Savings Account

k-man

Hi everyone, hope all are well on this cold and windy night!!!

After looking at our finances over the last few weeks, and sorting out a few problems, we have found that we will be having a small amount (£50-100) left over each month which we would like to save in a rainy day fund (breakdowns etc)

We have an instant access saver account with halifax, but checking their rates online today I have found that we benefit from the massive rates of between nil and 1.4%.

We have quite a bad credit rating, wife has 2 CCJ's (satisfied), and I have a couple of defaults. Is there a bank who will touch us (either jointly or just in my name). We want a svaings account that we can add to each month if we have anything left, that allows withdrawals when we need it. On-line access would be an advantage. Hopefully if we manage to save a little and pay our bills on time, we can then improve our credit rating.

Thanks for your help

K

cifpower

Martin advises that A&L e-saver would be best for you.

eSaver pays 6.5% AER, yet 0.62% of that's a bonus until 31 May 2009; worse still it pays no interest in any month you make a withdrawal (except July) so only use it if you'll leave the cash there till 1st June 2009, then withdraw it all (do that on the first of the month to minimise the impact).

And if you apply via Quidco you get £20 cashback

k-man

Thanks, but that one seems a little restricted to me. I want to be able to withdraw money without forfeiting interest (albeit at a lower rate). Also are companies likely to refuse me even for a savings account thanks to my less than perfect credit rating?

Regards
K

ShelfStacker_3

HSBC's Online Bonus Saver pays 5.75%, but interest goes down to about 2.something% if you make a withdrawal. Also, you might want to consider an ISA - try Barclays' Tax Haven, you can store up to £3,000 in it with a rate of 6.5% and no withdrawal penalties.

If you want a cash card, and can deal with a poorer rate of interest, Barclays' Day To Day Savings is quite good, with around a 4% rate and no withdrawal penalties.

AFAIK banks don't usually take credit scores into account for savings accounts, as they can't be used as a line of credit (no overdrafts or anything).

Mikeyorks

If you've already got an account(s?) with Halifax .... wouldn't you be better looking at some of their better rates? Not sure what you've got at 1.4% (xxxx Gold?) .... but they do better than that. Their Websaver is a bit paltry at the moment but will pay you 4.61%. With that funding the account / access is more important than the pure interest rate?

Also where's your current account? They pay 6.17% on the High Interest account if you qualify the overall input of £1000 per month?

k-man

thanks for that, I think i'll try popping into the branch. All we have at the minute is a cardcash current account (0.10%) and the savings account (0-1.4%). Most months we pay in about £2000 to the account, but I dont think we'll get upgraded due to the poor credit rating. If I dont't get any joy, i'll leave it for 6 months and try again.

Thanks
K

Meltdown_2

Since the Halifax is happy for you to have a savings account with them, it might as well be one that is better for you.
Since you say that on-line access would be an advantage, I would suggest the Halifax 'variable Websaver with cash card' account - currently paying 5.75% gross. However, since this includes a bonus figure of 1.25% until 18/7/08, you should review your options again at that time.
The websaver accounts have to be opened online, so you will need to register for online banking at the Halifax website. But as you already have accounts with them, this should be a relatively easy exercise.

There might be some merit in retaining your Instant Saver (?) account, as a means of getting money in - pay it into the IS at the branch and then transfer to websaver online. I can't think of any good reason for keeping any large amounts of money in it though.

There are better online rates out there, but the above seems straightforward and would probably ease your way to an upgraded current account.