Best Deposit Interest Rates?

Dinarius

I have sold my house and will be renting for some time while looking for a new house.

I would like to put the proceeds of the sale on deposit.

However, I will need access to the money within a reasonable period, say one-two months, should I find a house to buy.

Who is offering the best rates?

Who offers the most flexible terms?

Is there something better I could be doing with the money?

Many thanks.

D.

daveg

What about first actives new elevator account?

http://www.firstactive.ie/sav_inv_acc_elevator_work.asp

Meh

Northern Rock's Demand Online account will give you 3% interest, with no notice periods or withdrawal restrictions. It's internet-only, which may or may not suit you.

http://www.northernrock-ireland.ie/newsite/demandonlinehome.asp

Dinarius

Thanks guys.

The Elevator account wouldn't suit since no interest is given for the previous six month period on any amount withdrawn.

This means that if we found a new house within the next six months, and needed to withdraw most or all of the money on deposit, we wouldn't have earned any interest.

The Northern Rock product is a bit more like what I'm looking for. The monthly withdrawl rate of 2.2% seems OK: any house purchase would result in a closing date of at least four weeks. In addition, there doesn't seem to be any penalty for closing the account.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

D.

De Rebel

Dinarius wrote:

Any other suggestions?

I'd echo what Meh said. I use a Northern Rock on-line account to hold short/medium term cash deposits and its grand. No notice, good interest rate, and you get your money back within about 48 hours of requesting it.

If you are more comfortable with a bricks and mortar bank branch, try Anglo. The rates are slightly lower than Northern Rock, and most of their accounts have notice periods.

You could always *try* your boi/aib branch manager, and ask what rate he would give you for a large deposit for a few months. I know of two cases where people lodged proceeds of house sales to boi/aib branches, and then asked the question. Under threat of withdrawal, the branches came (after a suitable amount of kicking in the goolies) to within .25% of the Northern Rock rate. In both cases the money was left in the branch, for convenience. Be absolutely clear with them that the money remains on demand, i.e. no notice period and confirm that in writing.

If you do find anything better than Northern Rock please let us know, and then get out of the way of the stampede.

RainyDay

Check out the Askaboutmoney.com Best Buys list for deposit accounts - Given that the amounts are substantial, you might find your own bank will be prepared to haggle & give you a better rate.