The Lemon Fool

This site was mentioned in an article I was reading this morning. On a quick look it appears useful, but I want to effectively bookmark it here so I can come back to it later this weekend and give it a thorough look through.

https://savingschampion.co.uk/
About:
'As the UK’s leading independent expert on cash-based savings, with an enviable reputation in the national press as one of the most quoted experts on cash based savings, we provide all savers with unbiased, personalised guidance on cash based savings products, researching every interest rate from every UK savings provider.'

What I'm trying to do right now is find an 'easy access' a/c where I can park-up funds that = about 6 months household expenses. That's a decent five figure sum and it's frustrating having it in my current a/c doing literally zero. Given that I've just effectively retired, having such an account with say a 6-month cash buffer (versus a long-term/largely passive share portfolio creating the income) in it might prove to be a long-term need. I also would much prefer not to feel under duress to perpetually flip accounts chasing introductory teaser rates, but we'll see!
https://savingschampion.co.uk/best-buys ... sy-access/

I've seen a few best-buy tables in the press, but this is one of the more one-stop sites that promises to give me some comfort that it scans widely across the market. In general, savings rates on offer currently seem so low that I've spent about 3 months now unable to find anything that seems worthwhile. Hopefully I will be able to change that soon!

I’ve only glanced at your second link for easy access and the top couple or so here http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/arti ... ranch.html seem to be identical. That second site is the one my better half recommends and she uses it when her fixed term stuff matures.

Some, of course, wouldn’t use the thisismoney website, because of the stable it is in. Their choice, not ours.

Btw, no personal knowledge but this one http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/arti ... ounts.html has/had a fixed 6 monthly rate of 1.81% (website 1.71% and obviously others pay greater rates if you fix for longer.

Maybe interest ladders (splitting between unlinked providers to ensure FSCS coverage) might be an idea. Yet interest rates may rise further. I’ve been relying on the latter happening for far too long and have been earning next to nothing on surplus funds.

There’s also NS&I for that little bit of extra security - see parallel Topics - and lower rates as one would expect.

Thanks PD, that's some useful foor for thought.
We've our international home removals/container due in tomorrow, so it'll be chaos for a few days, but then I intend to come back to this thread and see what I can do.
p.s. an interest rate ladder is one option, but since I'm just retired and prepared to remain largely invested [shares], then any cash ladder would be unlikely to extend beyond a year.

One possibility, which may or may not suit your needs, is a Santander 123 current account. It pays 1.5% on balances up to £20k and costs £5 per month, which can be offset by cashback offers. It works very well for me as I keep the balance topped up at £20k and pay utility, council tax, telephone (mobile and landline), broadband and TV bills by direct debit, netting me another £30-£40 per year on top of the interest. I find it very handy and really a no-brainer as a home for my day to day working funds.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I just thought I'd mention it as, depending on your exact needs, it might provide a convenient solution.

CP (no connection with Santander - just a customer!)

Thanks CP, an interesting tip, I've never heard of an account with that fee/benefit structure. But if it can fit to work then sure, why not? I'll continue to look into it and see what I can find. Cheers!

ps. do you happen to have seen how that 1.5% rate offer has done historically? Ie Is it perhaps more than a 'draw them in the fleece them' [by dropping rates to near zero] proposition?

DiamondEcho wrote:Thanks CP, an interesting tip, I've never heard of an account with that fee/benefit structure. But if it can fit to work then sure, why not? I'll continue to look into it and see what I can find. Cheers!

ps. do you happen to have seen how that 1.5% rate offer has done historically? Ie Is it perhaps more than a 'draw them in the fleece them' [by dropping rates to near zero] proposition?

The interest rate was 3% for several years (and monthly fee = £2 IIRC), but was slashed to 1.5% nearly two years ago when the base rate hit the bottom at 0.25%. So only the one change, which was more down to the general pressure on rates than short term gimmickry. It was far and away the best current account before - now it is only really attractive to those who want to keep a high balance and are happy to offset some or all of the fees with the cashback offers. (I don't think any other banks offer interest on current account balances over about £5k...)

(Incidentally, I think "123" originally came from the interest rates for balances of over £1k, £2k and £3k respectively, but still has some relevance as they are also the three rates of cashback for different types of bill payments.)