Ulster Bank easy access Saver - 4.5% interest, but is it lost forever if you go under £5k?

thefatcat6

It’s not right that MSE has this down as an easy access account - it is a limited access account

Rheumatoid

thefatcat6 said:

It’s not right that MSE has this down as an easy access account - it is a limited access account

No more limited than any other bank account. You can take 20k a day without trouble and apparently much more if you answer a few questions.

nd87

I agree with other comments on this thread. This account is deceptive and i am glad to see it is no longer being recommended. By default, transfer limits are so low as to be useless. Yes you can sign up for “biometrics” on the app, but this is not a given. My funds were trapped for a couple of weeks while I transferred £750 out of the account per day and the app build up a “profile” on me. Only then was i able to increase the transfer limit and clear out the the account. Their support teams are useless, aren’t familiar with the account, and couldn’t even do transfers via telephone banking. Nor could they close the account and return the funds as their process only allowed this to happen when the funds were being sent to another Ulster Bank account. They market this account UK wide but you cannot transact via Natwest nor RBS branches. The single worst experience I’ve had with a bank. Thank goodness i didnt have to make a major purchase such as a car or house as it would have fallen through. Avoid this account!

friolento

nd87 said:

I agree with other comments on this thread. This account is deceptive and i am glad to see it is no longer being recommended. By default, transfer limits are so low as to be useless. Yes you can sign up for “biometrics” on the app, but this is not a given. My funds were trapped for a couple of weeks while I transferred £750 out of the account per day and the app build up a “profile” on me. Only then was i able to increase the transfer limit and clear out the the account. Their support teams are useless, aren’t familiar with the account, and couldn’t even do transfers via telephone banking. Nor could they close the account and return the funds as their process only allowed this to happen when the funds were being sent to another Ulster Bank account. They market this account UK wide but you cannot transact via Natwest nor RBS branches. The single worst experience I’ve had with a bank. Thank goodness i didnt have to make a major purchase such as a car or house as it would have fallen through. Avoid this account!

I am sorry to read about your experience - but it's a great example of what can happen if you don't read and understand the published  terms pertaining to an account.

Middle_of_the_Road

nd87 said:

I agree with other comments on this thread. This account is deceptive and i am glad to see it is no longer being recommended. By default, transfer limits are so low as to be useless. Yes you can sign up for “biometrics” on the app, but this is not a given. My funds were trapped for a couple of weeks while I transferred £750 out of the account per day and the app build up a “profile” on me. Only then was i able to increase the transfer limit and clear out the the account. Their support teams are useless, aren’t familiar with the account, and couldn’t even do transfers via telephone banking. Nor could they close the account and return the funds as their process only allowed this to happen when the funds were being sent to another Ulster Bank account. They market this account UK wide but you cannot transact via Natwest nor RBS branches. The single worst experience I’ve had with a bank. Thank goodness i didnt have to make a major purchase such as a car or house as it would have fallen through. Avoid this account!

Sounds like the people having issues with this account don't have an Ulster current account, which might explain these withdrawal problems. I've had no problems with this account or their other savings account, having only opened them after switching a spare account to Ulster for the switch incentive.
Opening a savings account in isolation with a new provider can result in these sort of delays, especially with traditional banks. So your warning to avoid the account might be warranted for those who are expecting everything to happen instantly.

refluxer

nd87 said:

you can sign up for “biometrics” on the app, but this is not a given.

Can you explain what you mean by this ? I was able to set up biometric approval without any issues and don't recall any potential barriers to this, other than the obvious one of needing a suitable phone. 

HeadScratching

gravel_2 said:

gunjin said:

Be warned that they've got some pretty drastic withdrawal limitations on this account. £750 to £2000 max per day. If you are looking to dump a large sum into this be aware it could take you a long time to get it out of there! Does not look like there is a CHAPS option for larger amounts too (but I could be wrong on that).

If you do additional security you can increase the daily limit to £50k.

I opened this savings account to safely store some funds short term to pay a bill 3 months later. Wish I'd seen this thread first! The summary sheet t&cs said money can be withdrawn at any time but did not state a maximum daily amount. Now trying to access the funds to pay but can only withdraw £2k daily. I downloaded the app but it won't let me register biometrics (the additional security element which would let me increase the daily amount) because I've not used it enough! And I can't close the account completely without emptying it, which at £2k daily will take time I don't have before the bill needs paying. Cora the chat bot is useless; the links she sends don't work or are irrelevant and I'm still waiting for 'Cora's colleague' to respond online. Does anyone have a contact number for a real person at Ulster? So frustrating...

Brewer21

HeadScratching said:

gravel_2 said:

gunjin said:

Be warned that they've got some pretty drastic withdrawal limitations on this account. £750 to £2000 max per day. If you are looking to dump a large sum into this be aware it could take you a long time to get it out of there! Does not look like there is a CHAPS option for larger amounts too (but I could be wrong on that).

If you do additional security you can increase the daily limit to £50k.

I opened this savings account to safely store some funds short term to pay a bill 3 months later. Wish I'd seen this thread first! The summary sheet t&cs said money can be withdrawn at any time but did not state a maximum daily amount. Now trying to access the funds to pay but can only withdraw £2k daily. I downloaded the app but it won't let me register biometrics (the additional security element which would let me increase the daily amount) because I've not used it enough! And I can't close the account completely without emptying it, which at £2k daily will take time I don't have before the bill needs paying. Cora the chat bot is useless; the links she sends don't work or are irrelevant and I'm still waiting for 'Cora's colleague' to respond online. Does anyone have a contact number for a real person at Ulster? So frustrating...

I do believe you can increase you daily withdrawal limit to £20k. If you go into online banking to do this, you'll need a card reader, try it.

DRS1

HeadScratching said:

gravel_2 said:

gunjin said:

Be warned that they've got some pretty drastic withdrawal limitations on this account. £750 to £2000 max per day. If you are looking to dump a large sum into this be aware it could take you a long time to get it out of there! Does not look like there is a CHAPS option for larger amounts too (but I could be wrong on that).

If you do additional security you can increase the daily limit to £50k.

I opened this savings account to safely store some funds short term to pay a bill 3 months later. Wish I'd seen this thread first! The summary sheet t&cs said money can be withdrawn at any time but did not state a maximum daily amount. Now trying to access the funds to pay but can only withdraw £2k daily. I downloaded the app but it won't let me register biometrics (the additional security element which would let me increase the daily amount) because I've not used it enough! And I can't close the account completely without emptying it, which at £2k daily will take time I don't have before the bill needs paying. Cora the chat bot is useless; the links she sends don't work or are irrelevant and I'm still waiting for 'Cora's colleague' to respond online. Does anyone have a contact number for a real person at Ulster? So frustrating...

This page may help - it shows you how to change the limit anyway

Making a payment | Ulster Bank NI

allegro120

Brewer21 said:

HeadScratching said:

gravel_2 said:

gunjin said:

Be warned that they've got some pretty drastic withdrawal limitations on this account. £750 to £2000 max per day. If you are looking to dump a large sum into this be aware it could take you a long time to get it out of there! Does not look like there is a CHAPS option for larger amounts too (but I could be wrong on that).

If you do additional security you can increase the daily limit to £50k.

I opened this savings account to safely store some funds short term to pay a bill 3 months later. Wish I'd seen this thread first! The summary sheet t&cs said money can be withdrawn at any time but did not state a maximum daily amount. Now trying to access the funds to pay but can only withdraw £2k daily. I downloaded the app but it won't let me register biometrics (the additional security element which would let me increase the daily amount) because I've not used it enough! And I can't close the account completely without emptying it, which at £2k daily will take time I don't have before the bill needs paying. Cora the chat bot is useless; the links she sends don't work or are irrelevant and I'm still waiting for 'Cora's colleague' to respond online. Does anyone have a contact number for a real person at Ulster? So frustrating...

I do believe you can increase you daily withdrawal limit to £20k. If you go into online banking to do this, you'll need a card reader, try it.

It's been a while ago, may be things have changed now.  I faced the same £2k limit problem, called Ulster and they told me how to increase it to £20k - I didn't need a card reader to reset my limit.