Which account for easy access £20,000? 18 February at 8:32PM in Savings & investments 12 replies 1.3K views

Adamc

I have my emergency fund in Premium Bonds (20K) but also I have 3-4K available in my debit card account that my salary gets paid in to. 

I am looking to move it into a reasonably easy access account with a decent interest rate. 

I'm not averse to putting some in a fixed term savings account. 

Any suggestions? 

I pay 20% tax and bank with Halifax and Nationwide. 

dealyboy

Pension? S&S ISA?

Adamc

dealyboy said:

Pension? S&S ISA?

I'd like it to be easy to access in case needed for emergency. 

wmb194

Adamc said:

I have my emergency fund in Premium Bonds (20K) but also I have 3-4K available in my debit card account that my salary gets paid in to. 

I am looking to move it into a reasonably easy access account with a decent interest rate. 

I'm not averse to putting some in a fixed term savings account. 

Any suggestions? 

I pay 20% tax and bank with Halifax and Nationwide. 

Just look through the best buy tables.

https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings-accounts/

Bigwheels1111

Just check that it’s say instant access or easy access.
From memory Tandem & Marcus near instant transfer back to your account.
But others do do weekend transactions or take 2 days for money.
Find the first and second place possibilities and ask on here which one will meet your needs.

Stubod

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/

Adamc

Thanks. Currently 3.1% with Cynergy for easy access and on 20K savings that would fall well below the 1K(?) I can earn in interest tax free. 

Albermarle

What is the personal savings allowance? (moneysavingexpert.com)

eskbanker

Adamc said:

Thanks. Currently 3.1% with Cynergy for easy access and on 20K savings that would fall well below the 1K(?) I can earn in interest tax free. 

The £1K 'allowance' (technically a nil-rate band) isn't a target, it's a threshold!  In other words, it makes more sense to try to maximise your interest return rather than aiming for a specific figure that you're unlikely to reach with £20K.

Since you'd earlier said "I'm not averse to putting some in a fixed term savings account" then you'd presumably want to look beyond the easy access products on those pages anyway, for at least some of the money, although an emergency fund should obviously be accessible, so restricted access accounts would only be suitable for however much of that pot you wouldn't need immediate access to....

Band7

You shouldn't let the tax tail wag the interest dog. If you are a BR tax payer, you would need to get 5% AER on your entire £20k - something that is not possible with current interest rates, not even with fixed-term accounts. But even if you did manage to get more than £1,000 interest, you'd still make extra money on the interest above £1,000, as nobody pays 100% tax.

If you are a HR tax payer, or expect to become one during the time you expect to hold the £20k, you can bust your PSA, and you might be better advised to put at least some of your money into an ISA.

Zerforax

You won't be able to access the funds from Premium bonds immediately in the case of an emergency. One option would be to make sure you have either a credit card and/or overdraft if you need funds asap.

Others have provided links to the best easy access accounts. Cynergy or Chase (or plenty of others) are ease to use and would do the job and provide 3%+ in interest.