The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

t1redmonkey

cwep2 said:

Well this is similar to the Chase offering, at the time 0.7-0.9% were best instant access, notice accounts at 1.1-1.3% and even 1yr fix was 1.4-1.5%. Instant access suddenly at 1.5%.... This was way before huge inflation/Ukraine etc. but the reaction elsewhere was quick, elsewhere instant access quickly adjusted to 1.2-1.4% in a couple of weeks to avoid a stampede out the door, fixed and notice went above it and within a month there were 2-3 others at same or higher levels (less household names). 

Since then we've had much higher base rates and gilt rates and inflation surging with expectations of 2.75-3% base rate come early November. But after the last BoE hike banks were slow to react, it felt a bit like when Chase stirred things up, now 2.75 is out there, the same day (lol...) Zopa upped their offering, which had been market leading in the last month, from 1.85% to 2.15% only to be blown out of the water by 0.6% by a household name.

Given the familiarity with the brand name (of Santander), the likes of Zopa, Cynergy, Ford, RCI, Atom, Tandem. Marcus, Chase etc. will see a lot of money flow out the door. I would guess that those banks offering mortgages (at 4 5 6 7% levels) and getting customers at that level will start to up savings rates as well to keep deposits against these, I would expect at least 3 other competing instant access accounts at 2.65% or higher by 1st Nov, and those below 2% will struggle to keep deposits.

Indeed, no doubt a few banks have had meetings today or booked in for later this week to decide how to respond to this interest rate shakeup with their own offerings 🙂

dgpur

jimexbox said:

dgpur said:

jimexbox said:

julicorn said:

Just to provide a bit of a counterpoint to everyone saying how easy it was to open the account: I just applied for one (under my husband's name), and they want him to send in black and white copies of his ID and proof of address... by post! Feels like stepping back in time but aw well. It'll be worth it I'm sure. 
(Ironically he had an account with them before)

Yes, my partner received a 'change your details' email. Never banked with santander. With a provide two types of id. Waiting to speak to someone now. Could be a long wait... 

I have a ghost account (from the Abbey National days). Problem is - I have literally no memory of opening it (there are reasons why that’s been possible). They’ve asked for me to do a change of details thing - finding the two proofs of ID was OK (though once again made harder by me having neither a passport or a driving licence), but the form asks for prior address, and I didn’t know what to put! There are around 12 possible ones, only four of which I can remember the details of. So I’ve just had a best guess. 🤷‍♂️ Such a faff.

We've lived at our current address for 16 years, so we've just used that. Spoke to two reps today, total waste of time. Offered no information as to why they wanted a change of details form, apart from the usual 'maybe a fraud check'. 

How odd. At least in my case I know it was another address. My slight niggling fear is that us not being able to specifically name the address (I’ve given them the two most likely options) could lead to fraud suspicion. My vague hope is that I left a useful amount of money in my dormant account, spending decades earning compound interest!

dgpur

jak22 said:

Rates haven't been fluctuating - they've been rising. Many wont match this rate for a while. It's strange to read so many saying that only now are they transferring from Chase etc or keep on finding excuses to stay in lower rate accounts. Each month an account is 0.3% behind you lose £10 for each £40000. Santander is easy enough to open without the bizarre opening steps with app only accounts and their limitations of no web access.

Though with all those app only accounts already open, it’s so easy to leap-frog from one account to another. I’m on ten open accounts now, and I’m ready to open more if necessary as long as competition remains hot.

cwep2

dgpur said:

Though with all those app only accounts already open, it’s so easy to leap-frog from one account to another. I’m on ten open accounts now, and I’m ready to open more if necessary as long as competition remains hot.

Some instant access accounts offer same day (faster payments speed) access, some it's next day, and in that case you lose a day's interest by moving. For the latter, moving even from say 2.0% to 2.2% it would take you 10 days at the higher rate to earn back the lost interest, so if you move on again after less time than that it would have been better to stay put. I wish MSE told us those accounts that are truly instant, vs the 1 day lag.

FWIW my experience shows truly instant access: Marcus, Chase, Atom, Tandem, Cynergy, Zopa, Al Rayan and with 1 day delay / lost interest (or more if you advise late in day or on a Friday): Ford Money, RCI, Yorkshire BS, Charter Savings.

SallySunshine

Just opened a joint one tonight, with Santander for years, does seem weird having to wait though, just moved a deposit from the main account.
makes a refreshing change for them to suddenly join the frenzy.
pity about Shawbrook not upping their game for their instant access, bound to lose out, it’s a shame as they were so quick to send me e-mails upping my account the minute the market did.
I’m  going to move quite a bit over to Santander. Needs must!

jak22

It's not a trivial task to move money to keep up with rate changes - app based or not youre still subject to the speed of each bank / building soc and how soon a bank - when you have to transfer via a current account - decides to freeze a transfer and needs phone calls to proceed. Some transfers are truly instant these days but with some of these you do have to manage when you make the request - remembering to do it before a certain cutoff time and not on Friday for it to happen next day.

dgpur

cwep2 said:

dgpur said:

Though with all those app only accounts already open, it’s so easy to leap-frog from one account to another. I’m on ten open accounts now, and I’m ready to open more if necessary as long as competition remains hot.

Some instant access accounts offer same day (faster payments speed) access, some it's next day, and in that case you lose a day's interest by moving. For the latter, moving even from say 2.0% to 2.2% it would take you 10 days at the higher rate to earn back the lost interest, so if you move on again after less time than that it would have been better to stay put. I wish MSE told us those accounts that are truly instant, vs the 1 day lag.

FWIW my experience shows truly instant access: Marcus, Chase, Atom, Tandem, Cynergy, Zopa, Al Rayan and with 1 day delay / lost interest (or more if you advise late in day or on a Friday): Ford Money, RCI, Yorkshire BS, Charter Savings.

Yes, I winnow out any account that doesn’t offer me transfers within a couple of hours. 24/7. Just not worth it.

dgpur

jak22 said:

It's not a trivial task to move money to keep up with rate changes - app based or not youre still subject to the speed of each bank / building soc and how soon a bank - when you have to transfer via a current account - decides to freeze a transfer and needs phone calls to proceed. Some transfers are truly instant these days but with some of these you do have to manage when you make the request - remembering to do it before a certain cutoff time and not on Friday for it to happen next day.

I’ve never had a transfer frozen. My primary current account with Nationwide is my intermediary and there’s just never been an issue. So with most new providers being quite quick to set up, and existing ones taking minutes to transfer, I do find it trivial. As I’ve said above, I winnow out or avoid (by checking here) anyone who isn’t fast and 24/7, so it’s all become rather routine. 

Though I recognise experiences may vary.

Daliah

All that excitement about 2.75% interest. Along with others, I rushed to get my Santander esaver yesterday, and stuffed as much as I could into it as I could.

Then went to Lidl’s for a top-up shop. Limes which used to be 17p each last week are now 20p. Pretzels 45p, up from 39p. That’s an above 10% increase, which probably applies to many if not all products they sell. Got home and there’s an apologetic note from the window cleaner, telling me it’s now £35 every 4 weeks rather than £30. 

These are just a few examples to remind us that even at 2.75% our cash is rapidly losing buying power 😭

hoc

What "final checks" does Santander need to do to open a savings account for a 10+ year current account holder?