Can’t find a bank that offers joint savings accounts? Try these, which pay up to 4.65%: SYLVIA MORRIS
Who would have thought it would be difficult to open a joint account? Well, it is, judging by the number of Money Mail readers who tell me about their experiences, and the problem is widespread.
The highest paying savings accounts launching today only allow you to open an account in one name.
Reader Derek Williams tells me he has wasted an inordinate amount of time researching to see if top rate accounts can be opened in joint names, and that this is not always explained on banks’ websites.
Frozen: Banks are reluctant to offer competitive joint savings accounts, claiming they involve more administration and costs to set them up
Ray Kay spent 40 minutes on the phone to find out if he could open an easy-access Ulster Bank Loyalty Saver account with his wife. The answer is: that is possible, but you must be a current account holder at the bank.
Why this reluctance to encourage couples to save?
The reason given by banks is that it involves more administration and costs to set up joint accounts and they can offer better rates for separate accounts.
The best easy access accounts you can hold in joint names and open to new savers include Family BS Market Tracker and Secure Trust Access Account Issue 19 at 4.65 per cent and Yorkshire BS Easy Access Saver Issue 3 at 4. 35 percent.
Both deals are only available online. You can open the Family BS account online, through the Epsom, Surrey branch or by post.
Scottish BS has its Saver Plus, which you can access in its branches or by post. It pays a decent 4.51 percent, but you’re limited to a maximum of four withdrawals per year.
However, you cannot close the account in joint names if you want to open it online.
In fixed income bonds, SmartSave and Atom can often be found at or near the top of the best buy tables, but you can’t open a joint account with either.
Other top providers that do allow you to do this include online banks Cynergy Bank (4.75 percent for one year), Kent Reliance (4.71 percent), Shawbrook Bank (4.57 percent), Charter Savings Bank (4, 56 percent) and United Trust Bank (4.55 percent). percent).
If you want to stick with a local branch, the best rates come from Kent Reliance (4.71 per cent), and building societies Nottingham (4.41 per cent), Principality (4.3 per cent), Leeds (4.2 per cent) combined with Cambridge, Newcastle and Furness (all 4.25 percent).
And as a reminder, cash Isas cannot be opened as joint accounts. According to government rules, they can only be opened in one name.
Sy.morris@dailymail.co.uk
Where rates are falling fastest
Major banks NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays have announced they will cut rates on their easy-access accounts following the Bank of England’s base rate cut to 4.75 percent earlier this month.
Leave your money here and you’ll see a drop in value as banks pay less than the annual inflation rate of 1.7 percent until September.
Barclays Everyday Saver currently pays 1.66 percent on amounts up to £10,000 in your account. Twelve days from now, on December 2, that rate will drop to 1.51 percent – then drop to 1.26 percent in February.
NatWest Flexible Saver, which currently pays 1.6 per cent on up to £25,000, will drop to 1.5 per cent on December 5.
HSBC Flexible Saver drops to 1.5 percent in January. On Monday, the interest rate was lowered from 2 percent to 1.75 percent.
See the best cash Isa rates in our savings tables