Abbey / A+L's High Interest Current Accounts

SBC

Has anyone used Alliance + Leicester or Abbey's high interest current accounts?

They're both offering around 8% on balances up to £2500 if you pay £1000 in a month.

That sounds great, but I'm wondering what happens after that initial year? Does the rate drop to something ridiculously small?

LongTermLurker

SBC wrote: »

Has anyone used Alliance + Leicester or Abbey's high interest current accounts?

They're both offering around 8% on balances up to £2500 if you pay £1000 in a month.

That sounds great, but I'm wondering what happens after that initial year? Does the rate drop to something ridiculously small?

From the Interest Rates PDF at A&L:

Rate applies when you have £1-£2,500 in your account
and is fixed for 1 year for new or upgraded accounts. This
rate is subject to availability. After 1 year the rate reverts
to the Bank of England Base Rate less 1%

That's still not bad - there are many current accounts paying just 0.1% - 0.5% - Of course, you could always change to someone else's current account in a year's time.

LittleVoice

In order to get 8% at Abbey on up to £2.5K you will need to switch another bank account to them. If you don't want to do that you would get 8% on only the first £1K in the account.

emma396

i am using both. i keep 2500 in both accounts and use them as savings accounts. my wages go into abbey which then get distributed to other banks.

i'll worry about the rate when it drops.

molly1706

I have also got both, I didn't need to open an additional abbey account to get the 8% interest on £2500. Abbey was a nightmare to open using an online application - customer service appalling. I ended up cancelling my application and opening an account in branch which was done the same day. The account has run smoothly since then.

SBC

emma396 wrote: »

i am using both. i keep 2500 in both accounts and use them as savings accounts. my wages go into abbey which then get distributed to other banks.

i'll worry about the rate when it drops.

That's a good idea - hadn't thought of that!


I will be switching it all from my current Current Account, so that's no probs, but I don't fancy keep having to change it every year as all the DDs can take up to a month to get sorted anyway. :-/

A&L's drop to 'base rate -1%' does still sound good though, and certainly better than what I've got now, so I think I'll plump for that as my main account and juggle excess funds over to Abbey like you guys.

Anyone know if there's referral rewards available on either of these two banks' accounts?

YorkshireBoy

SBC wrote: »

Anyone know if there's referral rewards available on either of these two banks' accounts?

£50 through Quidco (and other cashback sites), or £25 each if you're referred by an existing A&L current account holder.

I don't think there's an incentive available for Abbey?