Instant access savings recomended?

tiger135

I have read issues with ulster, aldemore was instant and no letters. cahoot i am still waiting for a letter. Virgin quick as well.

Bridlington1

tiger135 said:

I have read issues with ulster, aldemore was instant and no letters. cahoot i am still waiting for a letter. Virgin quick as well.

I've found Ulster, like a few others, to be one of those banks where the first account you open takes ages, after that it's very quick. I opened a current account with them early this year and it took weeks to open and included me signing and returning a copy of the application form I'd filled in online. None of it was difficult to do but there were some delays between each step of applying.

When their Loyalty Saver began to look competitive a few months ago I opened the account in the app, the application took about a minute and the account was fully active the next day.

tiger135

I just want to use quick and easy ones. Its only a instant savings account  I give them my money, each day they have it they use it to invest or whatever, take a cut and give me a fixed percent. I can decide any day to have it back and they calculate what is owed and give it back.

Albermarle

tiger135 said:

I just want to use quick and easy ones. Its only a instant savings account  I give them my money, each day they have it they use it to invest or whatever, take a cut and give me a fixed percent. I can decide any day to have it back and they calculate what is owed and give it back.

Normally easy access accounts have a variable interest rate. To get a fixed rate you need a fixed rate/fixed term account, which you do not want.

Albermarle

Bridlington1 said:

tiger135 said:

I have read issues with ulster, aldemore was instant and no letters. cahoot i am still waiting for a letter. Virgin quick as well.

I've found Ulster, like a few others, to be one of those banks where the first account you open takes ages, after that it's very quick. I opened a current account with them early this year and it took weeks to open and included me signing and returning a copy of the application form I'd filled in online. None of it was difficult to do but there were some delays between each step of applying.

When their Loyalty Saver began to look competitive a few months ago I opened the account in the app, the application took about a minute and the account was fully active the next day.

There was a thread where a poster wanted to close an Ulster savings account and were told they would have to go to a branch in Northern Ireland to do that ! I think it was a misunderstanding though .

tiger135

I'm tempted to just put it all in one account , surely if say virgin had massive problems in 6 months it would be seriously bad luck. 
Almost like a sign that  I'm not meant to have money!

eskbanker

tiger135 said:

I'm tempted to just put it all in one account , surely if say virgin had massive problems in 6 months it would be seriously bad luck. 
Almost like a sign that  I'm not meant to have money!

If you can't be bothered opening multiple accounts then putting all your eggs in one basket is certainly a viable option, and safe too....











....as long as that basket is NS&I (directly protected by the Treasury rather than the £85K-limited FSCS)!

tiger135

I think their rate is 3.65 pretty poor. I guess I only need 3 accounts to be on the safe side. 

eskbanker

tiger135 said:

I think their rate is 3.65 pretty poor.

So do I, but it's a trade-off between convenience and return.

tiger135 said:

I guess I only need 3 accounts to be on the safe side. 

Yes, if you're only looking to cover £255K, excluding interest....

Bridlington1

tiger135 said:

I'm tempted to just put it all in one account , surely if say virgin had massive problems in 6 months it would be seriously bad luck. 
Almost like a sign that  I'm not meant to have money!

I'd very much advise against putting the whole lot in one account. Aside from the FSCS limits to consider there is also the chance that some unforeseen technical problem could arise when you want to make a withdrawal, such as the bank suffering technical issues, blocked payments, having your account frozen etc that would make accessing the money very difficult.

Although suffering a TSB 2018-style meltdown is very unlikely, it it not too uncommon for payments to get blocked/ accounts frozen from time to time and for banks to suffer the occasional technical issues. This can happen with any bank/building society. Whilst by having your money spread out over multiple banks/building societies you wouldn't reduce your risk of suffering any of the above issues, you would however reduce the effects that any of the above issues could potentially have on you since if one bank has technical issues or freezes your account, the chances are at least one of your other accounts will be working as normal, allowing you to still be able to access some of your money if this sort of scenario arose.