The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

Consumerist

typistretired said:

That’s why I am taking out 1% Regular Savers would usually not bother 

I've always been a fan of Regular Savers for their flexibility and their generally better rates than standard variable-rate savers. The fixed-rate RS gives the rate certainty and, in my experience, there seems to be a reluctance to change the rates on the variables in favour of launching replacement accounts at lower rates.

I've got Regular Savers opened in the spring which are sill averaging 2.1% AER until next spring. I don't think they should be overlooked for short-term savings planning.

alexhassan

For the Chip+1 account if you put £5000 in the interest rate is ~0.84% or £42/year after the fee. If you put less the rate is worse and there may be better deals. Worth putting on the article?

Ian181676

The  Chip+1 account article should come with a warning about the app's reliability.  During initial setup I tried to connect to my bank account using it and got an error saying it had failed.  I tried again and got another error message saying I already had an account connected.  It clearly had worked first time because the test debit of £1.01 had been made when I checked my bank account.  The only way to get past the connect an account page was to turn my phone off and back on again, at which point the app decided I had a connected bank account.

Next, I tried to deposit some money in my Chip+1 account using the app.  This time I got an error saying "This is embarrassing. We've encountered an unforeseen error." followed by various ways of contacting them to sort it out.

I was also pretty unimpressed by the statement on the deposit page that it will take 3 working days for the money to be credited to my Chip+1 account.

wiseonesomeofthetime

alexhassan said:

For the Chip+1 account if you put £5000 in the interest rate is ~0.84% or £42/year after the fee. If you put less the rate is worse and there may be better deals. Worth putting on the article?

It is highlighted in this week's MSE Weekly Email

Not for me though.

DireEmblem

alexhassan said:

For the Chip+1 account if you put £5000 in the interest rate is ~0.84% or £42/year after the fee. If you put less the rate is worse and there may be better deals. Worth putting on the article?

Or if you put in 2k fee free, I think it works out as 1.15%

gobeye

You can avoid the fee by making sure that you never initiate an auto save and therefore never breach the £100 'free trial' . There are a few ways to do this but the easiest is to either use a donor current account with a 0 balance or set the minimum current balance to be so high that it is never collected.

It is a bit of a faff though, I had intended to move 5k across from premium bonds but missed the bit about only one fee free withdrawal a month which is a pain and did just have a double win on the bonds this month which made me think twice on whether it was worth it.

hgt

I also set up a Chip+1 account and agree it's quite a faff to do. Plus now (after depositing money in the account), they need more ID from me. I've also had various error messages during the process, so not very impressed so far. 

I was uncomfortable at giving Chip access to any of my bank accounts, but interestingly a 'Revolut' account is valid. I don't mind Chip having access to my Revolut account as I never use it unless I'm going abroad (which could be quite a while)!

DireEmblem

Have to admit chip is a faff.  I am an investor from early days 2017.  Their plan was to offer interest accounts to all, that are normally available to those with larger funds, but by grouping users. they could pool accounts to achieve the same returns.

Interest rates have bombed since then so things have changed.  On the plus side your funds are held in a a FSCS account, so you have that benefit.

Longer term, time will tell.  Do what is best for you.

typistretired

Thank goodness I have Cynergy until July  2021 don't like the look of this chip

DireEmblem

I do like peoples idea, use a spare 'bank account' to sign up to Chip, and switch on the AI to get access to deposit £5k.  Your first £100 of auto saves are free.  Effectively, if you keep your spare bank account at a nil balance, and switch off overdraft saves, then it will never save you £100, and you will never be charged.  Easy 1.15% on up to £5k in a FSCS account.

The only concern I think is the interest is paid at the end of every 12 week period, after you withdraw your balance.  Its certainly not a long term account, and your bonus 1.25% is variable.