HL Active Savings

pip895

In the past I have scoured the bet buy tables when finding somewhere to put the cash portion of my portfolio. I find the whole process a bit of a pain particularly when opening accounts with new organisations. After the fixed term has finished it often takes months to get the money out and into a new best buy account and the default accounts have such poor rates that the overall interest rate is not really worth the effort. You also seem to get junk mail from all the closed account organisations for ever. I know much of this could be sorted out by better organisation on my part but its where I am at..

I have decided to look into Hargreaves Lansdowne's Active Savings. It looks as though the best rates at present are only about 0.1% lower than the open market best buy rates - still pretty rubbish but at least it will all be in one place and the switching at the end of the term will be simple and will take days rather than months. I intend having a series of fixed term deposits (like a bond ladder) and some instant access. This is something I couldn't realistically contemplate when shifting money about between different organisations.

Is anyone else using this service - are there better (simple to administer) options about that I should be looking at?

Zanderman

See the thread here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5996560/hargreaves-lansdown-active-savings

Raisin do a similar type of thing, so worth looking at too.

ColdIron

It does not takes months to move money from one fixed term account to another, this can only be solved by, as you say, 'better organisation on my part'

To use one of the products in HL's Active Savings you must first add money to their 'Cash Hub'. On maturity the proceeds will be returned to the Cash Hub awaiting your next instruction. Be aware that HL say:

• When money is added to the cash hub you have three working days to choose your savings product, after that we’ll return your money to you

So unless you improve your organisation it's unlikely to help much

triplea35

The best 18month term with HL Active is 1.95% whereas I can get 2.35% with BLME (yes I know its Sharia so 'expected profit') so .4% difference. On an £85k deposit through HL that would be £510 less return over the term.

Worth a few minutes searching yourself (moneyfacts etc) for the best buys and easy online opening of an account.

I would only ever consider using HL Active if it allowed/offered products that I could use cash held in their S&S ISA's and SIPP.

pip895

I have never felt confident enough to put money directly in the challenger type banks, and the form filling and posting of proof of ID not to mention gathering the tax data and keeping track of all those extra passwords would be a pain. Dealing with two banks and a building society is quite bad enough!

I took a look at Raisin looked good but had no instant access option which I want in the mix.

I think for me this HL offering looks like a runner. I put 1k in for year at Paragon 1.95% it was really easy took less than 5 mins. I could imagine building a savings ladder with income/capital dropping out on a monthly basis. I assume that HL will provide a summary tax form each year too. The tiny fractional differences in interest I have seen (when comparing like for like) are definitely not worth the extra hassle for me.

pip895

Just added some cash to Sawbrook Bank at 2.02% via HL active savings - it really is ridiculously simple and I cant find a better "standard" one year fix.

I am hoping they provide a consolidated tax certificate as I can see me ending up with a lot of smallish value savings accounts with different length fixes.