The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

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.

quirkydeptless

DireEmblem said:

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.

Yes, that's what I do, plus set a minimum balance of £3000 (max allowed) so no chance of that being in my spare bank account and thus no chance of auto-saving and paying a fee. 

I-LOV-MONEY

As the interest on savings accounts have gone through the floor, I have decided it not worth the time and effort to put money elsewhere.   I have therefore decided to put it all under the mattress.   That way I have easy access should I need it.

I had some time on my hands earlier today, and reorganised the cash so it is not spread all over the bed.   I therefore have some spare room under there.   Does anybody want to send me their cash, and I will gladly put it under my mattress?!

veryintrigued

I-LOV-MONEY said:

As the interest on savings accounts have gone through the floor, I have decided it not worth the time and effort to put money elsewhere.   I have therefore decided to put it all under the mattress.   That way I have easy access should I need it.

I had some time on my hands earlier today, and reorganised the cash so it is not spread all over the bed.   I therefore have some spare room under there.   Does anybody want to send me their cash, and I will gladly put it under my mattress?!

Anyone with a money saving attitude would know putting it under the bed makes no sense at all.

Under the current climate it should be stuffed into your quilt increasing its tog value and saving your energy bill.