The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

The_Big_Bamboo wrote: »

‘Pseudo’ (for want of a better word) because quoting an interest rate of 1.35% and the term ‘instant access to your cash’ when used in the same sentence are incompatible, IMHO;…if you want ‘easy access’ to your cash then the interest rate of 1.35% is not available for the cash you’ve withdrawn;…it is in fact a miserly 0.55% !

You need to make a 12 month commitment to get the ‘full’ 1.35% interest rate,… at which point 'instant access' becomes a purely academic term.

Is that correct?....I’m not an expert btw;…please feel free to dissect/correct anything I’ve posted.

My understanding is probably awry,…it often is!

Interest due is not "your cash" until the interest-bearing term has completed. Tesco make it quite clear what the terms are.

The_Big_Bamboo wrote: »

You need to make a 12 month commitment to get the ‘full’ 1.35% interest rate,… at which point 'instant access' becomes a purely academic term.

No

You may not appreciate how interest works

Imagine you opened a bog standard savings account at 1% per annum and put £10,000 into it. The interest is calculated daily so you would get about 27.4 pence a day. After a year you would get about £100. If you removed your cash (instantly) after 6 months you would get about £50. Both of these amounts are correctly calculated at 1.35% per annum

Tesco only differs in that it splits the rates to allow part of it to be paid as a bonus for a year

AirlieBird wrote: »

I think you've interpreted as you'll only get the bonus rate if the money is in the account for the full year. There are no conditions attached to the bonus rate; you get it regardless of how long money is in the account. It is simply a way of them offering a higher interest rate for a limited period.

ColdIron wrote: »

No

You may not appreciate how interest works

Imagine you opened a bog standard savings account at 1% per annum and put £10,000 into it. The interest is calculated daily so you would get about 27.4 pence a day. After a year you would get about £100. If you removed your cash (instantly) after 6 months you would get about £50. Both of these amounts are correctly calculated at 1.35% per annum

Tesco only differs in that it splits the rates to allow part of it to be paid as a bonus for a year

Hi, many thanks for your detailed replies,…it’s really appreciated;… I know I didn’t explain myself properly but I do understand how daily/annual savings account interest rates are calculated;..I think!

I was totally confused by the terminology regarding the Bonus of 0.8%;…I mistakenly believed that it was only payable after 12 months,…when, in fact, it’s an integral part of the 1.35% interest calculation from day one!

Many thanks for clearing that up for me.:T As I said earlier, figures are not my ‘forte’.

Do I understand correctly that on the 1st December or shortly thereafter the changes in savings rates offered after taking into account the BoE recent rate increase will have been announced by the various banks, building societies etc. As well as new interest rate offerings launched, if any, I guess?

I'm taking stock of my situation. So far I've been doing a lot of saving accounts and trying to transfer to get the best rates considering my risk averseness with savings. I've been thinking for some time that it may be the time to look into investing part of the money. I read Smart Investing by Hale some time ago as was recommended by someone. I'm not dim but I did find it a bit intimidating. I plan on re-reading it with more focus shortly. Is there anything a bit simpler that that I can read in preparation?

puttee wrote: »

I read Smart Investing by Hale some time ago as was recommended by someone. I'm not dim but I did find it a bit intimidating. I plan on re-reading it with more focus shortly. Is there anything a bit simpler that that I can read in preparation?

The Monevator financial blog is a good starting point to understand investing. Unfortunately, it's a blog, so the articles are in a somewhat random order, but there are various indexes and menus to help.