Cahoot 5.5%

thor

The reason I have signed up with Cahoot is because of ING being so cheap. If ING acted honourably the last few times the rates went up then I would have not bothered but with ING raising rates 0.05 & 0.10 % less than the base rate rises, I don't think that they will ever catch up with Cahoot even if they stand still. At the moment there is 0.65% between them which is 4 or 5 ING size increase and I believe that the BOE will not need to implement that many increases before the housing market crashes(which it will most definitely do).

Yorkieds

Message from Cahoot today:

The new introductory rate will be market leading and as such, this will be attractive to both new and existing customers. In addition, on all balances under £50,000 the interest is guaranteed for 12 months from the date the account is opened to remain the same or increase, this provides protection from any rate changes during this time. On balances over £50,000 the interest rate is variable and could change over time up or down.
???

jaybee

Tried to open an account today - spent ages filling in all the necessary details. Then on the last page it tells you that there is no saving account currently available!!!!! This despite it still being advertised on their home page. Damn

System

Well i got that far, but i had an email today saying they want to see bills to prove who i am.

Isnt my money good enough? ;D ;D ;D I must admit, this isnt the easiest account i have opened.

Unbelievable_2

Hey Judi

Don't take it personally - anti money laundering stuff etc.

Although with more bills etc. being electronic it's getting hard to prove where you live these days. :-/

Margaret_Millne

Hey Judi

Don't take it personally - anti money laundering stuff etc.

Although with more bills etc. being electronic it's getting hard to prove where you live these days. :-/

This is true. Another thing that really annoys me is that most institutions still insist on a home land line number. We don't have one anymore, just use our mobiles, and even when we did it was ex directory. Why can't these people come into the 21st century with the rest of us.

System

Well ive just had a hunt round for some proof on who i am and what my address is.

I cant use utility bills as i havent had a paper bill since February - all my bills are now done online.

My telephone bill hasnt got my address on.

I dont pay rent or have a mortgage.

I tend to chuck my bank statements away :-[ I prefer to work on my statements online as they are far more accurate.

They dont accept credit card/store card statements.

(might have the council tax notification taking up space somewhere).

Looks like i am going to have to wait a few weeks to see what turns up through the post.

:-[ :-[ :-[

lisyloo

You could try printing out an on-line statement.

In a lot of cases if you have a good printer it's impossible to tell that they are a real paper version.

System

You could try printing out an on-line statement.

Never thought of that!!!

Milarky

Just to point out that I've found when paying money into cahoot that it doesn't appear first thing on the date of arrival. Today I checked it at 7.30am and nothing had changed... but just after 9am the balance had changed and the payments were showing.

This is in contrast to all other online accounts I've known of, which fall into one of two categories:

Bank accounts/savings accounts: account balances update 'overnight' and show on the date of transaction

Credit cards: account balances usually update a day in arrears, so that a payment recieved today (and credited as such) does not appear until tomorrow - and the same for purchases or balance transfer transactions. An exception to this is where a direct debit is credited on a specified date. Because a payment is anticipated on the account it may show this as recieved on the same day

In both cases balances don't update 'during' the day whereas cahoot, being a savings account, would be expected to show the day's balance at the 'start' of the day - ie first thing in the am - not some time in.

Still... it means Moneysavers should wait until 9am when checking their cahoot balances

Another quirk I've found is that direct debit to the cahoot credit card is not called from a bank account until the day after it is credited by cahoot. [eg 'collection' for the 7th, but called from bank on the 8th] So you get an extra day's interest from them....

On using a direct debit as a means to fund the account: It needs to be borne in mind that it takes 4 working days from the request to pay money into cahoot. This compares with two days at ING, which uses the same method. In both cases you don't lose any interest as it doesn't leave your current account until the day in question but it is much less convenient, as you have have to keep that money in either the current account or a linked account for extra interest. You may therefore need to make several payments on successive dates to break down a large amount just to ensure that debits will be taken and not exceed your overdraft limit unless you have 'loaded' your current account first.

In the case of non-current accounts (like Egg) you have no choice but to use a BACS transfer, so it might as well go direct to cahoot, and arrive in two days. Remember too, that you will lose two days interest on any withdrawals. Someone has mentioned the cahoot current account as a 'loophole' method for keeping its 'free' £250 overdraft in the savings account itself. But it would have second benefit if your were to withdraw to Egg or make a repayment to a credit card since you can internally transfer money straightaway [is this right?]. Also when paying money to Egg, some accounts may pay interest on the money transferred until the date it leaves the account (Egg credits the transaction the same day in all cases) as it does not leave it straightaway. I know A&L pay, but I don't thnk Nationwide do. [Another reason for getting a current account that pays interest monthly]