Current Account for Widowed Pensioner

sloughflint

Ive just taken another look at moneysupermarket.com and Icesave's telephone access doesn't seem advertised like KE's is.
I have done phone transfers but that's only when I have had internet access difficulties. Best check this out to be on the safe side? The lady would need to be able to be independent with her money if you ever moved or were ill,Razoo.

Missile, which current account and savings account offer the automatic sweep facility? I'm interested but couldn't find anything.

Razoo

Farway wrote: »

The passport scheme re Icesave did concern me, and may concern OP as it is the ladies life savings I believe

For this reason I opted for Kaupthing at 6.5% instant access

You're correct, it is the lady's life savings. She will be going for the Kaupthing Edge account, rather than Icesave, unless an even better account reveals itself in the meantime.

Razoo

Razoo

sloughflint wrote: »

Ive just taken another look at moneysupermarket.com and Icesave's telephone access doesn't seem advertised like KE's is.
I have done phone transfers but that's only when I have had internet access difficulties. Best check this out to be on the safe side?

Thanks for all your advice Sloughflint. KE has been provisionally chosen as the high interest savings account.

The lady would need to be able to be independent with her money if you ever moved or were ill, Razoo.

Yes, you're absolutely right. She might outlive me! I shall ensure that she is completely autonomous in this respect.

Razoo

sloughflint

Razoo wrote: »

Thanks for all your advice Sloughflint. KE has been provisionally chosen as the high interest savings account.

No problem. A good choice with a long rate guarantee period. I've been very happy with them so far. Three days to transfer out to nominated current account.

Razoo wrote: »

I shall ensure that she is completely autonomous in this respect.
Razoo

Which is why I'm not sure if your idea of Halifax's websaver for the instant access savings is a good one. I can't see if phone access is allowed.

I couldn't find any mention of automatic sweep between savings and current on the RBS website. That sounds ideal.

Otherwise,I keep coming back to the A&L idea. Good rates on both current account and the linked plus saver.
If she didn't want to keep all her life savings in one place, she could also have a directsaver (5.5%) too on money she doesn't want to touch ( no interest earnt in any month a withdrawal made except July)

The advantages I see are:

• money spread between two institutions.
• all 4 accounts serviceable by phone ( current, linked plus saver, direct saver, KE)
• Reasonable enough rates even after a year is up
• Post office use while it's still there
• Branch accessibilty by bus?

Since she's revamping her finances, is she wanting to take advantage of ISA's? Again A&L have one. Although rate can be easily beaten , it has phone access.

missile

sloughflint wrote: »

Missile, which current account and savings account offer the automatic sweep facility? I'm interested but couldn't find anything.

"instant access savings account" has auto sweep to and from my current account with RBS. If you sign up for their royalties gold account you get (slightly) better interest rates plus some other bells and whistles which may be good value for some. See here http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/savings-investment/g1/instant-access/savings-account.ashx.

Monthly sweep - put your extra money to work

How does it work? Just tell us the date when you'd like us to sweep your Royal Bank of Scotland current account - and we'll put the spare money into your instant access savings account.
Worried about being caught short for cash? There's no need - you can decide on the minimum amount you'd like to stay in your current account after each sweep.

sloughflint

Thanks for this missile.I'll take a look in a minute.

I just popped back to say to Razoo that if the Halifax for the current account was still a firm favourite.....
I noticed that the websaver ( still not clear if phone access) reverts to 4.1% after 18th July so for a similar rate, you could consider Sainsbury's ( part of HBOS so next day rather than instant) account that does offer phone access:
http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/savings/sav_directsaver_dsa_skip.shtml

edit: Did you realise that the decent interest paying CA with Halifax has a £1000 pcm funding requirement?

Razoo

sloughflint wrote: »

<snip> Which is why I'm not sure if your idea of Halifax's websaver for the instant access savings is a good one. I can't see if phone access is allowed.

I do intend to check this out as I have a similar arrangement for myself. IIRC, the local Halifax branch will do a websaver to current account transfer (or vice versa) if you call in. Maybe they will also do a transfer if you phone in.

Otherwise, I keep coming back to the A&L idea.

Me too! I don't know how user-friendly the A&L personal banking Website is, but I have an A&L business account and the Website for that is very poor. It's not intuitive to navigate and some of the features simply do not work.

Since she's revamping her finances, is she wanting to take advantage of ISA's?

She does already have an ISA from a year or so ago, although I don't think it is of any real benefit to her. Her income is nowhere near her personal tax allowance threshold (£9,180.00 for 2008/09) or her age-related allowances income limit (£21,800.00 for 2008/09), so I don't believe she needs a tax-exempt savings account. Her current ISA interest rate can be easily beaten by a good high-interest savings account, so I'm going to suggest she moves the ISA money into her KE account (for example) - unless there is some downside to closing the ISA that I haven't spotted.

Razoo

Razoo

sloughflint wrote: »

<snip> Did you realise that the decent interest paying CA with Halifax has a £1000 pcm funding requirement?

Yes, I did. Unfortunately the lady would be unable to fund her current account with min. £1,000/month, unless she juggled her savings on a monthly basis (not ideal). The only current account offering decent interest on the in-credit balance that is within her monthly funding capability, is the A&L current account at £500/month.

I believe another issue with the A&L current account is that monthly paper statements are not an option and this is something the lady would like. Guess it would be down to me to download and print her statement every month, which would hit her planned financial autonomy on the head!

There's no easy answer, is there?

Razoo

sloughflint

Razoo wrote: »

There's no easy answer, is there?

Razoo

I certainly don't think she'll get a perfect solution that combines good rates and ease of use.
I'm not a huge fan of A&L ( only using and abusing; not a main account) but I felt it was a good compromise for her requirements especially the low funding rquirements ( I can't imagine her being keen on cheating the system moving savings backwards and forwards)

I'd discount Halifax unless the phone access was a possibility. She might sometimes be unable to go to branch to transfer funds ( assuming you were unavailable).

So back to A&L-I get paper statements for the Premier ( linked to a regular saver) so if the Premier Direct doesn't do paper statements and the lady finds this an important issue, maybe she could forsake the 8.5% (reverting to BOE minus 1) for that one instead but still have phone and PO access?

The website.Again, I don't really use it much other than check amounts. Seems ok. The transfers don't show real-time though which is off-putting if you are used to that but that shouldn't concern your neighbour;only you when you are helping her.

All things considered, my hunch is with A&L.

Re the ISA, I take it you mean her savings interest and income would never go above her allowance? In which case R85 forms ought to be completed for each account so that she is not taxed at source.

Razoo

sloughflint wrote: »

I certainly don't think she'll get a perfect solution that combines good rates and ease of use.

It certainly looks that way. :sad:

So back to A&L-I get paper statements for the Premier <snip>

I think I'll call A&L to see whether they will send monthly paper statements for the Premier Direct, or not.

All things considered, my hunch is with A&L.

Yes, it's definitely the most attractive financial deal, even though it's not administratively perfect.

Re the ISA, I take it you mean her savings interest and income would never go above her allowance? In which case R85 forms ought to be completed for each account so that she is not taxed at source.

Yes, basically her income (pension plus savings interest) will not go above her personal tax allowance and consequently she will not have any tax liability. R85 forms will be completed to ensure she is not taxed at source.

Razoo