The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

wiseonesomeofthetime

Daliah said:

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

I too have opened, and funded, the HSBC 3% Online Saver and, I too, agree that if you need to withdraw funds then take the entire portion out for the rest of that month.

What I don't see, is the account still being a top account by the 1st of the following month (after  withdrawal) to make it worth  repopulating tbh.

I can see the 3% EA upper limit being reached/breached by end of the year. 

Daliah

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

What I don't see, is the account still being a top account by the 1st of the following month (after  withdrawal) to make it worth  repopulating tbh.

I can see the 3% EA upper limit being reached/breached by end of the year. 

Sure, there's no point in repopulating the account if the rate is no longer competitive. I think this goes without saying, for all accounts. Though I had mentioned that 3% might well be an instant access also-run before long, and you are right, before long might well be before the year is out   

mebu60

gt94sss2 said:

mebu60 said:

Daliah said:

ASL1 said:

Typical I just transferred from Al Rayan to Santander a couple of days ago.

What is the best way to transfer from Santander back to Al Rayan? Is there a daily limit can you transfer directly from one to the other? Or do you need to send it to your current account first?

Would it be easier to just close the Santander account? As I picked yearly interest payments?

You'll just be limited by Santander's FP limit - £25k/day. If you want to send more, phone and Branch do up to £100k.

I make my transfers via my Santander current account, because I have my Al Rayan payee on that account. Less hassle than setting up a new payee on the esaver, but you could do that if you wanted to.

I wouldn't close the esaver if I were you because you can't get a 2.72/2.75% account at Santander atm. If you were happy before with annual interest, you should still be happy with it now? Just keep a record that you still have the Santander account

I am able to do £100k FPS in a 24 hour period on each of my Santander current accounts (Everyday and 123 Lite). Max single payment £20k (not tried to do more for quite some time, could have increased). I never do two amounts exactly the same in any batch of payments just in case one goes astray. You can make >1 payment to the same payee.

Santander let you do up to £25k per payment via their app. As you say, its limited to £100k in total over a 24 hour period

Helpful to learn that limit is per current account though!

OT alert:

I will try >£20k <£25k payment online at the next opportunity, thanks (I am app-adverse). 

Transfers between the current accounts don't appear to count towards the 24 hr £100k limit which is very useful. 

soulsaver

Not seen this mentioned, may be of use to some:
Nationwide 2.10%  (23/10) 1 Year Triple Access Online Saver | Nationwide

It doesn't makes the ToTP 10... but c. No.12... 

Molehusband

jimexbox said:

Molehusband said:

jimexbox said:

Molehusband said:

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

MrFrugalFever said:

I went back a few pages but obviously not far enough, the thread was diluted with comments unrelated to interest rates.

I agree that this thread, and a few others, have lost the discipline that supports an easy follow of interest rate movements and discussion.

Too much chat around account opening issues with various providers also tends to dominate and hide genuine useful information.

I totally agree that this thread has seriously deteriorated in the last few months. This thread is supposed to be about:
The Top Easy Access Savings...
which I understand refers to best interest rates. 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
I believe most of these matters should be taken up with the savings provider and resolved by them.

One of the consequences is that my inbox is saturated with email (up to around 100 emails a day) which I find very difficult to cope with.

A potential solution for me was my request fewer email notifications. In August I started thread:

Email notifications of forum posts
(https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6382416/email-notifications-of-forum-posts#latest)
but, as far as I'm aware, no action has yet been taken by MSE.

So nobody can't discuss anything related to specific easy access accounts because of your inbox?

Ok. 

It's not just my saturated inbox, it's also because people raise topics such as
- 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
without apparently first bothering to check with the provider.

Have you tried to contact a bank who's just released a top rate savings account? Don't waste your time.

Yes, I do it frequently. I look on their website for "Contact us" information and decide which to chose from options available eg phone, webchat, secure message etc. I would certainly not risk asking a stranger for highly sensitive data such as what sort code, account number + reference to enter when making a personal deposit. The bank is the only one who I can be confident will tell me precisely.

murphydavid

soulsaver said:

murphydavid said:

Maybe I have this wrong. Memory not so good.
I note that Cynergy instant access is at 2.75% including a small bonus and although it can't be opened directly you can become an existing customer by first opening a current account then I presume you can open one. So as an almost leading rate for instant access why has it dropped out of all the league tables? The new rule of needing to be an existing customer is surely no more onerous than other rules being applied by other banks.
Not seeing it in moneyfacts and so assuming it was out of touch I was just about to move funds when I noticed they had increased rates (their norm usually requires one to open a new issue to get a better rate if I remember it correct).
I do hate it when the pattern changes.

It's still in our ranked Top Easy Access accounts league table - now at No.3.

Thanks for the link and your regular updates. I wondered where you had gone. Very helpful. I love the no chat.

soulsaver

murphydavid said:

soulsaver said:

murphydavid said:

Maybe I have this wrong. Memory not so good.
I note that Cynergy instant access is at 2.75% including a small bonus and although it can't be opened directly you can become an existing customer by first opening a current account then I presume you can open one. So as an almost leading rate for instant access why has it dropped out of all the league tables? The new rule of needing to be an existing customer is surely no more onerous than other rules being applied by other banks.
Not seeing it in moneyfacts and so assuming it was out of touch I was just about to move funds when I noticed they had increased rates (their norm usually requires one to open a new issue to get a better rate if I remember it correct).
I do hate it when the pattern changes.

It's still in our ranked Top Easy Access accounts league table - now at No.3.

Thanks for the link and your regular updates. I wondered where you had gone. Very helpful. I love the no chat.

Appreciated . 
The link is always in my signature, too. If you can't see it, you may have signatures turned off in your profile.

0209897m

Why are accounts like Zopa and Atom so easy to open, and you can transfer over almost immediately using the App. But Gatehouse, Santander, Al Ryan and others you have to wait for a welcome letter and it is a drawn out process.

Futuristic

0209897m said:

Why are accounts like Zopa and Atom so easy to open, and you can transfer over almost immediately using the App. But Gatehouse, Santander, Al Ryan and others you have to wait for a welcome letter and it is a drawn out process.

Old banks running on ancient technology, much easier for new and especially online only banks to simplify their process

Molehusband

Futuristic said:

0209897m said:

Why are accounts like Zopa and Atom so easy to open, and you can transfer over almost immediately using the App. But Gatehouse, Santander, Al Ryan and others you have to wait for a welcome letter and it is a drawn out process.

Old banks running on ancient technology, much easier for new and especially online only banks to simplify their process

I'm fully in favour of modern technology and prefer to use only online facilities with no paper/post. The one restriction I have is that I don't want a bank which is App only. I need a proper keyboard for entering data with fingers since I don't have access to a spider which can be trained for operating miniscule mobile data entry.