The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

Wheres_My_Cashback

BarGin said:

BarGin said:

I made my first major withdrawal from Al Rayan yesterday afternoon. It was a few 000's to my Chase current account. It's still not arrived. I made a small withdrawal to the same account last week which arrived within 20 minutes.

I'm beginning to think I made a big mistake putting a lot of money in Al Rayan. Just spent 53 minutes holding on their phone line, listening to some awfully depressing music, only to be cut off before I got to speak to anyone. And my withdrawal still hasn't arrived!

Al Rayan are perfectly good if you understand how they work and have consistently had higher paying easy access accounts over the last few years.

You just have to know how to use them, read the t&c and perhaps read these forums more where it's been mentioned many times that they are effectively a Mon-Fri bank.

You should also have realistic expectations that if you make a first major withdrawal it's potentially going to involve additional security checks, just like it would with many banks.

BlackthornU

BarGin said:

BarGin said:

I made my first major withdrawal from Al Rayan yesterday afternoon. It was a few 000's to my Chase current account. It's still not arrived. I made a small withdrawal to the same account last week which arrived within 20 minutes.

I'm beginning to think I made a big mistake putting a lot of money in Al Rayan. Just spent 53 minutes holding on their phone line, listening to some awfully depressing music, only to be cut off before I got to speak to anyone. And my withdrawal still hasn't arrived!

Be prepared to answer phone calls from unknown numbers (some people just don't answer). I did a test withdrawal of £5 which went through very quickly then requested £8K later the same day and it didn't go through. I did get a call from them later that afternoon to confirm security etc and then transfer went through. 

Rollinghome

BarGin said:

BarGin said:

I made my first major withdrawal from Al Rayan yesterday afternoon. It was a few 000's to my Chase current account. It's still not arrived. I made a small withdrawal to the same account last week which arrived within 20 minutes.

I'm beginning to think I made a big mistake putting a lot of money in Al Rayan. Just spent 53 minutes holding on their phone line, listening to some awfully depressing music, only to be cut off before I got to speak to anyone. And my withdrawal still hasn't arrived!

Like many smaller banks, Al Rayan seems to need a manual step for withdrawals. 

Being small also means that having just a few members of staff short for any reason can have an effect.  Add to that, they are listed as the top payer on Moneyfacts so will be dealing with a high volume of new customers making calls like you.  They're closed on weekends, so Mondays will be their busiest day.

Chase are the biggest bank in the world outside of China, but you may recall they had massive problems when they started offering 1.5%. They still are - see various threads.

So if a bit of hassle winds you up, your best bet is to stick to a well-established, big bank offering a lowish rate, or try to avoid making withdrawals out of hours.

sturgeon

Has anyone withdrawn from Charter savings? I signed up as they had a 2.23% easy access but Al Rayan quickly superseded this. I had to wait for an activation code in the post to confirm my nominated withdrawal account. Withdrew earlier today, the money left but nothing in my current account 3 hours later. I assume they’re just slow or next working day. They added a load of zeros before my account number but hopefully that’s no issue as the full account number was there and bank accounts are only 8 digits anyway. 

TomDolan

sturgeon said:

Has anyone withdrawn from Charter savings? I signed up as they had a 2.23% easy access but Al Rayan quickly superseded this. I had to wait for an activation code in the post to confirm my nominated withdrawal account. Withdrew earlier today, the money left but nothing in my current account 3 hours later. I assume they’re just slow or next working day. They added a load of zeros before my account number but hopefully that’s no issue as the full account number was there and bank accounts are only 8 digits anyway. 

Think withdrawals arrive end of next business day 

Expotter

sturgeon said:

Has anyone withdrawn from Charter savings? I signed up as they had a 2.23% easy access but Al Rayan quickly superseded this. I had to wait for an activation code in the post to confirm my nominated withdrawal account. Withdrew earlier today, the money left but nothing in my current account 3 hours later. I assume they’re just slow or next working day. They added a load of zeros before my account number but hopefully that’s no issue as the full account number was there and bank accounts are only 8 digits anyway. 

From their website:

How long will it take to receive funds in to my Nominated Account?

Easy access

If you complete your transaction before 3pm on a working day*, your funds will arrive in your Nominated Account by the end of the following working day*.

*If your transaction is carried out after 3pm or on the weekend, please allow two working days for your funds to arrive.

gwapenut

Newbury update their rates tomorrow. Not bad rates for a small building society, but not top-end, with the exception of their usually-excellent Existing Members Account which increases 0.45 % to 2.30%. You can only put £2k per tax year in there though.

https://newburytest-live-f3d63f7f4dcc44ad8831e6-4e875e3.divio-media.com/filer_public/bb/41/bb41bd59-1372-4f07-a7d0-26233fd01aaf/9019_-_interest_rate_change_table.pdf

Masetw

Just emptied my Zopa and moved into Al Rayan. Should I now close the Zopa account or keep it open on the basis they might up their interest rates soon?

castle96

Always leave £1 in any a/c, just in case...! Got dozens of em

mortgagewannabe_2

mortgagewannabe_2 said:

Hi.  We currently have a large amount of savings in our Virgin Money M Plus Saver Joint account. My partner only earns a £5k salary per year, hence he has approx £6-7k free personal tax allowance.  My question is, whether it's worth moving the savings to his solo account for tax purposes and whether Zopa is good enough?  We don't mind a short notice account.

Thanks ever so much for your replies everyone to my above post, found on page 792.  Apologies, but I can't reply to everyone individually.

1. Does it matter if the savings account is currently in joint names and does this have an affect on the amount of tax free allowance/savings interest?
2. Does it change anything that I work and earn over £25k pa?
3. We chose Virgin Money joint account because at time of application, they had the best interest rate an online website to login and android App access, making it more convenient, but is it worth moving the money into a better interest rate account and if so, which one do you recommend?

In the past he's happily putting an expensive property solely in my name without any question.  We've been married for decades, lol.  Also he has more to lose than just the savings, so yes I fully trust him.