Hi Gooneress-

We appear to be in a very similar position, trying to deal with an influx of money and find a decent interest-earning home for it. I presume you already have an ISA a/c. And a fellow Gooner!

I am looking to park money in a couple of different accounts, in different banks, and not with my Current a/c and ISA bank (a classic high-street player). Safety throgh dispersal of funds seems to be fundamental policy in personal banking these days.

I would recommend ING to you. I have found them hassle-free and easy to deal with. I've never had to wait long on the phone and their staff are most courteous. I was slightly worried about banking on-line, never having done this before, but this has proved straightforward. The only problem was that the pin no. was delayed in the post for a few days because of the Post strike; this was clearly not the fault of ING, but of the 'management' (sic) of Royal Mail. Transfers are easily effected on-line or via the bank branch (go to the Information desk). ING are one of the banks that is to be broken up as a result of the European Commission inquiry into banks bailed out by the State (ING is a Dutch bank and was bailed out by the Dutch government, rather as LLoyds and RBS were here) but the UK part of its business will remain intact and under the same name, so it seems as safe as anything else.

As for ING no longer being near the top of the comparison lists. (Again, this writer is new to financial comparison sites). Well, it would appear that these lists are not always totally accurate and are best used as a guide only. Different sites do seem to have different banks at the top of their charts at any one time, rather like the old music charts in rival music papers. It is necessary to check individual interest rates and conditions having used various sites and newspapers to identify likely contenders for your business. And in carrying out such a check, I am pleased to be able to eliminate Citibank from my own list. Many thanks to all of the writers above for pointing out their difficulties with this bank.

So I am still looking for a second bank with decent rates for savings. One or two year bonds are a possibilty, but am I alone in thinking that interest rates in ordinary saving accounts may rise in the spring, which would discourage tying up funds in a bond now?

Situation at Citibank become even worse than previously reported.

(1) Sent off R85 tax form 3/4 weeks ago with covering letter - heard nothing from Citibank - wrote several times querying R85 - no response from Citibank - then suddenly a letter 2.3 days ago stating account not registered for gross interest as no R85 form received !!!. Complained about this ussue but again no response from citibank - gave up trying to ring them as put on hold for over an hour. Eat humble pie and sent another R85 - no doubt they will 'not receive' this one as well.

(2) Went on Citibank online site to add a payee to my account - my current account - in order to be able to transfer money between the two. The Citibank system refused to accept my current account details as the 8 digit account number commenced with a double zero. The Citibank system instructed the removal of the double zero - which I did but the Citibank system still refused the number so i failed to add my most important account to this Citibank account - rendering me incapable of transfering any monies our of the Citibank account !!!

The Citibank account administration is an absolute shambles - there is no other word for it. I've just about had enough.

John A

Hi anhvuilam,

Glld you are pleased with Ing - I been with them several times over the years and regret have had a few major problems with Ing, in fact just closed down an account with them even though they paid me compensation for 'mistakes' and 'errors' they admitted making. A further concern is Ing is not in the UK FSA compensation scheme, they are in the Dutch scheme so in the event of any big problem, you would be dependant on the integrity and finances of the dutch government, prsumably along with many other account holders.

On interest rates, my calcul;ated belief is that it will be some time before interest rates recover to anything like before - if you can achieve a reasonable fixed term rate over 1 or 2 years, say something around 4% to 4.5% in a safe account under the UK FSA compensation scheme, you do alot worse than stick in up to £50k.

On instant access, the AA (minimum £50k) Bradford & Bingley, Coventry, and Citibank (AAAAHHHH) are paying 3.30 gross. The West Brom are paying slighly hiher but you have to open account in Branch and there are no West Brom branches down South as far as I am aware.

Good luck in finding a decent second home for your cash.

John A

Hello,

I have tried to transfer funds from my existing HSBC to citibank, but not working. I did not enter the initial 0s in my citibank account. I donot know whether it is a problem or not. Luckily i tried only with 10 pounds.

Well, my test transfer from Barclays (done via Barclays telephone banking on 2 November) has arrived in the Citibank account overnight, so not TOO bad. Seems that the Citibank telephone chap was talking rubbish when he said the only way to credit the account is by post.

Now I can get on with paying in my bigger amount in £5K chunks (that's the daily limit for Barclays telephone banking).

Hope you all get some satisfaction soon!

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon

Can you get into a Barclays branch? Mine transferred the whole lot (once they'd knocked the zeros off and worked out the account number) all at once for me for no charge, and it appeared within about a day into the Citibank account (thereby starting to earn interest sooner than having to wait days transferring £5k at a time).

Hello to all - this thread has been really interesting and enlightening the last week or so! We should all write a book!

Best wishes

Hi John-

Thanks for your reply.

I guess that I can only keep my fingers X-ed with ING. However, so far, so good. I know that they are not in the UK compensation scheme, but the Dutch one. Hence dispersing things to separate a/cs.

Again, you are right about the fact that the West Brom has no branch in London. I wish that they did, but they would probably be overwhelmed with new customers, with queues down the street!

So I am looking at the A.+ L. and B.+B. The most depressing thing is just how much time it is taking to get such measly returns.

Cheers to one and all for your advice and comments, especially your warnings about Citibank.

Hi anhvuilam (where the heck did you get that name from !)

Sorry, mislead you in previous mesage, B&B's account does pay 3.3% gross but is a 60 day account, not instant. I've been with B&B several times and not had much problem. A&L on the other hand has presented a variety of problems over the years, bioth personally and via my professional employment. Newcastle had a brilliant account paying 5% gross on a five year bomnd but with a 90 day withdrawal clause, in effect making the bond a 90 day account, but this closed rapidily within 2 weeks and I just managed to get the max under FSA comp. in. I feel the problem with a lot of financial institutions.is the sheer volume of people enquiring or applying for these top paying accounts and the institutions are just not geared up to dealing with such volumes. It appears people are much more prepared to vcompare and switch accounts nowadays than previously - certianly I am almost daily changing accounts - a lot of hassle but necessary if one requires the best rates. I am still awaiting a response from Citibank !

John A

Well I now have transfers tested both ways between Citibank and my Barclays account, so I can go on with transferring my big sum into the Citibank account so it can start earning some interest.

Freshly-discovered top tip for you Barclays customers. If like me you don't want the inconvenience of that PinSentry gadget you can do one initial transfer using TELEPHONE bankng (max £5000). What I didn't realise until today is that payees set up on there then appear in your ONLINE banking payees list so you can then do it online. And stranger still I was able to do a £5000 transfer into the Citibank account online from Barclays. Thought the limit used to be £1k or £3k or something pathetic. Interesting!

Regards,

Simon.

Re CitiBank (the continuing Saga )

Even more probl;ems with Citibank. Opened the online savongs account in September at 3.3% - letter from Citibank stating rate 1% - queries this rate instant;ly and strongly - Citibank then advise (after 4 week delay) that the rate of 1% was correct as I had an existing account and the 3.3% only available to new customers. On further enquiry, discovered a previous account opened in early 2009 still on their books, despite my having given written instructions to close this old account in May 2009. Have now challenged their information and demanded that 3.3% is paid and backdated as Citibank failed to act on my written instructions and had they done so, my new account would proprerly attract the promoted 3.3%. (What a performance).

Hi John

Oh NO! I do feel for you - this has just gone on and on. Financial institutions don't like closing accounts do they?!

What about putting it in a bond instead?! I've put some money into an AA one (Birmingham Midshires) and if you're desperate to get it out before the 2 yrs are up, you only lose 90 days interest. NS and I have got something similar too.

Good luck!

Thanks gooneress,

Good to know you still around and on the ball . Have opened an AA savoings account at 3.3% (if min amount achieved)but even having problems with them. Sent two cheques over a week ago and still waiting for these to be credited to the account (must be me ! ) Don't really want to tie money up as may be needed for a property and £500 (3 months lost interest at 4% on £50k) is alot to use. I feel someone will improve on the current ceiling of 3.3% shortly in order to attract money in - may only be for a short term bonus of probably one year but still preferable I feel. Many thanks for the response - hope you are foing better than me !

John A

I live in hope (more than expectation) that the industry improves on the current 3.3% average for instant savings.

As for my Citi experience, I thought after reading Lighty2's thread starter this was going to be a nightmare, but I have pleasantly surprised.

To be fair the 3.30% AER "Issue 6" rate isn't the best around but I was attracted by the fixed 12 month bonus component of 2.25% which at least provides a floor, having been caught before by "market leading rates" which subsequently fell into unprofitable mediocrity.

The online application was user friendly and 3 days later (yesterday) I had received a welcome letter which included a non-embossed card and a tiny "how to use" leaflet. The pin pack was sent under separate cover but scarily was delivered at the same time by postman pat so defeating in my opinion pin security.

Call Centre activation.... I thought this would be difficult however I rang the 0800 at 11:15am today and was speaking to an "overseas rep" within 4 minutes. As others have commented the accents are heavy, not helped by a distant line and echo. The guy was pleasant and efficient running thru his activation script which required a series of questions, some selecting letters from words and given his accent I did need him to repeat a couple of instructions so I didn't mess up trying to find the 6th letter of my mother's maiden name ;)

All in activation took about 5 minutes so I was pleased. I guess Citi may of read some comments here as the rep explained that citi use a ten digit account number so I should strike the 2 front zeros when quoting/using the account number to fund the account from my bank, alternatively chqs can be sent snail mail via their freepost.

The online experience is in my opinion complex and fussy with numerous password demands required to register... By the time I thought of these and noted them down the site timed out requiring a restart grrrrr! I feel site navigation and usability wasn't top priority for citi who seem to have fallen in love with gimmicks, like a pointless floating keyboard to click on. Considering the size of this outfit and the resources it could muster it could do better - eg. debit card funding, which I couldn't find plus displaying the sort code would be helpful!

Apart from those niggles for an online savings account it looks okay so i'm happy enough.

Milo

Hi Milo

Did you say you are getting some bonus, or its 3,30% which includes the bonus for 12 months?

Thanks