The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

wmb194

Molehusband said:

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.

That's easily solved by using the app on a tablet and you can use full sized keyboards with smartphones if you wish. You can also remote control them from a PC but some bank apps blank the phone's screen when you do this so it isn't 100% reliable.

Daliah

All the banking apps also run on tablets. My iPad screen and keyboard are nearly the size of my laptop screen and keyboard.

Anyway, can we please get back to discussing the top easy access accounts rather than difficulties people may experience with some devices.

Freebird53

I'm new, but as previously discussed, difficulties accessing accounts are part of this thread, are they not?

Molehusband

CooperSF said:

Can't send my initial deposit to Gatehouse since my reference is too long.

Excellent!

Have you thought about asking Gatehouse for the correct reference?

pecunianonolet

Hi rate chasers,

I have recently opened Al Ryan and YBS, maxed out the YBS with 5k, put around 8k into Al Ryan, then Santander came around and I moved the 8k from Al Ryan and added another 2k and have now 10k sitting in Santander. HSBC is my main account and I have the bonus saver (bonus only to apply again from 1s Nov as I took money out there before). 

I in the meantime got a Santander and Sainsbury 0 fee, 0 interest balance transfer credit cards (awaiting cards or pin by post) and MBNA offers a money transfer for around 10k which I will use for stoozing. I can add around 1.5k/month into savings and I am going to be a higher rate tax payer (changed jobs during tax year and will bump over the limit by Feb/March and should just be hitting the tax free thresholds.

What I am curious about is with the current movements in the market and new rates, accounts, etc. popping up almost daily is it really worth jumping from one offer to the next best one all the time? That could amount to quite a few movements by the end of the year. Every time you move you lose interest for that day and only start gaining from the following day if truly instant cash movement. At Al Ryan it took 2 days as I had to confirm transaction via call. 

Is the easy access rate chasing still worthwhile in the end or better to accept marginally lower rates for periods and move when it actually makes sense with significant movements of at least 0.5%?

soulsaver

ToTP extract:

1 Al Rayan £5k min; rate upped to  2.81% (x2.35%) (21/10) App onlyish. Everyday Saver (Issue 3) | Islamic banking | Sharia compliant & ethical (alrayanbank) thnx @financialbliss & @Expotter

2 Gatehouse 2.80% (21/10) Easy access account | Gatehouse Bank | Gatehouse Bank plc thnx @wisesomeofthetime

3 Cynergy EA iss 53; 2.75% (inc 0.15%) (13/10) app/digipass for ol access. Existing customers only 18/10 Cynergy Bank  Thnx @intalex 

4 Sainsbury's 2.75% £1k min; 3w/ds pa (20/10) Defined Access Saver with Sainsbury's Bank (sainsburysbank.co.uk) thnx @refluxer

5 Ford Money 2.5% (19/10). Flexible Savings Account - Easy access savings | Ford Money (see post below re 'exclusivity'.) Thanks @FindingBBob  

6 Yorkshire BS 2.5% Loyalty Six Iss2 (12mth customers) also Rainy Day ac (2.5% to £5k, 2.0% above) (26/09) View our Easy Access Savings Accounts | Savings | YBS  

7 Zopa tiered 2.15% EA; 2.20, 2.35, 2.55% - 7day, 31day, 90day notice (app only) (11/10). Smarter Savings built for real life - Zopa  

8 Paragon 2.30% (21/10) Triple Access Savings Account | Paragon Bank thnx @Kazza242

9 Principality 2.25% (20/10) Online Double Access | Online Double Access (principality.co.uk) thnx @t1redmonkey

10 Aldermore Dbl Accss 2.15% £1k min (18/10) Personal Savings Accounts - Aldermore Bank Thnx @southone

See full page here

Old_Grey_Mare

I’ve just opened an HSBC online bonus easy access account. 2.99%.

soulsaver

Old_Grey_Mare said:

I’ve just opened an HSBC online bonus easy access account. 2.99%.

And Barclays do 5%.
They're in the (relatively) 'small deposit/high interest' section.
See the full page.

searching4bestrates

soulsaver said:

Old_Grey_Mare said:

I’ve just opened an HSBC online bonus easy access account. 2.99%.

And Barclays do 5%.
They're in the (relatively) 'small deposit/high interest' section.
See the full page.

Thanks soulsaver for this list - it is really useful.

Is there a summary anywhere regarding the speed/genuine "instant access" with respect to deposits and withdrawals. I've had some good experiences with Marcus, Zopa and Atom with the withdrawals and deposits being near instantaneous or at most a short delay of minutes; and by contrast some horrible experiences with YBS and Ford Money with withdrawals not appearing until the end of the next day following the withdrawal!

The genuinely instant access accounts surely have additional value over the delayed access accounts?

cwep2

searching4bestrates said:

Is there a summary anywhere regarding the speed/genuine "instant access" with respect to deposits and withdrawals. I've had some good experiences with Marcus, Zopa and Atom with the withdrawals and deposits being near instantaneous or at most a short delay of minutes; and by contrast some horrible experiences with YBS and Ford Money with withdrawals not appearing until the end of the next day following the withdrawal!

The genuinely instant access accounts surely have additional value over the delayed access accounts?

Would be worth some indicator of which banks can transfer *same day* and those where shortest time is *next day*. Obviously  assuming reasonable conditions, no one should expect a transfer initiated at 23:55 to arrive in time to earn interest in the new account on the same day. A day's lost interest, on £10k is still almost £1, which you effectively lose with one of these accounts.

To put it into cost, and to use an example, let's say you have a Zopa account earning 2.15% and you are thinking of moving to a Ford Money account earning 2.50%.
Scenario 1. £10,000.
20th you withdraw from Zopa (instant) and deposit with Ford also on 20th.
24th Zopa increases their interest rate to 2.65%.
24th you withdraw from Ford
25th money arrives and you deposit back in Zopa.
by 30th How much interest so far?
4 days x 2.5% in Ford = £2.74 + 1 day earning 0% = £0.00 + 5 days x 2.65% in Zopa = £3.63. Total £6.37
Scenario 2. Same except you leave it all in Zopa
4 days x 2.15% in Zopa = £2.36 + 6 days x 2.65% in Zopa = £4.36. Total £6.72

So the day's lost interest is worth more than 4 days on a lower rate. I this case, you'd need to be earning the extra 0.35% for 7 days to make the day's lost interest 'worth it'. But most of the rate differences are less than this, if it was just 0.1% difference it would take around 22 days at higher interest rate to be worth it. Can work out cost of one day's lost interest divided by exctra interest per day at higher rate to work out # days to break even.

TL;DR given rates are changing so fast at the moment, truly instant access accounts at a slightly lower rate may be more beneficial to 'fast switchers' who would move savings for 0.1% or 0.2% better rate. Equally if you are only gonna switch every month or so, then highest rate wins.

From experience: truly instant accounts include: Cynergy, Al Rayan, Marcus/Saga, Zopa, Atom, Chase, Tandem and the next day accounts include: Yorkshire BS, Ford Money, RCI, Charter Savings.