Sterling Savings Account

done4now

I was working in the UK for a few years and I saved up around £20k but I never moved it when I moved back to Ireland. I've changed my address on my account to my Irish one and I no longer and getting any interest on the account as I'm not a UK resident anymore. The interest rate was close to zero anyway.

What should I do with this money should I move it to an account like the one listed below as at least I'll see some return?

http://www.nationwideuk.ie/savings/sterlingrates.asp

I don't plan to use the money anytime soon and I normally just use the account just for when I'm in the UK or buy stuff online of a UK website.

Any suggestions?

JTMan

Nationwide UK (Ireland) are closing down so do not open a new account there!

More GBP savings rates are close to zero.

- KBC have a few GBP with rates here at the bottom of the page.
- PTSB have a few GBP products with rates here.

Bob24

JTMan wrote: »

- PTSB have a few GBP products with rates here.

Just on this: I was interested in opening one of those and made an appointment with a PTSB branch a few months ago, and all I was offered in terms of GBP account is something which I think is held by Citibank on behalf of PTSB in the UK. Problems with it are that there are no interests, it can't be viewed/accessed through online banking, and I was told the only way to take money out of the account is to go to a PTSB branch and get either a cheque or cash in GBP.

So basically it doesn't really work as a savings account (and after calling someone at the headquarters to double-check how it works the PTSB customer advisor basically discouraged me from opening the account).

Is it an issue with them staff not knowing the available products or is the website listing accounts which are not available any-more?

JTMan

Strange that their website has products that you say they do not offer. Did you point this out to them when you were speaking to them? The PTSB website clearly says that they pay interest on GBP accounts.

Bob24

I just mentioned I saw it on the PDF with the interest rates on the website and he didn't seem to be aware of it. He left me waiting for 5 or 10 minutes as he was calling the head office and really didn't seem to think what I was asking for made sense, so I didn't push it much.

KOR101

Bob24 wrote: »

I just mentioned I saw it on the PDF with the interest rates on the website and he didn't seem to be aware of it. He left me waiting for 5 or 10 minutes as he was calling the head office and really didn't seem to think what I was asking for made sense, so I didn't push it much.

Are you saying you were forced to accept zero interest?

Anyone else manage to get the interest rates as shown on the website?

The website does appear to be out if date.....

These rates are effective from the start of business
on
20th August 2015

Bob24

KOR101 wrote: »

Are you saying you were forced to accept zero interest?

I didn't open the account or pursue it further as I felt even their own staff was unclear about how it works. But yes after waiting for them to call the headquarters and confirm, what I was told by the branch staff is that the only type of Sterling account available was one with no interest.

And if you call their phone account opening team, they will tell you foreign currency accounts can only be open at a branch and offer to book an appointement. So basically I found no one to talk to about what is listed on the website.

KOR101

Bob24 wrote: »

I didn't open the account or pursue it further as I felt even their own staff was unclear about how it works.

Did you manage something else, or did you give up on Sterling?

Bob24

KOR101 wrote: »

Did you manage something else, or did you give up on Sterling?

Gave up as it was more a nice to have than a must have for me and I didn't fine any easy option.

(Rates seem so low than once you take DIRT into account you really feel like you are wasting your time trying to get bank staff to understand their own offering).

JTMan

Farce. I have emailed PTSB about the wrong foreign currency rates on their website.

Bob24

JTMan wrote: »

Farce. I have emailed PTSB about the wrong foreign currency rates on their website.

Let us know what they say ... I don't really care anymore about opening the account, but I'm curious.

JTMan

Will do.

JTMan

After been given quite a run around by PTSB, when all I wanted to know was what their GBP rates were ... PTSB have confirmed to me that their GBP rates on their website are accurate. PTSB also rang a branch for me and confirmed that the branch GBP rates tie to the rates on their website.

KOR101

JTMan wrote: »

Are been given quite a run around by PTSB, when all I wanted to know was what their GBP rates were ... PTSB have confirmed to me that their GBP rates on their website are accurate. PTSB also rang a branch for me and confirmed that the branch GBP rates tie to the rates on their website.

Have to say, I'm astonished by that. I read in a British newspaper that the average savings rate is now only .165%.

I will make an appointment with them and report back. Was also considering Prize Bonds.

JTMan

I read in a British newspaper that the average savings rate is now only .165%.

There is a big difference between average savings rates and highest and lowest rates. A lot of people only earn 0.01% on their savings. GBP rate, in the UK, are up to 5% at their highest (regular saver products) and 0% at their lowest. PTSB offer 0.4% on a 1 year GBP term deposit, higher than average but not astounding.

Bob24

JTMan wrote: »

After been given quite a run around by PTSB, when all I wanted to know was what their GBP rates were ... PTSB have confirmed to me that their GBP rates on their website are accurate. PTSB also rang a branch for me and confirmed that the branch GBP rates tie to the rates on their website.

Are you planing to open one of the GBP accounts listed on the website? If yes I'd be curious to know how it goes, maybe I was just unlucky.

Bob24

KOR101 wrote: »

Was also considering Prize Bonds.

Depends on what you are looking for. Consider prize bond as an interest-free deposit account safer than an Irish bank which comes with a free lottery ticket once a weak.

I have a fairly small amount of them, but it is mostly for the fun factor of being part of the draw, I am not sure they are a valid alternative for a savings account with interests given how low the odds of getting even a 50 euros prize have now became.

KOR101

JTMan wrote: »

There is a big difference between average savings rates and highest and lowest rates. A lot of people only earn 0.01% on their savings. GBP rate, in the UK, are up to 5% at their highest (regular saver products) and 0% at their lowest. PTSB offer 0.4% on a 1 year GBP term deposit, higher than average but not astounding.

First my Nationwide UK International account was closed. Then, a month after opening an account with Permanent TSB International, they sent a letter saying they were closing in September. I think this says it all. I'm only interested in short notice accounts. I actually started to relax once I realised I was unlikely to find anything like I had before, so I should just park it somewhere. It's still a crazy world in financial markets.

JTMan

Bob24 wrote: »

Are you planing to open one of the GBP accounts listed on the website?

Not right now.