Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

rb10

RayWolfe wrote: »

Always distrust any account with GOLD in the name!
Can you still get a Halifax Liquid Gold? As marked by Arthur Daily <sp>

I think most people with a Liquid Gold use it more as an (albeit very basic) current account than a savings account.

So the Liquid Gold people who are failing to make the most of their money by using such an account are only doing so in the same way as everyone who has a Natwest/HSBC/Barclays/RBS current account that's paying 0.1% interest.

Special_Saver2

Thanks to nicko33 for pointing out another regular saver account. These are the details that I have just put in post 4.

Barclays Wealth Monthly Saver

Interest rate: 5% gross p.a. variable from 13th July 2009
Monthly payment: £100-£2,000
Miss any payments: Yes, miss as many payments as you like
Penalty-free withdrawals: For 30 days after any withdrawal, the interest rate falls to 0.1%
How to open account: Online (new Barclays Wealth customers) or by telephone (new and existing customers)
Special conditions: Terms and conditions provided on application. If your account is based overseas then it is not covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme. See the compensation section of this Barclays Wealth page.


The full terms and conditions are only provided on application.

Has anybody on this forum opened one of these accounts?

If so, do you know if it can be based in the London (Knightsbridge) branch (and would therefore be covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme)?

I wondered if that might be possible given the text at the bottom of this page and the interest rate page which suggests that this account can be based in either in London (Knightsbridge) or Cyprus or Gibraltar or Jersey or Guernsey or the Isle of Man.

I cannot find much about Barclays Wealth on the MSE forums. If you have any experience of dealing with them, then feel free to post something below.

As with the Halifax International (offshore) account that has been in post 4 for a while now, I have placed a warning that offshore banks are not covered by the UK FSCS. I have to admit that I would be concerned for the safety of my money in any of the above offshore locations.

All the best,
SS2

MarkFromCornwall

I tentatively started the online application process. After saying that I was a U.K. National living in the U.K. and not intending to move abroad the application process came to an abrupt end!

Mark

socrates

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

Thanks to nicko33 for pointing out another regular saver account. These are the details that I have just put in post 4.

Barclays Wealth Monthly Saver

Interest rate: 5% gross p.a. variable from 13th July 2009
Monthly payment: £100-£2,000
Miss any payments: Yes, miss as many payments as you like
Penalty-free withdrawals: For 30 days after any withdrawal, the interest rate falls to 0.1%
How to open account: Online (new Barclays Wealth customers) or by telephone (new and existing customers)
Special conditions: Terms and conditions provided on application. If your account is based overseas then it is not covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme. See the compensation section of this Barclays Wealth page.


The full terms and conditions are only provided on application.

Has anybody on this forum opened one of these accounts?

If so, do you know if it can be based in the London (Knightsbridge) branch (and would therefore be covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme)?

I wondered if that might be possible given the text at the bottom of this page and the interest rate page which suggests that this account can be based in either in London (Knightsbridge) or Cyprus or Gibraltar or Jersey or Guernsey or the Isle of Man.

I cannot find much about Barclays Wealth on the MSE forums. If you have any experience of dealing with them, then feel free to post something below.

As with the Halifax International (offshore) account that has been in post 4 for a while now, I have placed a warning that offshore banks are not covered by the UK FSCS. I have to admit that I would be concerned for the safety of my money in any of the above offshore locations.

All the best,
SS2

Not available to UK residents

anna42hmr

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

Hi Folks,

I have just found another Christmas saver. This one is from the Yorkshire Building Society. These are the details that I have added to post 7.

Yorkshire BS Christmas Saver

Interest rate: 3.5% gross p.a. fixed
Monthly payment: Minimum opening balance £10, can make payments as and when you wish subject to maximum balance of £1,200
Miss any payments: Yes, see above
Penalty-free withdrawals: No, you cannot make any withdrawals until 1st December 2010 (except in the case of critical illness, terminal illness, death of an account holder or by court order)
How to open account: Branch or post
Special conditions: Transfers from other YBS accounts are permitted. On 1st December 2010, the balance will be transferred to an easy access account paying a much lower interest rate. If you exceed the £1,200 maximum balance then the whole balance will be transferred to an easy access account.

If I am reading the details on their website correctly then you could be sneaky and use this as a fixed rate 3.5% instant access account for £1,200. You could open the account with £1,200. Then if you need the money back, you could add £1 and the entire balance would be transferred to an easy access account without any interest penalty.

Of course this is against the spirit of what Yorkshire BS intended and I guess that if lots of people started doing this then they might change the terms and conditions. Also, it is possible that the detailed terms and conditions prevent this.

The other possible sneaky use of this account would be to open it with £10 and then if 3.5% seems a very attractive interest rate next year then you could add £1,190 whenever you wish.

Alternatively, you could use this account as a £100 per month regular saver. I think that is what Yorkshire BS intended!

All the best,
SS2

Thanks for this, will pop to branch today to see if i can open it.

Biggles

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

Barclays Wealth Monthly Saver

Interest rate: 5% gross p.a. variable from 13th July 2009
Monthly payment: £100-£2,000
Miss any payments: Yes, miss as many payments as you like
Penalty-free withdrawals: For 30 days after any withdrawal, the interest rate falls to 0.1%
How to open account: Online (new Barclays Wealth customers) or by telephone (new and existing customers)
Special conditions: Terms and conditions provided on application. If your account is based overseas then it is not covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme. See the compensation section of this Barclays Wealth page.

It also seems, when you get deeper into the application process, that the Monthly Saver is dependent on opening an iBank account with Barclays Wealth Intnl, and that will involve a minimum of either a) a min balance of £10,000 or b) a min balance of of £5,000 plus a £5 per month fee.

Special_Saver2

I have just tried playing with the application system too and I have managed to find the terms and conditions online here. It looks like you can open this account on its own by selecting iBank Saver and then Sterling then Monthly Saver. You have the option of basing the account in London.

The account is only available to people from overseas or to people from the UK who intend to move overseas in the next 2 months. It is therefore not going to be useful to the majority of people reading this thread. I am going to delete the entry from the first page of this thread.

SS2

Milarky

http://www.dunfermline.com/savings/monthly-saver-5.aspx

eMoneyfacts says:

MONTHLY SAVER Issue 6 launched w.e.f. 30.12.09: an instant access branch based regular savings account with a minimum monthly investment of £10 (maximum £250) paying 2.00% yearly. Underlying rate guaranteed to be at least Bank Base Rate plus 1.50% until 31.1.12. A further conditional 2.00% bonus paid until 31.1.11 provided at least 11 monthly payments and no more than one withdrawal made during the first year (bonus paid on first anniversary only).

So it's '4%' including bonus for 13 months then BOE+1.5% for the next 12 months. A bit complicated and watch out for Dunfermline paying the bonus for 11 months in the first year (i.e. their 'bonus period' may not be concurrent with the 'account year' but not stated as such in T&Cs)

Update: Phoned up the indicated number. They say account cannot be opened by post (a condition of that account, apparently) So locals to Scotland only...

rb10

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

Barclays Monthly Savings
[...]
Note: If you want to see your Monthly Savings balance online and you do not have a Barclays current account, then you can open a Barclays e-savings Reward account to get online banking access.[/SIZE][/FONT]

I have opened a Monthly Savings and an E-Savings Reward, but have still not had any online banking details through. I phoned them up, and they said they'd send them to me (one code by post and another by email), but so far I've had neither.

Has anyone else had similar trouble registering for online banking with Barclays, and if so, how did you resolve it?

Special_Saver2

Hi Folks,

Here is this weekend's update:

- Dunfermline BS Monthly Saver Issue 6 added to post 4

Nothing else to add or delete.

Have a great New Year!

I will do another update next update next weekend.

SS2

P.S. Sorry rb10, I don't know the answer to your question above.