Branch easy-ish access deposit a/c - any ideas?

refluxer

As mentioned above, it all depends on which branches you have nearby. If you happen to live near a large city and can make use of a high-paying easy access account such as that currently offered by Metro, then you're laughing. If you don't though, then the decision can get a bit harder.

The town I live in, for example, used to have branches from all of the main high-street banks but has now been left with just one bank and two local building societies - one national and one local. Of those, the local building society offers the highest rate on an easy access account you can open and/or manage in a branch and that is 2.85%. You even get an old-school passbook ! The equivalent accounts from the other two are currently 2.25% to 2.35%, depending on the balance.

So as you can see, that's a lot less than the 5%+ you can get in the best easy access accounts. I've actually gained quite a few over the last few years - all of them were opened online and most are now paying over 5% (The ones that aren't simply have £1 in to maintain membership).

Thinking about all of those easy access accounts, I've never needed to contact any the providers about any of them - I tend to find that the accounts that do need the odd query are the more complicated accounts, such as cash ISAs. 

We're all different though and, at the end of the day, it's your money and you have to be comfortable with your choice. Let us know what your choices are and people might be able to advise on how good the customer service is for each option.

Hoenir

Coventry Building Society is excellent for those seeking branch based customer services. Other building societies are likely to be equally as good.