Reply to: Business Savings Accounts

[antuk]

You do know that the Bank of London isn't the Bank of England? It's only existed since 2021

Yeah that doesnt bother me. They could be 1 day old as long as the money is protected by the FSCS im not bothered.

[ladymuck]

Thanks for this, noticed the bank of london listed and they have a 4.07% easy access at the moment, might give that a try

You do know that the Bank of London isn't the Bank of England? It's only existed since 2021

[antuk]

Here's the list of institutions that are direct participants of FPS (i.e., payments within 2 hours, but typically instantaneous):

https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/p...ticipant-list/

Thanks for this, noticed the bank of london listed and they have a 4.07% easy access at the moment, might give that a try

[jamesbrown]

any that you recommend of the "slow" bunch that is on the slightly quicker side?

Ive tried Aldermore, Cambridge & Counties, Recognise and Shawbrook and Shawbrook was the worse of that group

Among the slower options, it really is a muchness, TBH. Shawbrook does stand out as the slowest among them. However, it is routine that payments after the cutoff arrive next day and weekend payments the next business day or even the day after that (as in Shawbrook). If you want payments to arrive the same working day, send them before the cutoff (and even then, you may not get it that day).

Here's the list of institutions that are direct participants of FPS (i.e., payments within 2 hours, but typically instantaneous):

https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/p...ticipant-list/

You can try Tide, for example, as they participate directly through Clearbank and offer 4.33% to new customers. Their payments are proper faster payments, in keeping with the above. There's also Wise, but you won't get FSCS protection, so make sure you use their "assets" option, but also be aware that money invested in Wise assets will be considered an investment w/r to the CIHC rules etc.

My best advice is to only use the slow options for money that you don't need immediately, otherwise use one of the tech bro institutions (with care) - Tide and Wise are both good, but note my comment about FSCS - or sacrifice on rate. Avoid Revolut, they are a very poor outfit indeed.

[antuk]

Tbh, your example of Shawbrook is about the worst I've experienced in terms of speed of payments and I have accounts with most of these banks and building societies.

any that you recommend of the "slow" bunch that is on the slightly quicker side?

Ive tried Aldermore, Cambridge & Counties, Recognise and Shawbrook and Shawbrook was the worse of that group

[mgrover]

dunno if its been said but the Tide Savings acc 4.33%.

Paid monthly and instant access.

But ofc 85k limit.

[jamesbrown]

Tbh, your example of Shawbrook is about the worst I've experienced in terms of speed of payments and I have accounts with most of these banks and building societies.

[jamesbrown]

I assume you have an account? Do you know how quickly they process deposits and withdrawals? I can't see any info on their website about it

It's reasonably quick, but you are correct to surmise that it isn't 24*7 faster payments, so you can expect to wait for hours and possibly overnight or over a weekend. This is pretty typical of building societies. If you want a slightly different compromise, then Tide do implement 24*7 faster payments properly, but they are a bit overzealous with their KYC compliance and their app is a bit crap. Also a decent rate, though (new customers only).

[antuk]

They use an intermediary. You can go with a highstreet bank, but you’ll get a crap rate, on the whole, for your good online banking and faster payments. It’s a compromise and only you can decide where it falls. Personally, I am OK with crap online offerings and weak or non-existent implementations of faster payments, providing they have FSCS protection. Just be careful to check the banking license because a lot of these tech bro institutions will use Clearbank or similar and FSCS protection is per banking license, not per brand.

I assume you have an account? Do you know how quickly they process deposits and withdrawals? I can't see any info on their website about it

[jamesbrown]

Do they give you a real sort code/account number or is it a virtual one that goes via an intermediary bank?

I prefer the likes of virgin with their instant deposit/withdrawal than banks like shawbrook that can only process deposits on working days and withdrawals take 24 hours

They use an intermediary. You can go with a highstreet bank, but you’ll get a crap rate, on the whole, for your good online banking and faster payments. It’s a compromise and only you can decide where it falls. Personally, I am OK with crap online offerings and weak or non-existent implementations of faster payments, providing they have FSCS protection. Just be careful to check the banking license because a lot of these tech bro institutions will use Clearbank or similar and FSCS protection is per banking license, not per brand.

[antuk]

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/busi...ks-first=false

Just opened a Saffron Building Society account this week, 4.35% easy access, no fees.

I keep an eye on the top rates and move money around/open new accounts when they shift. It's not that much time/work (although I draw the line at applying for the top rate 5% at Progressive BS and it needs to be in by post or in branch )

Do they give you a real sort code/account number or is it a virtual one that goes via an intermediary bank?

I prefer the likes of virgin with their instant deposit/withdrawal than banks like shawbrook that can only process deposits on working days and withdrawals take 24 hours

[ensignia]

I have a rather large amount sitting with Virgin Money with their 120 day Notice account, they've increased the interest to 4.85% for new customers but the rate is still 4.55% for customers pre March 2024 even though it was described as variable, but seems like it can only go down so it's not actually variable

Thinking of binning them off, and these easy access accounts are tempting. But don't feel comfortable leaving the amount I have with a minnow like Tide or Saffron BS.

[jmo21]

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/busi...ks-first=false

Just opened a Saffron Building Society account this week, 4.35% easy access, no fees.

I keep an eye on the top rates and move money around/open new accounts when they shift. It's not that much time/work (although I draw the line at applying for the top rate 5% at Progressive BS and it needs to be in by post or in branch )

[youngguy]

It's not that hard, no, but it's a faff. I should imagine even on CUK, many people are pushing 7 figures in their businesses so that means managing 10 bank accounts. ?

It's funny as I found this due to Investec closing one of my accounts and me searching for the current best batch!

Thanks to all on this thread for giving me some good alternatives.

I have 4 accounts, when I've got near the limit, I've then opened another account. There is a hassle when you do the first transfer and for some of my accounts I need to manually update free agent with the interest updates.

For me, a few hours a year is worth a bit of peace of mind.

[jamesbrown]

I imagine they take out insurance. But if you recall the Silicon Valley Bank failure around 1 year ago, there were many start ups that had all their cash in that bank. Initially they were wiped out (Friday), but then the government stepped in and announced it would cover it (Monday), bet that was a crazy weekend for some!

What insurance? You will not find insurance against bank failures outside of government backed deposit schemes, like FDIC and FSCS. Anyway, short-term gov't bonds are widely available, for example, and can be held until maturity, which guarantees the principal (obviously, you can lose money relative to inflation etc.).