Safest places

ColdIron

ChilliBob said:

Interesting, so you're saying Yorkshire BS on a likely to be a safer bet than household names like Barclays or Natawest? 

They are both as safe as each other in terms of protection, but it would be trivial for the FSCS to cover a small building society compared to the much larger Barclays. Either way you would get your cash back

eskbanker

ChilliBob said:

Thanks. Linked to this does anyone know the qualification for life event in terms of the £1mn coverage for 12 months? Basically I have been made redundant and have to sell shares I own in the company, for which I'll get a lump sum I need to tell them to deposit somewhere. I guess NS&I and just other building society and bank accounts I have at least heard of! 

https://www.fscs.org.uk/how-we-work/claims-process/temporary-high-balances/ includes redundancy, but that doesn't necessarily include a resultant equity sale, although the use of 'including' suggests that it's not a comprehensive list:

Certain life events could have caused a temporary high balance in your bank account, including:

• Real estate transactions (property purchase, sale proceeds, equity release - relating to your main residence only. This does not have to be a UK property but must relate to your main residence).
• Benefits payable under an insurance policy.
• Personal injury compensation (unlimited amount).
• Disability or incapacity (state benefits).
• Claim for compensation for wrongful conviction.
• Claim for compensation for unfair dismissal.
• Redundancy (voluntary or compulsory).
• Marriage or civil partnership.
• Divorce or dissolution of their civil partnership.
• Benefits payable on retirement.
• Benefits payable on death.
• A claim for compensation in respect of a person's death.
• Inheritance.
• Proceeds of a deceased's estate held by their personal representative.

Albermarle

https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings-accounts/
When look at comparison sites like this , the ones usually with the best interest rates are banks that are relatively unknown to the general public , plus a sometimes a couple of building societies . Normally they are not banks that offer current accounts , credit cards etc but they offer savings accounts that they use to generate money to lend out to small businesses etc 
Many posters on this forum are happy to use such banks as BLME, Al Rayan bank, Aldermore, Paragon , Charters etc . They are all fully covered for £85K

Also -https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6212469/avoid-ns-i-at-the-minute-in-my-opinion-due-to-customer-service-issues#latest

ChilliBob

Thanks, that's a pretty big concern. It seems I need to toss up safety (NS&I) against less safety, say Natawest (my current bank) but better service. Dilemma!

Yes I did think I could use the redundancy route if necessary via the above. Thanks 

Albermarle

You are not going to get rich on the savings rates at Natwest - 0.01 %

ChilliBob

This is very true, my current bank. I need to select probably three or four places to start an account pronto and give the details out so will have a good dig around. 

md258

It sounds like you have more than £85k, in which case why don't you split it between a number of (unconnected) banks? That way it would all be covered under FSCS and you'd get reasonable interest.

If you're planning to invest some, make sure you do before April so that you can use this year's ISA allowance.

JGB1955

I've have had accounts with Paragon, Aldermore, Charter, Oak North and Marcus over the years, and had no problems with any of them.  They may not be 'High Street' names but that's not anything I would be concerned about.  I've even snuck across the border and invested in Principality Building Society!

ChilliBob

md258 said:

It sounds like you have more than £85k, in which case why don't you split it between a number of (unconnected) banks? That way it would all be covered under FSCS and you'd get reasonable interest.

If you're planning to invest some, make sure you do before April so that you can use this year's ISA allowance.

Yeah, I will split it, but it'll require several accounts, obviously asking someone to pay onto a tone of accounts isn't on. I figure the 'life event' side of things which covers 1mn, split into a few accounts will do to start.
I spoke to to Natawest, my current provider, to see if there was a limit on what the current account could receive, there isn't, however, I can only shift out  20k at a time which is a bit of a blocker. 

My current thinking is a few institutions to star with, then perhaps the savings platform of H&L, which seems to allow 100k push in per day from what I can see. I want to open an account first though to see what sort of diversity they have