Hargreaves Lansdown active savings

NannaH

I have a Sipp and ISA with HL and today noticed the Active savings hub,  basically you can have various savings accounts via this hub so you can just use one log in.
They have an Easy access account with Allica paying 4.4% currently, so for 5 minutes faffing online,  our joint EA account paying less than 2% is now in there paying 4.4%,  you can put from £1 - £250k in there, usual fscs protection applies. 

There are EA, limited access and fixed rates available. 

Section62

NannaH said:

I have a Sipp and ISA with HL and today noticed the Active savings hub,  basically you can have various savings accounts via this hub so you can just use one log in.
They have an Easy access account with Allica paying 4.4% currently, so for 5 minutes faffing online,  our joint EA account paying less than 2% is now in there paying 4.4%,  you can put from £1 - £250k in there, usual fscs protection applies. 

There are EA, limited access and fixed rates available. 

Two things to note -

1)  There can be delays transferring money to/from the 'hub' and the chosen account.  In the case of fixed rate accounts this can sometimes be a week or more.  Money in the 'hub' earns no interest.

2) From time to time HL do cashback incentive offers, but so far these have only been for customers signing up to Active Savings for the first time.  Applying for an Active Savings account when there is no offer on will probably rule you out for one of these incentives for all time.

jlfrs01

I've been in the ASH since it first launched. Apart from being dead handy to manage, I like the way they'll do the hard work for me by identifying the most competitive accounts to save in and the filters make it easy to identify instant access, notice accounts, etc. 

Bravepants

Great for setting up a savings ladder in one handy place.

Malchester

I have signed up for this but have never opened an account as the interest rates are generally quite a bit lower than funding direct. To me any ease of use does not compensate for lower interest 

Section62

Malchester said:

I have signed up for this but have never opened an account as the interest rates are generally quite a bit lower than funding direct. To me any ease of use does not compensate for lower interest 

They do sometimes have products you can't get direct from the bank - for example there's currently a 6-month fix at 5.55% from Charter which Charter themselves aren't offering if you go direct.  I've seen this happen a fair bit for <1 year fixes.

Stargunner

jlfrs01 said:

I've been in the ASH since it first launched. Apart from being dead handy to manage, I like the way they'll do the hard work for me by identifying the most competitive accounts to save in and the filters make it easy to identify instant access, notice accounts, etc. 

Their savings accounts are not normally the most competitive though.

jimjames

Stargunner said:

jlfrs01 said:

I've been in the ASH since it first launched. Apart from being dead handy to manage, I like the way they'll do the hard work for me by identifying the most competitive accounts to save in and the filters make it easy to identify instant access, notice accounts, etc. 

Their savings accounts are not normally the most competitive though.

I suppose if you otherwise have a 2% account which hasn't been a competitive rate for quite some time then missing the odd part of a percent probably isn't an issue as you'll still be earning way more interest.

Rich1976

It is a good tool to use even if the rates are not necessarily the top.

handy for existing HL customers as can see everything in one place however the downside for us is they do not allow joint accounts which may or may not be an issue depending how you arrange your finances.

newatc

It is true that they mostly are not top of the market rates but they are not far off and the ease of doing it without the hassle of setting up new accounts makes that worthwhile (including the loss of a few days interest while in the hub) in my opinion. I use it mostly for putting money in my wife's name which has had some tax advantages but it provide her an easy mechanism to continue if I depart before her (she is not financially savvy). 

NannaH

For unlimited withdrawals,  that Allica account is hard to beat, we may or may not need to take out money so a lower rate is worth the peace of mind,  it’s only £5k. 
There are much better rates elsewhere for limited access and fixed rates, I’ve just got a fixed cash ISA with Natwest for 5.65%. 
I’ll be looking again in September when a YBS rainy day account matures and in October when an Investec fix matures.   

I’m a non earner so can get more than £1k interest tax free,  this is the 1st time we’ve ever had enough in savings (and high enough rates) to go over that.  We had £600 of interest between us for 22-23, which was a lovely boost. That should be more than doubled this year.