The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

JohnAnt

Martin says ' if you withdraw money from the account in the first six months, you only earn 0.5% interest for that calendar month.'
That could mislead, so to be helpful, as I've just looked at this one, the Ulster Bank 'eSavings plus' T&Cs show the position is as follows:-
"If you make a withdrawal, you will not earn any interest for that month. If you make a withdrawal in the first 6 months after the account is opened, you will earn the bonus interest of 0.50% Gross (0.50% AER) only."
So it's basically a fix for six months: if you close the account before the first six months are up, you get only the equivalent of 0.5% pa on the whole amount invested.
The bonus (0.5%, making the rate up to 3.46%) expires after six months, when the initial rate goes back down to 2.96%. So as no interest is paid for the calendar month of withdrawal, I suppose one could (if one wanted) treat it as a six month account and withdraw the money plus interest speedily as soon as the six months are up.
Interest is accrued daily and appears on your monthly online statement. The only drawback I can see is that the rate is 'variable', and they don't email you to let you know if they alter it - one would have to keep checking their website. It's occurred to me that they could lower the rate drastically in the first six months, and you'd be stuck, as you couldn't close or withdraw except by taking the penalty hit, as above. Might they do this? They certainly could in theory, and if debt explodes further, they might. So many banks these days seem indifferent to the loyalty of customers in credit. I suppose it depends on whether the Ulster Bank remains the legendary granite monument of probity it used to be!

samizdat

JohnAnt wrote: »

Martin says ' if you withdraw money from the account in the first six months, you only earn 0.5% interest for that calendar month.'
That could mislead, so to be helpful, as I've just looked at this one, the Ulster Bank 'eSavings plus' T&Cs show the position is as follows:-
"If you make a withdrawal, you will not earn any interest for that month. If you make a withdrawal in the first 6 months after the account is opened, you will earn the bonus interest of 0.50% Gross (0.50% AER) only."
So it's basically a fix for six months: if you close the account before the first six months are up, you get only the equivalent of 0.5% pa on the whole amount invested.

No. The T&Cs are not well written but what they mean is: if you make a withdrawal, you will not earn any interest from the date of the last interest payment (interest is paid monthly) to the date of withdrawal. However, exceptionally, during the bonus period, you will earn interest even in the month of withdrawal but only at the bonus rate of 0.5%.

In other words, if you time your withdrawals to occur on the date of interest payments (or the day after to be safe), you will not be penalised.

So it's basically an instant access account with an extra hoop to jump through if you want to want to earn the maximum rate of interest.

JohnAnt

That's an interesting view, samizdat. Maybe you're right, but the bit relating to the 0.5% gross payable for withdrawals within the initial six month period does seem ambiguous. However, as I'm interested in this account anyway, I'll check with the bank tomorrow and report here when I've found out what they say their interpretation is.

samizdat

JohnAnt wrote: »

That's an interesting view, samizdat. Maybe you're right, but the bit relating to the 0.5% gross payable for withdrawals within the initial six month period does seem ambiguous. However, as I'm interested in this account anyway, I'll check with the bank tomorrow and report here when I've found out what they say their interpretation is.

I already did that and have one of these accounts myself. As I said on a thread to this subject on MSE, one further point is that, to use the account without losing interest, it is necessary to withdraw everything in the account - i.e. your entire balance including interest accrued and paid on the date of (or the day before) withdrawal - whenever you make a withdrawal. Then, avoid putting anything back into the account until the following month.

Losinmoney

murphydavid wrote: »

Yes and the list of things to do each time gets longer. Open new account. Prove you are who you say you are. Make sure that it is not a subsidiary of a bank you already have money with so you don't exceed the £50000 limit. Check they take part in the g'tee scheme. Check they are reasonably unlikely to go broke in the next few weeks. Set up an R85. Read the small print for any new or old tricks that punish or limit your withdraws. Oh yes and make sure you have fully closed the old account so you can participate in any future bonus offers (only open to new savers).

Totally - I've no time for a social life now, as well as no money

ahai1

Can anyone tell me why the base beater account from Capital One featured on the moneyfacts email? The email has been deleted as the rate is not that good.

oap

Hi all, hope this is the correct section, been looking all morning for better rate than the 0.5% I am now getting from Ing, after being with them from day 1.

After much searching, Citibank seem the best, we need instant access, preferably filling in a form by post, do not want to put so much private info on the net, and by using telephone, it seems they have most of this, but not sure of the filling in form yet, they are closed until Tuesday!!!

Has anybody any experience of this company? They are covered by the £50000 but we shall never have more than around £11000. We shall need two accounts, one joint and one sole name, as we use one for saving up for bills. Many thanks oap

Baldur

oap wrote: »

Has anybody any experience of this company? They are covered by the £50000 but we shall never have more than around £11000. We shall need two accounts, one joint and one sole name, as we use one for saving up for bills. Many thanks oap

Citibank UK is a subsidiary of one of the world's largest banks which has had a fairly rough ride over the past year or so, e.g. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7745168.stm

D1zzy

oap wrote: »

Hi all, hope this is the correct section, been looking all morning for better rate than the 0.5% I am now getting from Ing, after being with them from day 1.

After much searching, Citibank seem the best, we need instant access, preferably filling in a form by post, do not want to put so much private info on the net, and by using telephone, it seems they have most of this, but not sure of the filling in form yet, they are closed until Tuesday!!!

Has anybody any experience of this company? They are covered by the £50000 but we shall never have more than around £11000. We shall need two accounts, one joint and one sole name, as we use one for saving up for bills. Many thanks oap

Have you considered the LLoyds classic account with Vantage - its free; you can have a cheque book and card if you want , or not, and it pays 4% on balances between £5000 and £7000. You could open 2 accounts (£5000 and £6000) and get 4%. You do have to pay £1000 into each account each month but you can do it with internal transfers between the 2 accounts

ahai1

I have had dealings with Citi and I thought that everything with them had to be done online with the form and they email you to let you know what happens next.

ING Direct do things on the phone as well online. I am not sure what you have against online banking as it is better and in many cases easier to sort things out when things go wrong.

Citi is almost a virtual bank as they only have a handful of branches in the UK all in the London area.

I would not be too concerned about them going under as they are members of the FSCS. Anyway even if they were not members the government will give you all your money back like they did with the Icelandic banks as if they did not prop up Citi a lot of smaller banks would have a run on them. London is full of smaller foreign banks.

One of the best offering a good rate is AK Bank in the UK and their rate is 3%. http://www.akbank.co.uk/ though in my dealings with them they have not offered a good customer service as they have not replied to my request for an application form even though I told them I don't have a printer.

I got my letter from the United National Bank telling me that my account has been opened. The letter was addressed to myself and my wife. I am not married but the account seems in order as it is a sole account. I have sent over some money by BACS rather then cheque. I have always perfered BACS and you will understand why when you read the following.

I opened an account with Anglo Irish Bank and they lost my cheque in the first place and then they told me (3 or 4 staff members) to cancel and I would not be charged which was wrong. To cut a long story short they have agreed to refund me for the lost cheque and they have told me that they are going to backdate the interest. By closing my account and opening a new one.

The cheque was only for £10 and the stoppage fee is £10 but it was their fault and they agreed to refund me. I try and not send much money by cheque as some banks like to sit on them for sometime for example Birmingham Midshires for 2 weeks and you have no idea when the money is going to leave the account.

Despite the problem I would say that Anglo Irish is a good bank as they did make amends in the end and the customer relations people were helpful, professional and hard working.

I have to send them my bank statement when I get it to a named member of staff.

They cashed my second cheque quickly.