The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

jaspal

Steve_xx wrote: »

The Tesco account is useful because some current accounts required you to have two DD's set up on them. for example when LLoyds were offering 4% for a year it was a condition that two DD's were set up on the account and the Tesco account was ideal for this purpose.

Santander 123 account requires two DD's on it and so the Tesco account is useful here as you can set it up to pull a nominal sum from the Santander account each month.

thanks Steve, thats exactly what im looking to do with the tesco account. Would you agree with my approach or do you have any other suggestions ?

Also, I have no idea about spacing them re the credit checks - does anyone else know ?

chickenboy

Beware the BoS accounts - according to my credit file, they did a million checks on me for each account i opened, then i found I had problems after that! Even though they are same group as Halifax and Lloyds, they seem to be behaving differently in this respect. I'd concentrate on getting your Santander, Lloyds and Nationwide acs in first.

Archi_Bald

chickenboy wrote: »

Beware the BoS accounts - according to my credit file, they did a million checks on me for each account i opened

Seems a vast exxageration, and most certainly not what happened when I applied for my 3 BoS Vantage accounts. It was was one check per application for me.

If they did several credit checks for you, they should be able to explain to you why - - and they should have asked you for your permission on every single one. Have you raised a formal complaint with them?

tasty_snacks

I've not read through the whole thread (!), so unsure whether this has been raised before, but is it possible to highlight in the main article whether banks operate a faster payment or direct debit system?

I move my liquidity around on a weekly basis - whether the account offers instant transfers is, to my mind, at least as important as the headline AER.

Does the 1.75% ICICI utilise faster payments, for example?

Archi_Bald

ICICI have been found notoriously slow. If you choose an [instant access] online savings accounts somewhere where you can also have a current account, you can have FPs. Otherwise you are taking pot luck.

Best perhaps if you figure out which account you would ideally like to have, and then check on the provider's website (or ask them) how quickly you can shift your money.

Having said all this, even with fully loaded (i.e £85K pp) accounts in the same financial organisation, 2 or 3 days of interest will hardly be missed on current interest rates.

tasty_snacks

Cheers AB. I don't think I'll go with ICICI based on the feedback from many.

The speed of transfer is an issue for two reasons - the fact that I'm not getting interest on the money for a 2-3 day period as you've highlighted, and because I need instant access. Over the course of time it takes a BACS payment to go through, I may have transferred from my current account to a savings account and back again. Absolutely fluidity is crucial to me as the money going into my current account is lumpy.

I'm a >5 year Nationwide customer, so on that basis, I'll probably go for their 'loyalty' instant access at 1.5%.

I expect rates to clip upwards from the New Year, so I guess it's only temporary anyway.

Archi_Bald

tasty_snacks wrote: »

I'm a >5 year Nationwide customer, so on that basis, I'll probably go for their 'loyalty' instant access at 1.5%.

Hmh. You haven't said how much money is involved, but I can't say I can follow your logic when there are several 3% AER instant access/FP alternatives around, and even a 5% Nationwide one, that together cater for at least £72,500 (and a bit more if you are adventurous / creative) .

JP_Esq

Tasty,

Not much improvement on your Nationwide idea but I have an E-Saver with Virgin Money (1.55% AER) that's fast accepting and sending payments to/from my current account. At least when sending them before 3pm (approx.)

Archi,

Where are these 3% AER accounts?

badger09

JP_Esq wrote: »

Tasty,

Where are these 3% AER accounts?

Santander 123 (max 2 accounts, 3% up to £20k per account) has monthly charge
BoS Vantage (max 3 accounts, 3% up to £5k per account)
LTSB Vantage - as above

All have monthly funding requirement & Santander needs 2 DDs

Have a read around the forum for more on these accounta

JP_Esq

badger09 wrote: »

Santander 123 (max 2 accounts, 3% up to £20k per account) has monthly charge
BoS Vantage (max 3 accounts, 3% up to £5k per account)
LTSB Vantage - as above

All have monthly funding requirement & Santander needs 2 DDs

Have a read around the forum for more on these accounta

Ah, already looked into these (as they're current accounts, Id actually forgotten that Id looked into them when posting.)

Those conditions are either ones I cant meet or don't want to meet, holding fire on changing current account until September at the earliest so not worth the fees etc for the time being.

Just making sure I hadn't missed anything obvious though, thanks for the reply.