The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

TomJ

Molehusband said:

This thread is supposed to be about:
The Top Easy Access Savings...
with the word Top I understand referring to best interest rates.

Then you may care to consider other people's definition of "Top" may differ.

However, it seems to me the majority of posts are not related to this in the sense they don't refer at all to interest rates (good, bad, indifferent) offered by financial institutions. Instead, they focus on operating specific accounts
eg we get very lengthy discussions about:
- how long do withdrawals take,
- how their password system works and what characters can be used,
- can't send deposit because "reference" is too long

These are all valid considerations when picking an account and might, for some, outweigh a few hundredths of a per centage point of annual interest. Ease of access is surely a reasonable thing to ponder when looking at Easy Access Savings.

BarGin

The HSBC Online Bonus Saver pays 3% on up to £10,000 but says you need to have a current or savings account with them to apply. I don't have any of their current or savings accounts. Could I just get a Flexible Saver Account which has no such conditions, put £1 in it and then apply for the Bonus Saver?

oz0707

I keep getting my application rejected by them. Not a UK tax resident apparently despite multiple accounts with them. Useless. 

oz0707

Molehusband said:

oz0707 said:

I keep getting my application rejected by them. Not a UK tax resident apparently despite multiple accounts with them. Useless. 

[Removed by Forum Team]

Sorry was in reply to post above

BarGin said:

The HSBC Online Bonus Saver pays 3% on up to £10,000 but says you need to have a current or savings account with them to apply. I don't have any of their current or savings accounts. Could I just get a Flexible Saver Account which has no such conditions, put £1 in it and then apply for the Bonus Saver?

BarGin

oz0707 said:

Molehusband said:

oz0707 said:

I keep getting my application rejected by them. Not a UK tax resident apparently despite multiple accounts with them. Useless. 

Who are them - I haven't come across that bank?

Sorry was in reply to post above

BarGin said:

The HSBC Online Bonus Saver pays 3% on up to £10,000 but says you need to have a current or savings account with them to apply. I don't have any of their current or savings accounts. Could I just get a Flexible Saver Account which has no such conditions, put £1 in it and then apply for the Bonus Saver?

HSBC bank.

andyhicks88

BarGin said:

The HSBC Online Bonus Saver pays 3% on up to £10,000 but says you need to have a current or savings account with them to apply. I don't have any of their current or savings accounts. Could I just get a Flexible Saver Account which has no such conditions, put £1 in it and then apply for the Bonus Saver?

It depends on if they will want you to have an existing account with them to be eligible. I guess the only way to find out is to set a savings account up and see, it can't hurt.

orange-juice

Just double checking I understand this HSBC online saver right.

Any month you make a withdrawal, you’ll receive the lower rate of interest for the entirety of the month, not from the date of withdrawal until the end of the month.

Also, I normally cream off the interest if it takes me above the limit and into the marginal lower rate, I assume I don’t want to do this for this account otherwise I’ll get the lower rate.

10_66

orange-juice said:

Just double checking I understand this HSBC online saver right.

Any month you make a withdrawal, you’ll receive the lower rate of interest for the entirety of the month, not from the date of withdrawal until the end of the month.

Also, I normally cream off the interest if it takes me above the limit and into the marginal lower rate, I assume I don’t want to do this for this account otherwise I’ll get the lower rate.

Yes, correct.  Daliah suggested a work around of withdrawing the funds on the 1st of the month, leave the account empty until the next 1st of the month and then add to it, repeat.

RG2015

Re HSBC Online Bonus saver account 3.00%

I have just opened a new 3.00% HSBC bonus saver and sent a nominal amount via an existing HSBC savings account. However I switched my HSBC current account a few months ago and now I have no payees in my HSBC online accounts.

Furthermore, I cannot set up a new payee from an HSBC savings account and therefore cannot transfer any money out of HSBC.

It looks like my only option is to open a new HSBC current account.

Just thought I would share this with others thinking of opening this savings account.

Daliah

10_66 said:

orange-juice said:

Just double checking I understand this HSBC online saver right.

Any month you make a withdrawal, you’ll receive the lower rate of interest for the entirety of the month, not from the date of withdrawal until the end of the month.

Also, I normally cream off the interest if it takes me above the limit and into the marginal lower rate, I assume I don’t want to do this for this account otherwise I’ll get the lower rate.

Yes, correct.  Dahlia suggested a work around of withdrawing the funds on the 1st of the month, leave the account empty until the next 1st of the month and then add to it, repeat.

To avoid the need/urge to cream off the interest on a monthly basis, only deposit £9,700, or other suitable amount <£10k. But obviously still only make any withdrawals on the 1st of a month, always empty the entire account, and leave it empty for at least the rest of the month.

The other option you could try is to close your account on the 1st. It's easy to request closure via chat, and closed accounts disappear overnight. It should then be possible to open another account. I don't know whether they'd object to this but I might give it a try.

All a bit laborious though, given that you can only make pennies more in a 3% over a 2.81% account - and 3% might well be an instant access also-run before long.

On the max £9,999.99, interest would be:
HSBC: £299.97 or ~ 82p a day
Al Rayan: £281 or ~ 77p a day