e-ISAs - generally nervous

Moots2024

My wife are I think (and I have been told) pretty cash rush at the moment - though we have plans to change that a bit in due course. For the time being we have used our ISA allowances to the full up to the end of 2024/2025 and have further "none wrapped" cash available to save in 2025/2026. To date we have always made a conscious decision to open accounts with providers that enable us to open "in branch" and manage in person thereafter.

We have more or less run out of such providers and are contemplating opening accounts with online only providers for the first time. We are spreading risk at present with the £85k threshold in mind and that is what is pushing us away from simply opening further accounts with providers we already use.

However, a skim through a number of threads here makes me very nervous of being able to manage "e" only accounts easily. I am prepared to lose some interest in return for confidence in being able to manage my money easily.

wmb194

Moots2024 said:

My wife are I think (and I have been told) pretty cash rush at the moment - though we have plans to change that a bit in due course. For the time being we have used our ISA allowances to the full up to the end of 2024/2025 and have further "none wrapped" cash available to save in 2025/2026. To date we have always made a conscious decision to open accounts with providers that enable us to open "in branch" and manage in person thereafter.

We have more or less run out of such providers and are contemplating opening accounts with online only providers for the first time. We are spreading risk at present with the £85k threshold in mind and that is what is pushing us away from simply opening further accounts with providers we already use.

However, a skim through a number of threads here makes me very nervous of being able to manage "e" only accounts easily. I am prepared to lose some interest in return for confidence in being able to manage my money easily.

If it makes you anxious stick to what you're happy with. 

Having said this, now that we're allowed to open as many Isas of each type as we like every tax year you could dip a toe in and build your confidence. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

masonic

There are a small number of oddball providers without a banking licence who are the subject of these threads. Alongside these there are a large number of savings banks that operate much more like the conventional model, just without a physical branch network. Some will provide phone-based, or postal facilities if you are concerned about online-only.

Barkin

I'm quite the opposite. I only use accounts that can be opened/managed online.

I accept that there may be times when a branch visit may be needed: eg MrsB had to do so recently, to register a POA, but for day to day savings & banking accounts? No thanks.

clairec666

Have you considered smaller providers which might not have a branch local to you but aren't just "online only" accounts?

Albermarle

As said, most of the dialogue on the forum is about a handful of newish savings providers, with a little bit unconventional ways of working.
Also when you look at the top of the best buy tables, there are some providers who are pretty obscure even for some of the forum regulars.
However as mentioned there are plenty of online only providers who operate like a traditional bank/building society, just on a smaller scale. They are not mentioned so often on here, as they offer normally a good service.
Also you have a few regional  building societies, who mainly operate online as they want national coverage.
You could have a look at ;
Paragon ; Aldermore; Charter; Coventry BS; Leeds BS; Kent Reliance; Ford Money to name a few

clairec666

I can understand why people are wary of online banks they've never heard of. And often you don't get a normal account number and sort code which can feel a bit unsettling. I've got accounts with Skipton and Principality (excellent service from both, and decent rates too) but it's a bit unnerving when you have to make a payment into a generic account rather than your own, use your account number as a reference number, and trust that they direct it into your account. I'd recommend both of them, and Coventry too (which does do normal sort codes etc.)

Albermarle

 And often you don't get a normal account number and sort code which can feel a bit unsettling. 

It can, but if my memory serves me correctly I can not recall any thread on this forum, where money has been lost permanently due to this.

In most business it is normal to pay into the sellers/suppliers bank account, rather than sending them money directly.

clairec666

Albermarle said:

 And often you don't get a normal account number and sort code which can feel a bit unsettling. 

It can, but if my memory serves me correctly I can not recall any thread on this forum, where money has been lost permanently due to this.

In most business it is normal to pay into the sellers/suppliers bank account, rather than sending them money directly.

I've never had any problems with this, but my parents (and probably quite a few people of their generation) were put off by this and were worried they could accidentally send their money to the wrong person. They've settled for a lower interest rate elsewhere.

friolento

clairec666 said:

I can understand why people are wary of online banks they've never heard of. And often you don't get a normal account number and sort code which can feel a bit unsettling. I've got accounts with Skipton and Principality (excellent service from both, and decent rates too) but it's a bit unnerving when you have to make a payment into a generic account rather than your own, use your account number as a reference number, and trust that they direct it into your account. I'd recommend both of them, and Coventry too (which does do normal sort codes etc.)

 Nearly all of these, if not actually all by now, are subject to CoP checks now. In some cases, you have to wait for the next working day before the CoP check works but in all cases, you can just make a small payment to confirm you have actually set up your payee in accordance with the instructions of your ISA provider. 

masonic

clairec666 said:

Albermarle said:

 And often you don't get a normal account number and sort code which can feel a bit unsettling. 

It can, but if my memory serves me correctly I can not recall any thread on this forum, where money has been lost permanently due to this.

In most business it is normal to pay into the sellers/suppliers bank account, rather than sending them money directly.

I've never had any problems with this, but my parents (and probably quite a few people of their generation) were put off by this and were worried they could accidentally send their money to the wrong person. They've settled for a lower interest rate elsewhere.

I'm not really understanding the problem. In the old days you had some accounts with six digit sort codes and eight digit account numbers, and others requiring a roll number or reference. A mistake with either numbering system would result in a misdirected payment and there was no confirmation of payee. The solution was to send a small test payment and confirm this was received before sending a larger payment. It didn't matter whether or not it was a "normal" account number. The only way to avoid the situation was to use a savings account with the same bank as your current account so that you could make an internal transfer (also this was often quicker than a 3 working day BACS clearing cycle).

Now we have Confirmation of Payee, which has even been extended to accounts that require a roll number or reference, with savings accounts assigning account names based on reference field. So this is a problem that resides in the past. In fact, banks seem to prevent you sending payments to accounts where you have not specified sort code, account number and reference where it is required, and will throw up warnings if they cannot verify the name on the account matches.