Investec High 5 Account ?

Legacy_user

Wanted to know what your comments regarding this account was. Has anyone opened an account with them ?

In a nutshell this is how the account works...

Each week Money£acts** compiles a list of the top savings rates in the UK. The Investec High 5 Account pays the average of these rates. The rate is updated on a weekly basis and can be viewed on our website and on your monthly statement.

There are a few catches though:

- 2 year term
- minimum investment of £25,000 and a maximum of £100,000.
- Funds can be accessed on the first year anniversary of the account.

http://www.investecprivatebank.co.uk/Page.cfm?URLID=C3F04ECB-24F4-4727-ABD5BC03E8B74F19

miketebb

Sounds like a good scheme to me. It saves moving money around trying to find the best deal every couple of months. It would be interesting to hear Martins comments.

I used to have a business account with Investec when I ran my own company - because they actually paid interest on a business current account!! (Whatever next).

They are a comparatively small bank based in London, but if you don't need a local branch then that isn't a problem. I couldn't fault the service I got from them.

zzzLazyDaisy

I am hijacking this thread (apologies to OP) coz I am interested in this account and would be interested in MSE'rs views.

It tracks the interest rates of high paying accounts and adjusts its own interest rate accordingly. So it will never be the absolute top paying account - but it won't suddenly disappear from view either.

It is currently paying 5.37% gross AER, and in recent times has paid over 5.4% when other banks have had headline grabbing rates

See rate history here

http://www.investec.com/UnitedKingdom/PrivateBank/BankingandTreasuryServices/Personal/Products/High5/RateHistory/

Of course there are drawbacks that make it not suitable for everyone - the main one being a minimum £25k investment.

I have a lump sum to invest for a couple of years, so I'd be grateful if anyone tell me if they can see a catch with it, before I take the plunge.

Many thanks

Daisy :beer:

codetown

This is an old thread, but I would like to repoen the discussion on the Investec High 5 Account

http://www.investec.com/UnitedKingdom/PrivateBank/BankingandTreasuryServices/Personal/Products/High5/

This account seems very good in tracking the top 5 saving offers and avoiding the hassle to change all the time with rate moves.
Can anyone comment on how it works?
Is investec operating as a UK bank with all the guaranteess up to 33 k pounds?
Also: why is this account so badly publicised (even their own pages about it are out of date!)?

David42

I have been in this account for six months and I have no complaints. They opened it efficiently and they write with statements explaining the top rates they have used, a bit like the list on their website.

They have yet to pay out of course, but they used to be efficient enough when I used them as a bank many years ago, before their current account interest rates dropped.

codetown

David:
a) are there any charges to pay money in/out? [from their web sites it seems yes]
b) are there management/monthly charges?
c) is this a normal account in your name (with an A/C number etc)?
d) do they track interest rates and change yours it monthly/weekly?
e) Are the top-5 sites only used as references for tracking purposes and the interest is then paid directly by them?

Rhino666

I have had one of these accounts and am now in my third year. I think it is quite a complicated concept to get ones head around but after the original 2 years was up I decided to extend. There is no rate competition with most accounts but the account restrictions made it difficult for me to decide whether to use the high 5 account or invest in a fixed rate account.
Fixed rates have been very low and unadventurous recently so high 5 may be a good option.

Most of the personnel I have communicated with are South African. The only problem I had was that the initial deposit cheque allegedly took a week to arrive at Investec's offices, when posted first class - I was not impressed !!

David42

a) are there any charges to pay money in/out? [from their web sites it seems yes]
No charges unless you want to withdraw funds early. It seems just like any other fixed term bank or building society account, except the way they guarantee the rate in different.

b) are there management/monthly charges?
No

c) is this a normal account in your name (with an A/C number etc)?
Yes. It is a normal savings account with Investec bank.

d) do they track interest rates and change yours it monthly/weekly?
They change it whenever one of the top 5 rates change. In practice it changes every few weeks.

e) Are the top-5 sites only used as references for tracking purposes and the interest is then paid directly by them?
The interest is paid by Investec. The top 5 sites are just used as a reference.

I did not notice a problem with cheque clearance times mentioned by Rhino666, but I might not have checked. Remember the standard advice: stick a first class stamp on any urgent pre-paid envelope because the pre-paid envelopes go third class.

David