HL Active Savings Account

solidpro

I've been spending a few years flitting savings, emergency fund money, etc between different bank accounts and it's manageable but very messy. I have to use a seperate spreadsheet to manage it all and it's easy for a bank or society to reduce a rate without you noticing and then you're losing money to inflation.

At the moment we're trying to accumulate some savings to contribute to buying a more expensive house than we have, mortgage free, and our ISAs and PBs are already maxxed out. Plus already have accounts that feed in the maximum monthly deposit over a year to get some silly interest amount (thinking about 8% with Virgin Money and Skipton off the top of my head).

Then I found HL (which we already used for some SIPPS) was offering an "Active Savings" section where it lists a long list of financial institutions offering savings accounts with reasonable interest all via the HL portal. I took out a Paragon account via the HL portal and I just login occasionally to see if anything else has come along with better rates and I can reasonably easily switch the money between them without going to the organisation directly and jumping though all the hoops.

Currently getting 4.27% AER on instant access for up to £500k. For the balance between easy access, the simplicity (all in one place, easily switched) and lack of other options, it seems pretty good. Am I missing something?

MK62

Not missing anything as such.........the rates are rarely market leading, but that's the cost of the extra convenience - eg, best HLAS EA rate atm is 4.19%, whereas you can get 4.55% at several places direct - not a big deal if it's a small balance, but a max balance of £85k means a £306pa difference.......only you can decide if the convenience is worth it to you.

solidpro

I've got bank accounts with different places coming out of my ears, and I know technically these are more, but the management layer of the HL portal and the marginal difference, probably would be worth £300 a year on £85k - as long as the savings were beating inflation (just trying to keep up with that for a purchase in about 3 years)....thanks

Section62

solidpro said:

...
Currently getting 4.27% AER on instant access for up to £500k. For the balance between easy access, the simplicity (all in one place, easily switched) and lack of other options, it seems pretty good. Am I missing something?

There can be some lag in paying money in and taking money out, which potentially means money sitting in the holding account not earning interest (in addition to not getting the top rates available).

This is less of an issue for long-term savings, but is more so if you move money around regularly - and it also means the money isn't available 'instantly' as it is with some of the direct options.

I've used the HL platform a few times for fixed rates - one advantage has been the availability of shorter-term fixed rates that are harder to find (or simply not available) going direct.  For example, I've fixed for 3 or 9 months with rates better than easy access when I've needed the money back before the end of the tax year.

akm2018

solidpro said:

 I just login occasionally to see if anything else has come along with better rates and I can reasonably easily switch the money between them without going to the organisation directly and jumping though all the hoops.

Currently getting 4.27% AER on instant access for up to £500k. For the balance between easy access, the simplicity (all in one place, easily switched) and lack of other options, it seems pretty good. Am I missing something?

I don't think they've ever pulled a "you must log in to see the best rates" - the rates are all there at https://www.hl.co.uk/savings/latest-savings-rates-and-products

And no, as everyone's said, you're not missing anything - you 'pay' by accepting ~0.5% below market-leading rates, and you get convenience.

Middle_of_the_Road

Although I have a SIPP with HL, I would not use Active savings. The rates aren't good enough, and there is a question if whether or not they report interest payments to HMRC.

newatc

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Although I have a SIPP with HL, I would not use Active savings. The rates aren't good enough, and there is a question if whether or not they report interest payments to HMRC.

My understanding is they do not report the interest to HMRC. They told me that only Coventry BS, at that time, sent details to HMRC.

I found that to be unsatisfactory and have been moving money out as and when they mature. 
I will continue to hold Cash ISAs within the "Active Savings" umbrella for the convenience.

LHW99

I think my only issues with HL active savings was having to open an S&S ISA first to transfer a cash ISA into, then open a cash ISA account to transfer it on into whatever cash ISA I wanted. i find that interest is sent to the S&S ISA, and also has to be transferred, rather than it just going into the cash ISA.

There may be a button somewhere for "reinvest in this account not that one" - but I haven't found it yet.

friolento

Although I have a SIPP  with HL, I have only used HLAS to get their sign up bonus. I would have lost out on thousands over the years if I had used their savings accounts instead of regularly shifting my funds into Regular Savers and other top savings accounts. I also require true instant access for large amounts of cash on a regular basis, plus I don’t like delays in interest being credited whilst funds are being moved about in HLAS. Sure, I have to manage more accounts but with the help of a personal finance and a password manager, I find this easy to do. I also enjoy the feeling of being in control. It’s personal choice though - do what feels right for yourself.

Same for Raisin and similar concierge services - Flagstone, AJ Bell, The Private Office etc

Snot

LHW99 said:

I think my only issues with HL active savings was having to open an S&S ISA first to transfer a cash ISA into, then open a cash ISA account to transfer it on into whatever cash ISA I wanted. i find that interest is sent to the S&S ISA, and also has to be transferred, rather than it just going into the cash ISA.

There may be a button somewhere for "reinvest in this account not that one" - but I haven't found it yet.

My interest goes directly into the Cash ISA, I don’t have a S&S ISA with them.