The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

soulsaver

refluxer said:

castle96 said:

what a fool I am. Sorry. Yes it is Gatehouse I have opened. 1.3 is ? OK for easy access, and on a PC as well.. (dont do apps)

Yes, it's a decent rate if Chase isn't an option - just bear in mind that it's a Shariah bank so that rate is an 'expected profit rate' and not guaranteed.

It is as guaranteed as any variable rate account, they give notice if they need to vary it.

eskbanker

soulsaver said:

refluxer said:

castle96 said:

what a fool I am. Sorry. Yes it is Gatehouse I have opened. 1.3 is ? OK for easy access, and on a PC as well.. (dont do apps)

Yes, it's a decent rate if Chase isn't an option - just bear in mind that it's a Shariah bank so that rate is an 'expected profit rate' and not guaranteed.

It is as guaranteed as any variable rate account, they give notice if they need to vary it.

It's not quite the same thing - a normal savings provider commits to paying a specified interest rate unless they make a conscious decision to change that rate (if variable), whereas Sharia accounts indicate what they think they'll pay but aren't actual committing to it.

A subtle difference, admittedly....

Section62

Natwest Savings Builder - almost a regular saver but not quite, has now lost the bonus requirement to pay in at least £50 per month.

From 3rd May the account pays a flat 0.3% on balances from £1 to £10,000 and 0.1% on any amount over £10,000.

Not a top easy access account, but posted here because many of us will have had the account from the good old days, and this change makes it look like we won't be going back to when the account paid a decent bonus rate if you met the conditions.

The email from NatWest was headed "Good news..." - but if that's what constitutes good news from NatWest then I'd hate to get bad news from them.

janusdesign

soulsaver said:

castle96 said:

what a fool I am. Sorry. Yes it is Gatehouse I have opened. 1.3 is ? OK for easy access, and on a PC as well.. (dont do apps)

Make sure you're clear when you fund it:
It's one of those where you pay their holding bank sort code 20 32 53 & ac no 93511057 
(as per email from them when you open the ac).
In ac name: Gatehouse Bank PLC - will be confirmed by your bank.
And then in the reference, your savings ac number they give you (includes part of your name). 
IIRC must be from your linked account.

it was simple and painless to open an account with them... the only quirk I ran into is that their reference says you put a hyphen between the account number and surname, but my nominated bank wouldn't allow special characters in the reference, so removed it.. sent at 1pm, so will hopefully see it deposited tomorrow morning.

update: the £1k was showing in the account when I logged in this morning - would have been nice to receive an email / SMS confirming the deposit, but unlike other banks, they seemingly don't do this.

soulsaver

eskbanker said:

soulsaver said:

refluxer said:

castle96 said:

what a fool I am. Sorry. Yes it is Gatehouse I have opened. 1.3 is ? OK for easy access, and on a PC as well.. (dont do apps)

Yes, it's a decent rate if Chase isn't an option - just bear in mind that it's a Shariah bank so that rate is an 'expected profit rate' and not guaranteed.

It is as guaranteed as any variable rate account, they give notice if they need to vary it.

It's not quite the same thing - a normal savings provider commits to paying a specified interest rate unless they make a conscious decision to change that rate (if variable), whereas Sharia accounts indicate what they think they'll pay but aren't actual committing to it.

A subtle difference, admittedly....

That's not the case in practice:
Al Rayan: " If, for some reason, the Bank were unable to meet the expected profit rate it had quoted on its fixed term deposit products, the customer would be notified and given the option of ending the agreement, with their original deposit and profit earned to date intact, or they could accept a lower “expected profit rate” moving forward".

Gatehouse:" If we don’t think the expected profit rate will be achieved, we’ll get in touch to give you notice of the new expected profit rate. Then you have the option to keep your account with us at the new rate, or close your account and withdraw your original deposit along with all the profit earned so far. To date, we have always generated and paid our customers the expected profit rate."


In practice no difference to a variable rate. 

eskbanker

soulsaver said:

eskbanker said:

soulsaver said:

refluxer said:

castle96 said:

what a fool I am. Sorry. Yes it is Gatehouse I have opened. 1.3 is ? OK for easy access, and on a PC as well.. (dont do apps)

Yes, it's a decent rate if Chase isn't an option - just bear in mind that it's a Shariah bank so that rate is an 'expected profit rate' and not guaranteed.

It is as guaranteed as any variable rate account, they give notice if they need to vary it.

It's not quite the same thing - a normal savings provider commits to paying a specified interest rate unless they make a conscious decision to change that rate (if variable), whereas Sharia accounts indicate what they think they'll pay but aren't actual committing to it.

A subtle difference, admittedly....

That's not the case in practice:
Al Rayan: " If, for some reason, the Bank were unable to meet the expected profit rate it had quoted on its fixed term deposit products, the customer would be notified and given the option of ending the agreement, with their original deposit and profit earned to date intact, or they could accept a lower “expected profit rate” moving forward".

Gatehouse:" If we don’t think the expected profit rate will be achieved, we’ll get in touch to give you notice of the new expected profit rate. Then you have the option to keep your account with us at the new rate, or close your account and withdraw your original deposit along with all the profit earned so far. To date, we have always generated and paid our customers the expected profit rate."


In practice no difference to a variable rate. 

Fair enough - my point was more theoretical, i.e. that if a non-Sharia provider paid less than the advertised rate then they'd be in breach of contract, whereas a Sharia one wouldn't, but if Gatehouse commit to advance notification then that effectively closes that gap....

soulsaver

janusdesign said:

soulsaver said:

castle96 said:

what a fool I am. Sorry. Yes it is Gatehouse I have opened. 1.3 is ? OK for easy access, and on a PC as well.. (dont do apps)

Make sure you're clear when you fund it:
It's one of those where you pay their holding bank sort code 20 32 53 & ac no 93511057 
(as per email from them when you open the ac).
In ac name: Gatehouse Bank PLC - will be confirmed by your bank.
And then in the reference, your savings ac number they give you (includes part of your name). 
IIRC must be from your linked account.

it was simple and painless to open an account with them... the only quirk I ran into is that their reference says you put a hyphen between the account number and surname, but my nominated bank wouldn't allow special characters in the reference, so removed it.. sent at 1pm, so will hopefully see it deposited tomorrow morning.

For clarity I edited the original quoted post... Note: Be guided by Gatehouse's  requirements in the reference format as it may have changed since I opened mine some time ago.. 

Malchester

BigBlueSky said:

Anyone know how fast transfers into and out of Gatehouse are ?

I opened one yesterday afternoon. Transfer in was there this morning. Transferred more this morning and they were there when I checked at 4pm. Don't know about transfers out yet. I keep some funds in Marcus for fast, immediate payments when needed

cloud_dog

What is the chance of us 'proactive' savers ending up with a gaggle of easy access savings accounts during the coming months 

RG2015

cloud_dog said:

What is the chance of us 'proactive' savers ending up with a gaggle of easy access savings accounts during the coming months 

Already there, several months ago.