Citibank closing - please help me understand offers

GeeBeeCee

Thank you Rawrzy. Your input is in depth, very helpful & much appreciated. I won't be back home for a couple of weeks so Ulster doing things by post might be a problem. Argh. 

& Thank you Born_Again. That list is a lot more decipherable than the ones I've seen prior. Plenty of food for thought!

Eco_Miser

GeeBeeCee said:

Once upon a time this was normal banking. Now there's clauses, demands, limits & rules that make people jump through hoops. I just want to bank my money, use what I need and earn interest on what's in there.

I'll just point out that there have always been accounts that offered more interest if you followed all the extra clauses, demands, limits & rules you characterise as jumping through hoops. That's also normal banking and there are massive threads on the Savings board where savers discuss the easiest ways of jumping through those hoops. But if you don't want extra money for a few minutes of extra work, that's ok too.

[Deleted User]

I'd suggest a Chase Current and Savings account to give you something to start with - pretty easy to open with 1% cashback, 1% current account interest and just over 4% savings interest - all available monthly.

No obligations or requirements. You can then move as you see fit. Just be aware it's app only and no branch access. 

Middle_of_the_Road

GeeBeeCee said:

Thank you Rawrzy. Your input is in depth, very helpful & much appreciated. I won't be back home for a couple of weeks so Ulster doing things by post might be a problem. Argh. 

You may well be able to complete the Ulster Bank application on-line. I recently opened the account, and the Loyalty Savings account (the one that pays 5.2%). Applied on-line, and the electronic identity process was done on a smartphone. If you can't do this you usually have to wait for application forms and send in ID, which can be a bit of a slow process with Ulster.

It could be a good account for your needs, and being part of the Natwest group, you can use their branch network. It's worth pointing out that it's not the current account that pays the Interest, it's the Loyalty saver, which is easy to set up and transfer between it and the current account.
I seem to remember the interest is paid yearly on the first working day in January.