The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

tg99

dekkard wrote: »

Sorry, I don't know.

It mentions setting up a standing order to fund it regularly if so desired but no reference to direct debits so guessing not albeit have not specifically asked them this.

soulsaver

dekkard wrote: »

Birmingham Midshires tell me the postage of user names for new account holders is being delayed. I'm still waiting for mine; now 26 days since I applied for the account.

In the meantime, applied for a Paragon account on Saturday. Up and running as of today.

"Has been delayed by a tech problem in the post room.." was what they said to me yesterday.. and promised to send out a duplicate.
As Murphy's would have it, mine & OH's arrived in yesterday's post, dated 7th Nov, a few hours after I called, .

andyt8

Seems Ulster Bank's e-savings (or esavings) account has been withdrawn to new savers. Luckily I opened one in October and paying 1.25%.

ricky101

Hi All,

Have not yet gone though all 169 pages of this thread, but wanted to see what opinion was regarding these challenger banks and if they offer a safe and efficient online service.

Places like Paragon, Aldermore, Charter Saving, Bank of Cypress all offer attractive rates, but seems some get poor customer feed back on the web.

Any thoughts or first hand experiences ?

ColdIron

Aldermore, Paragon and Investec - tip top service, FSCS protected, you only need to access them online once a year or less so I wouldn't worry about that though it's good as well

eskbanker

ColdIron wrote: »

Aldermore, Paragon and Investec - tip top service, FSCS protected, you only need to access them online once a year or less so I wouldn't worry about that though it's good as well

True for their fixed-term products but I suspect that most holders of easy access accounts (i.e. the context of this thread) would plan more regular access than that!

eskbanker

ricky101 wrote: »

Bank of Cypress

How many branches do they have?

puttee

I am thinking of putting some money into Charter Savings Bank easy access at 1.32%. I notice this was launched only recently and much higher than anything they had previously. While googling I also saw that CSB was about to have a 'stock market floatation'. Should I be worried about this? Does it mean they have hiked the rate up for a reason and it will be quickly cut because of the floatation? I'm really not up on these things so apologies for a possibly daft question.

dekkard

puttee wrote: »

I am thinking of putting some money into Charter Savings Bank easy access at 1.32%. I notice this was launched only recently and much higher than anything they had previously. While googling I also saw that CSB was about to have a 'stock market floatation'. Should I be worried about this? Does it mean they have hiked the rate up for a reason and it will be quickly cut because of the floatation? I'm really not up on these things so apologies for a possibly daft question.

It might be worth waiting until December 1st before you choose an account. Seems some banks are putting some account rates up then. There have also been several increases by various banks over the past week or so as well. Maybe wait until it all settles down and then go for the best-payer.

AirlieBird

puttee wrote: »

I am thinking of putting some money into Charter Savings Bank easy access at 1.32%. I notice this was launched only recently and much higher than anything they had previously. While googling I also saw that CSB was about to have a 'stock market floatation'. Should I be worried about this? Does it mean they have hiked the rate up for a reason and it will be quickly cut because of the floatation? I'm really not up on these things so apologies for a possibly daft question.

It's unlikely the interest rate will be quickly cut. Most of these challenger banks use retail deposits to fund their lending business. They tend to launch a new issue if they want to lower the interest rate.

dekkard wrote: »

It might be worth waiting until December 1st before you choose an account. Seems some banks are putting some account rates up then. There have also been several increases by various banks over the past week or so as well. Maybe wait until it all settles down and then go for the best-payer.

Why wait? It's an easy access account. Nothing to stop opening it now and moving the savings if something better comes along in December.