Savings account

Teabags

I have £10k-£15k which i would like to put away in a high interest savings account. I was going to open an ICICI but have been put off by a financial advisor i mentioned them to - he had not heard of them and was sceptical. On looking at Martin's advice i am going to open a Yorkshire BS regular savings account but you are limited to an initial deposit of £500 and thereafter saving £500 a month. I therefore need to find somewhere else to put a lump sum for high interest. I would like to be able to access the money if required in an emergency but i am hoping to lock it away for a while. any advice please?

Baldur

I've had accounts with ICICI Bank virtually since they started their HiSave account in the UK and have never had any problem with them - certainly have more deposited with them than you are proposing to deposit.

They are regulated by the FSA (just like high street banks, building societies, etc, so in the event that they should fail in the future you would be fully compensated for any amount up to £35,000 that you had on deposit with them - exactly the same cover as you would have with Yorkshire Building Society.

liitleblackcat

I have ahd exactly the same experience as Baldur. ICICI are as good as any other bank and are generally speaking pay better interest. The current front runner is Kaupthing Edge - easy access to a linked account and 6.5% interest (I think ICICI is 6.1% but someone will correct me, no doubt.

I have £14k with Kaupthing, £2.5k with ICICI and £10k in an ICICI 1 year bond at 6.85% (sadly no longer available).

Moggles_2

I persevered with ICICI's HiSave a/c for a long time because of its consistently high savings rates.

Unfortunately, transfers by direct debit from my linked a/c which, according to ICICI, should be made in 3-4 working days, have always taken 8 working days, if they happened at all!

Pushing money in with a BACS transfer from your linked account takes 4 days IME, but if your linked a/c is a high interest current a/c, you may feel the loss of interest rather defeats the object. Some savers have reported delays withdrawing money as well! Here's just one of numerous threads on the subject: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=864287

This is a pity because HiSave is a clean, no-tricks a/c, paying a market-leading interest rate and ICICI has always raised rates promptly in response to BoE base rate changes.

Thankfully, IceSave and Kaupthingy offer all this now, without the never-ending hassle! I also have Bradford & Bingley's Internet Saver 2. This has good customer service, but lacks the valuable interest rate guarantees of the former two. You would have to be prepared to ditch and switch, if the rate was cut

Meltdown_2

Teabags wrote: »

I was going to open an ICICI but have been put off by a financial advisor i mentioned them to - he had not heard of them and was sceptical.

Then he was incompetent on 2 counts ...
As a financial advisor he certainly should have heard/known of them.
And how can one be sceptical about something one has never heard of ...?
Still, his instincts seem OK ...;)

Teabags

Thanks for all your advices. Still a little unsure about ICICI despite your reassurances, but given that they are no longer the best deal I'm going to go with Kaupthing.