It’s good to save for a rainy day, and many people with spare cash available prefer the security of placing it in a savings account to the more risky but potentially more profitable choice of other investments such as stock market. Choosing a savings account would at first glance seem to be as simple as going for the one with the highest interest rate, but there are several other factors to take into account too.
The first choice to make is between opening an account with a high street bank, or going direct. High street banks give you the advantage of being able to manage your account with face to face contact with real people, and the ability to deposit cash and cheques easily. However, they have not historically offered the most competitive rates of interest, although this is changing slowly.
Direct savings accounts are operated solely online, by telephone, and by post with no possibility of visiting a bank branch to conduct business. This means they are cheaper to run for the banks, with less admin and staff costs, and so in turn they are willing to offer more attractive interest rates. Indeed, when internet direct savings accounts first appeared, some of them offered ten times the interest of a typical branch-based account, although the gap has narrowed considerably over the years. Continue reading →