OK, having decided to move £15,000 of my money out of Icesave and into a joint NS&I Index Linked Certificate (for the reason, see this thread), I am now wanting a safe savings account for the rest of the money, which I may need access to more readily over the next year. The higher the interest rate the better of course.

So, the options I've found are:

ICICI, Asda, The AA, Principality BS, Sainsbury's, Yorkshire BS, Scarborough BS, Stroud & Swindon BS, Citibank, Chelsea BS, Anglo Irish, B&B and Heritable.

Those that I consider unsafe are crossed out.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the others (or, in fact, the ones crossed out)?


Where I found the savings rates:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/bestbuys/s...tory-bonus.aspx

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/bestbuys/i...s-accounts.aspx

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/bestbuys/i...s-accounts.aspx

Yeah, but you won't listen.

out of the accounts you have listed, I have accounts with Sainsburys, S&S and Chelsea.

From these 3, only sainsburys have given me a link card (for the account types I have), however, I take it you know that sainsburys bank is part-run by RBS (or is it HBOS - one of these anyway).

Anyway, just to confuse the situation even more! have you considered Coventry? they do a good online saver account and you get a link card.

good luck anyway

How helpful.

Thanks for this, prophet-profit. You make a good point about Sainsbury's. I will be careful not to go over £35 with RBS (not HBOS, I've checked).

Yorkshire BS give you a link card if you want one with the online saver. They seem pretty safe, and customer ervice is good. There's a chart here about 1/3 of the way down showing asset levels.

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/si...8448762279.html

Towards the end is a review of each institution. A bit worrying it says YBS moved into subprime in 2006, doesn't say what percentage of total is subprime though.

As mentioned above sainsbury's is a joint venture with RBS.

Thanks CharlieChuck, and with a rate of 6.20%, YBS is a pretty competative option.

I find most of the accounts have silly conditions attached. After i recieved my portman/nationwide merger cheque i was going to change the account for one of nationwides high interest online accounts. Couldnt have the account unless you open a current account and have your salary paid in. Already have a decent online account and decent high interest savings account , so no good to me.Queued for about 20 minutes just to get old passbook changed over. Dont do queues or waiting so i got the hump and took all the money out except £100 (carpetbagger me)


I opened a Post Office instant saver 6% on balances of £500 or more. quite flexible. can access online, you get a cashpoint card etc. plenty of branches everywhere. Its provided by Bank of Ireland. Seems Ok so far.
I prefer the online banks that have a nice solid brick version built on my high street i think the fraction of a % you get less in interest is worth the peace of mind......

Actually it is HBOS , you've got your ROYAL bank of Scotland mixed up with your Bank of Scotland which is part of HBOS , but we all make mistakes ...........


Stop worrying about your money you've put up threads like this before , spread it is the best you can do .

Thanks for the reality check there.

What about Icesave? I did read something negative on this forum about them, but it wasn't that conclusive. here's the heads up according to their website:



EDIT: Spelling

By the way, I've got some cash in them.

My reason for moving out of Icesave

You are covered up to £35k by the government, so I'm not too bothered.

I also have some cash with them.

Good easy to use website, British call centre, very good rate so far.

Each to their own at the end of the day.

Yeah I'm happy with Icesave too. Just a shame that Icesave's 6.30% savings account will probably be 6.05% gross very soon... That's a measly 4.84% net. But of course that goes for all savings accounts. It might be interesting to see what the response to the interest cut will be amongst the 'foreign' savings accounts - ICICI and Icesave. They might pull something out of the bag and keep rates as they are... Who knows?

In any case, I've just rammed some money into an Icesave 6 month bond from my Icesave saver account balance. It's a new offer - just announced yesterday. It was dead easy to do, all online, no fuss and no lost interest in the meantime. 6.76% gross AER - not the best rate on the market, but in the top 5 for 6 month fixed rates. Yeah the money's tied up but I doubt I'll be buying a house in the next 6 months.

I'm probably going to shove some more into NS&I Index Linked Saving Certificates too - all RPI has to do is remain above 3.7%ish percent to keep in line with a 6.05% savings account (taxed at 20%). It might be worth doing it soon too - as a response to the latest BoE rate drop NS&I may introduce a new issue with a lower rate of interest.

I've just done the same.

I only wished I'd transferred my Kent ISA to Halifax @ 6.55% fixed for a year!

I suspect if I try now, they will tell me to poke off.

I'm not so sure they will you know.

I might be showing my ignorance here but if Libor keeps going mental, then surely if they want to keep their hands on our grubby cash they should (in theory) at least keep the rate the same if they want us to keep it with them, i.e. our money is still cheaper to borrow at 5.75% than the money market rates.

posted this on a seperate thread but i thougth it would have some revelance here.

Sainsburys, AA Birmingham and midshires, Halifax, Bank of scotland are ALL covered under HBOS...

AND HERES THE POINT

HBOS only has 1 FSA entry to cover all of them..

SO if HBOS goes under you only are covered for £35k across the range...carefu where you invest..

Get the FSA number from the application form and cross check against FSA site to make sure its a different FSA entry to the rest of your savings..