M&S Bank Everyday Savings Account

jo040003

Couldn't find a thread for this, so starting a new one. 

Has anyone had any experience with the M&S Bank Everyday Savings Account? I'm interested in opening it. Is M&S Bank good in general? What's the application like? Is the Mobile App any good? How quickly do they open the account (for a new customer).

I know I can get a better rate elsewhere (and I do have a better rate elsewhere), but I'm also interested in opening this account. 

Bridlington1

jo040003 said:

I know I can get a better rate elsewhere (and I do have a better rate elsewhere), but I'm also interested in opening this account. 

The account only pays 1.35%, there's plenty of accounts paying over 3 times that elsewhere so I'd advise against going with this one. For better alternatives @soulsaver maintains a list of the top easy access accounts. See:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6392978/top-easy-access-acs-ranked-top-of-the-pots-no-chat/p1

Has anyone had any experience with the M&S Bank Everyday Savings Account? I'm interested in opening it. Is M&S Bank good in general? What's the application like? Is the Mobile App any good? How quickly do they open the account (for a new customer).

I've never opened this account myself but I did open a cash ISA with them a year or two back as it accepts £1 deposits by direct debit. They weren't the quickest to open and did send out a lot of paper I found.

wmb194

jo040003 said:

Couldn't find a thread for this, so starting a new one. 

Has anyone had any experience with the M&S Bank Everyday Savings Account? I'm interested in opening it. Is M&S Bank good in general? What's the application like? Is the Mobile App any good? How quickly do they open the account (for a new customer).

I know I can get a better rate elsewhere (and I do have a better rate elsewhere), but I'm also interested in opening this account. 

M&S Bank is a brand of HSBC so its internet banking and app is very similar to the HSBC and First Direct experience so it'll be a bit clunky but it'll work well enough.

Section62

jo040003 said:

Has anyone had any experience with the M&S Bank Everyday Savings Account?

I opened one when they were closing their current accounts, just to have continuity of custom and an active online profile in case they ever launched a new account worth having.

Within about 6 months of opening I started getting nagging letters that my £1 balance and lack of transactions meant they were going to close the account unless I contacted them to say I still wanted it.  I started making the occasional deposit in the account, but the letters only reduced when the balance went over about £40.  I've been thinking of closing the account as the loss of interest cost is probably exceeding the benefit of saving some hassle in setting up online banking again, in the unlikely event M&S launch anything I consider worth having.

The internet banking is so much like HSBC's that (if you also use HSBC's) you have to have a different username for M&S because it seems to see the HSBC one and tells you it is already in use.

And +1 lots of paper when you set M&S accounts up.

jo040003

wmb194 said:

M&S Bank is a brand of HSBC so its internet banking and app is very similar to the HSBC and First Direct experience so it'll be a bit clunky but it'll work well enough.

Ok, that's fine then. I'm happy with my HSBC App, so good to know it'll be similar. 

Section62 said:

Within about 6 months of opening I started getting nagging letters that my £1 balance and lack of transactions meant they were going to close the account unless I contacted them to say I still wanted it.  I started making the occasional deposit in the account, but the letters only reduced when the balance went over about £40.  I've been thinking of closing the account as the loss of interest cost is probably exceeding the benefit of saving some hassle in setting up online banking again, in the unlikely event M&S launch anything I consider worth having.

And +1 lots of paper when you set M&S accounts up.

I'll bear that in mind, and try and put a largish deposit into the account.

Nice to see they send out lots of totally necessary letters when an account is set up /s

Section62

jo040003 said:

Section62 said:

Within about 6 months of opening I started getting nagging letters that my £1 balance and lack of transactions meant they were going to close the account unless I contacted them to say I still wanted it.  I started making the occasional deposit in the account, but the letters only reduced when the balance went over about £40.  I've been thinking of closing the account as the loss of interest cost is probably exceeding the benefit of saving some hassle in setting up online banking again, in the unlikely event M&S launch anything I consider worth having.

And +1 lots of paper when you set M&S accounts up.

I'll bear that in mind, and try and put a largish deposit into the account.
...

Just for clarity... my point wasn't that it was a good idea to open the account with such a poor rate and put a largish deposit into it - rather, that as an account to put a £1 foot-in-the-door into it may be more hassle than it is worth.