and their customer service is excellent.

in my opinion, if you are prepared for the application process to take a week and are happy to go through their trivial HooYu hoops, then Ulster is well worth the effort - i've certainly got no regrets in opening it. 

i've got accounts with the others you mention, but Cynergy often have login issues; Marcus' rate is 0.45% below Ulster and Coventry have withdrawn all their limited withdrawal EA accounts and their highest EA rate is now 3.40% 

BlackthornU

PloughmansLunch said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

snnexus6 said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I was thinking that maybe now is the time to lock in those rates?

We peaked a while ago, as well as analysing the easy access rates, I've been keeping an eye of the fixed rates and have taken advantage of some of them over the last few months....

For the various fixed saving rates on offer:

5 year savings peaked in July at 6%, was 5.8% for months but has just plummeted below 5%!
3 year savings peaked a bit later in July at 6.06% now 5.2%
2 year savings peaked July 6.2% - now 5.5%
1 year savings peaked October 6.2% - now 5.8% (Metro...)
6 mth savings peaked November 5.7% - now 5.49%

Thanks for that.

So the only thing still at its highest rate is the easy access, I can't recall anybody above the current 5.22% offer by Metro Bank, which seems to have held top spot for ages.

Gatehouse EA was a whisker above at 5.23%

In October Chorley Building Society has their 1 withdrawal accounts at 5.3% (NLA) and Paragon had their Double Access account available at 5.25% (NLA)

refluxer

Zopa_Trooper said:

So the only thing still at its highest rate is the easy access, I can't recall anybody above the current 5.22% offer by Metro Bank, which seems to have held top spot for ages.

Paragon's Double Access (Issue 3) has been paying 5.25% since the end of October (as mentioned above) and the Hanley Eco BS Branch Saver (released in June, NLA) matches the base rate and has been at 5.25% since 1st September.

While the Hanley account is technically easy access, it's a branch/post-based passbook account (with online access limited to checking the balance only) and only allows 1 penalty-free withdrawal a month, so it was a good option for locals who wanted the best rate without regular access, but pretty niche and unsuitable for the majority.

kjs31

PloughmansLunch said:

I think Ulster Loyalty Saver is generally absolutely fine once it’s up and running. 

I’m not sure that I’m finding it fine TBH. There have been way too many letters and now I’ve received a card reader. Never having been a Nat West customer before I’ve managed to avoid having one of those. 

Also my maximum withdrawal limit seems to be stuck at 5k for all channels. It says that I need to register for biometric approval to increase the limit but I’m stuck at task 1 of 2 as it won’t allow me to complete the second task saying that I haven’t been an app user on this device for long enough. What’s long enough? A few weeks? A month? Seems crazy. I’m not desperate to withdraw the money now but I would like to be in a position where I can get hold of my money in chunks of more than 5k. 

Zopa_Trooper

See, double access, for me, isn't easy access. You can put money in and out of Metro when you like, as many times as you like, so for me the extra 0.03% is irrelevant and certainly not worth the inconvenience. But that's me.