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Post by df on Mar 10, 2024 20:08:54 GMT
Santander reducing it's Easy Access account rate by a full 1% to 4.2% on 20th May. Me thinks my money will be on the move by then. So I've spent a little while today marking the dates as this change affects both Mrs Aju and myself. To be fair it's more me than Mrs Aju at present. Will keep an eye out for any new opportunities that might give us more interest than this one nearer the time. (Yes i am aware of other accounts that may have better rates but am also trying to keep tax payments down too so am targeting ISA rather than ordinary a/c's. Also am trying to keep some funds available for large purchases without triggering bank rules penalties etc. Mrs aju also wanted to get our garden sorted out so we are having some major work done too. Our PB's seem to to be ok too - fingers crossed we get another hit like Mrs Aju had a few months back... (Wish thinking perhaps but it all counts towards things) I wouldn't just keep an eye, but open everything that looks good whilst still available. I've been doing this for the past few months since it became obvious that banks will be dropping the rates of variable interest accounts and/or making them unavailable for new applicants. Now I'm well prepared for Metro's and Santander's rates changes. Saying this, I don't know how many of those I have in my "arsenal" will follow the suite by 20th May, I won't be surprised if by early summer Skipton's tracker (0.19% below BoE base rate) will be at the top of the table.
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Mar 11, 2024 9:57:29 GMT
To answer Ace 's question in the way that I think it is meant, the answer is no. Simply put even if companies are regularly at or near the top, the reality is they achieve this by superseding old accounts. I have just taken a look at my spreadsheet and over the last 205 weeks, my 5 most regularly used institutions were Cynergy (175 weeks) Al Rayan (164) Coventry (104) Shawbrook (71) Newcastle (60) With none of these institutions has the account always remained the same. Cynergy has required in excess of 20 different accounts. Al Rayan comprised of 3 but have been off the radar for the past 3 months or so. Coventry has required about 5 accounts but have only been consistently competitive for about 50% of this period. Currently Metro Bank are the most competitive of my accounts but in my table of the past 205 weeks, they are only used for 2 out of the 205 weeks.
The reality is there are good rates around for those prepared to do the legwork, but no holy grail of accounts that are consistently in the top 10.
aju, has Mrs aju got Cynergy Easy Access account? According to spiral, it's possible Cynergy Easy Access remains very competitive when BOE drop rate.
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spiral
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Post by spiral on Mar 11, 2024 10:47:42 GMT
aju , has Mrs aju got Cynergy Easy Access account? According to spiral , it's possible Cynergy Easy Access remains very competitive when BOE drop rate. They still are. The incarnation I currently have still pays 5.15%. Their current version (still available) is 5.10%.
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aju
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Post by aju on Mar 11, 2024 11:20:53 GMT
To answer Ace 's question in the way that I think it is meant, the answer is no. Simply put even if companies are regularly at or near the top, the reality is they achieve this by superseding old accounts. I have just taken a look at my spreadsheet and over the last 205 weeks, my 5 most regularly used institutions were Cynergy (175 weeks) Al Rayan (164) Coventry (104) Shawbrook (71) Newcastle (60) With none of these institutions has the account always remained the same. Cynergy has required in excess of 20 different accounts. Al Rayan comprised of 3 but have been off the radar for the past 3 months or so. Coventry has required about 5 accounts but have only been consistently competitive for about 50% of this period. Currently Metro Bank are the most competitive of my accounts but in my table of the past 205 weeks, they are only used for 2 out of the 205 weeks.
The reality is there are good rates around for those prepared to do the legwork, but no holy grail of accounts that are consistently in the top 10. aju , has Mrs aju got Cynergy Easy Access account? According to spiral , it's possible Cynergy Easy Access remains very competitive when BOE drop rate. thanks benaj, No neither of us have cynergy accounts at present. You say its easy access but we are gearing up for pushing funds into ISA's - can we deal with them with a web browser on our pc rather than a "toy", sorry a mobile phone ;-) I've tried with them but our mobiles are not that great where we live and i'd rather keep security in our house anyway. I did have a quick gander but we would only be looking at the next tranch of ISA's (We have to wait until April 6th at the earliest for both of us). Not sure we need more banks with a new authentication method (EU I guess) we have a draw full of them for our current banks!. Thing is too they all seem to be interchangeable too!. Mind you looking at the one on cynergy it looks completely different to our uk bank versions. I'll check it out more though over the next month or so thanks for the steer.
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Post by bracknellboy on Mar 11, 2024 11:33:22 GMT
aju , has Mrs aju got Cynergy Easy Access account? According to spiral , it's possible Cynergy Easy Access remains very competitive when BOE drop rate. No neither of us have cynergy accounts at present. You say its easy access but we are gearing up for pushing funds into ISA's - can we deal with them with a web browser on our pc rather than a "toy", sorry a mobile phone ;-) I've tried with them but our mobiles are not that great where we live and i'd rather keep security in our house anyway. I did have a quick gander but we would only be looking at the next tranch of ISA's (We have to wait until April 6th at the earliest for both of us). Not sure we need more banks with a new authentication method (EU I guess) we have a draw full of them for our current banks!. Thing is too they all seem to be interchangeable too!. Mind you looking at the one on cynergy it looks completely different to our uk bank versions. I'll check it out more though over the next month or so thanks for the steer. Not sure what the issue is here ? You only need to use the authenticator app from Cynergy to enable log in on browser, not use a mobile banking app per se. Understood you have poor mobile signal, but that is data and therefore broadband not mobile signal. At least I've always assumed it was: it would seem bizarre if it was otherwise. On the second point. I cannot stand hard devices for login. I thought banks had done away with those ? I stopped using any that required an authentication device and won't touch them (but understand if you have no mobile then it may be preferable). How bad is your mobile signal out there ? Most banks that are not app only banks use SMS 2FA codes, so need only a poor/intermittent signal to work. I have sympathy though: my late father's house had zero mobile signal unless you found a sweet spot 200-400 yards up the road. Might it a nightmare even for things like logging into Sainsbury's to order groceries.
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Mar 11, 2024 11:47:09 GMT
What about wifi calling? I receive OTP via wifi even when there's almost 0 signal.
On the other hand, if Ulster bank Loyalty Saver (5.2% ) doesn't change their rate, you can still access with the ANYTIME banking with their card reader, withdrawal up to 20k per day.
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aju
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Post by aju on Mar 11, 2024 11:55:27 GMT
No neither of us have cynergy accounts at present. You say its easy access but we are gearing up for pushing funds into ISA's - can we deal with them with a web browser on our pc rather than a "toy", sorry a mobile phone ;-) I've tried with them but our mobiles are not that great where we live and i'd rather keep security in our house anyway. I did have a quick gander but we would only be looking at the next tranch of ISA's (We have to wait until April 6th at the earliest for both of us). Not sure we need more banks with a new authentication method (EU I guess) we have a draw full of them for our current banks!. Thing is too they all seem to be interchangeable too!. Mind you looking at the one on cynergy it looks completely different to our uk bank versions. I'll check it out more though over the next month or so thanks for the steer. Not sure what the issue is here ? You only need to use the authenticator app from Cynergy to enable log in on browser, not use a mobile banking app per se. Understood you have poor mobile signal, but that is data and therefore broadband not mobile signal. At least I've always assumed it was: it would seem bizarre if it was otherwise. On the second point. I cannot stand hard devices for login. I thought banks had done away with those ? I stopped using any that required an authentication device and won't touch them (but understand if you have no mobile then it may be preferable). How bad is your mobile signal out there ? Most banks that are not app only banks use SMS 2FA codes, so need only a poor/intermittent signal to work. I have sympathy though: my late father's house had zero mobile signal unless you found a sweet spot 200-400 yards up the road. Might it a nightmare even for things like logging into Sainsbury's to order groceries. thanks bracknellboy , sadly we can get good mobile across the road from us but then if we go to our local shops there are no signals at all. We are in Trowbridge and it's history runs back before the magna carts but i guess comms companies provide what gives them the best value for them not for us ;-). Interestingly with some of our banks they send text messages and we can get them most of the time but! depending on the time of day and the traffic levels we have to wait quite some time up to 5 hours some days - apparently they are busy certain times of the day - the systems time out unfortunately. Funnily enough we don't have any problem at 2AM! but i guess there is a lot less traffic for the banks. Sadly we love it here in rural wilts but to be fair i've found it to be an issue in london too. The sad fact is that the companies have 100's of thousands of customers and they all want to get access to their bank accounts when they are at work for some reason! who knows why but perhaps thats why companies seem to be less productive these days. (I't usually the text code (2FA) that stumps zopa quite a bit, virgin too so i just assumed it was where we live but i do think its system overload a lot of the time.)
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spiral
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Post by spiral on Mar 11, 2024 12:03:21 GMT
To answer Ace 's question in the way that I think it is meant, the answer is no. Simply put even if companies are regularly at or near the top, the reality is they achieve this by superseding old accounts. I have just taken a look at my spreadsheet and over the last 205 weeks, my 5 most regularly used institutions were Cynergy (175 weeks) Al Rayan (164) Coventry (104) Shawbrook (71) Newcastle (60) With none of these institutions has the account always remained the same. Cynergy has required in excess of 20 different accounts. Al Rayan comprised of 3 but have been off the radar for the past 3 months or so. Coventry has required about 5 accounts but have only been consistently competitive for about 50% of this period. Currently Metro Bank are the most competitive of my accounts but in my table of the past 205 weeks, they are only used for 2 out of the 205 weeks.
The reality is there are good rates around for those prepared to do the legwork, but no holy grail of accounts that are consistently in the top 10.
I have just repeated the exercise above and the results are very similar although for Al Rayan, Shawbrook and Newcastle most of their weighting comes from over a year ago. In the last 12 months or so I have actively not sought accounts that remove the funds from your account the day before they pay out thus costing a days interest on withdrawals. Shawbrook is one of those and I am aware that they have been more competitive than my table will show for the last 12 months.
Since 1/1/20 Last 12 months
Cynergy (177 weeks) (43 weeks) Al Rayan (160) (6) Coventry (123) (38) Shawbrook (70) (5) Newcastle (60) (4)
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Mar 11, 2024 12:19:02 GMT
Meanwhile, I am looking for an saving account for "instant" "breaking the piggy bank" withdrawal. I have been told Investec can do 250k with one hit. Satander can do definitely do more than 100k per day with a series of sub 25k, but hit and miss. I have been told Cynergy could do almost "instant" with no limit with a "series" of 50k, but I haven't tested that yet.
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Post by bracknellboy on Mar 11, 2024 12:28:26 GMT
Meanwhile, I am looking for an saving account for "instant" "breaking the biggy bank" withdrawal. I have been told Investec can do 250k with one hit. Satander can do definitely do more than 100k per day with a series of sub 25k, but hit and miss. I have been told Cynergy could do almost "instant" with no limit with a "series" of 50k, but I haven't tested that yet. Chip is as instant as it gets, but I have no idea about their upper limits (either absolute or impacting transfer time). Atom is also instant, with the same caveats. In those two cases, I mean in less time than it takes me to open my FD app with biometric or pin to see whether the withdrawal I've just made has arrived. Tandem takes a bit longer but is typically less than 15 minutes IIRC. Again no idea on large amounts. I now use it in preference to the above two though due to rates.
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Post by df on Mar 11, 2024 12:45:47 GMT
aju , has Mrs aju got Cynergy Easy Access account? According to spiral , it's possible Cynergy Easy Access remains very competitive when BOE drop rate. I did have a quick gander but we would only be looking at the next tranch of ISA's (We have to wait until April 6th at the earliest for both of us). Virgin is still offering Cash Isa issue 11 at 5.25%. The rate is fixed until 31st March 2025. You can fund it up until 30 days after they stop selling this account (i.e. tax year 2024/25). Unlimited withdrawals. No notice needed. but they charge 60 days' interest on the amount taken out during the fixed term (the same charge applies to closure). You have to have a current account with Virgin to be eligible. uk.virginmoney.com/savings/products/1_year_fixed_rate_cash_isa_exclusive_issue_11/
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Post by overthehill on Mar 11, 2024 12:52:38 GMT
Meanwhile, I am looking for an saving account for "instant" "breaking the biggy bank" withdrawal. I have been told Investec can do 250k with one hit. Satander can do definitely do more than 100k per day with a series of sub 25k, but hit and miss. I have been told Cynergy could do almost "instant" with no limit with a "series" of 50k, but I haven't tested that yet.
If you need a test bank account to try out the Cynergy transfers let me know...
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Post by bracknellboy on Mar 11, 2024 13:07:20 GMT
Meanwhile, I am looking for an saving account for "instant" "breaking the biggy bank" withdrawal. I have been told Investec can do 250k with one hit. Satander can do definitely do more than 100k per day with a series of sub 25k, but hit and miss. I have been told Cynergy could do almost "instant" with no limit with a "series" of 50k, but I haven't tested that yet.
If you need a test bank account to try out the Cynergy transfers let me know...
you're in a Q .......and the back of it is over the hill and far away...
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badersleg
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Post by badersleg on Mar 11, 2024 13:18:08 GMT
aju , has Mrs aju got Cynergy Easy Access account? According to spiral , it's possible Cynergy Easy Access remains very competitive when BOE drop rate. They still are. The incarnation I currently have still pays 5.15%. Their current version (still available) is 5.10%. I'm trying to open an account with them. I'm reasonably tech savvy but it's not going well. 40 minutes in so far. However, I managed to open a Gatehouse 7% regular saver in less than 5 minutes.
Several minutes later... I'm in, but the Natwest app cannot authenticate Cynergy accounts.
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Mar 11, 2024 13:27:30 GMT
Meanwhile, HSBC internal checks stopped two further external payments on my FD after moving out 200k successfully. So not much chance to test high value withdrawal on Cynergy.
EDIT: I thought HSBC didn't clear it but it did. I will report back tomorrow regarding Cynergy &Santander.
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