Beware account withdrawal fees

Today’s savings market is full of accounts that have bonuses and all manner of withdrawal restrictions, whether it be loss of interest or tiered interest or even limited number of free withdrawals.

According to experts at Moneyfacts, once everything settles down after the most recent November base rate increase, it could be the ideal time to shop around for a new savings account as long as you are aware of all the terms and conditions attached.

In some cases, accounts are promoted as instant access or no notice, however this is not always the case and consumers could be shocked if asked to pay in order to withdraw or receive a lower rate of return.

Moneyfacts inform us of five popular institutions who do charge a fee to withdraw from an instant access account:

• Alliance and Leicester - Easy Saver (card based account) -£2 fee for counter withdrawals
• Coventry B.S.- Branch Saver Passbook- £1 per withdrawal if balance goes below £100
• RBS – Instant Access- 10 free withdrawals per quarter, thereafter 50p per withdrawal
• RBS – Instant Savings Tracker- 3 free withdrawals per quarter thereafter £1.50 per withdrawal
• Woolwich – Branch Saver- 6 free withdrawals per annum then £10 for each one
• Yorkshire Bank – Instant Savings- £5 fee for counter withdrawals if withdrawal amount can be obtained from ATM

Naturally in addition to their withdrawal charges, these institutions also have varying interest rates and you would need to look at everything they offer to find the best deal for you since, in some instances charging for withdrawals might cancel out a fair proportion of any interest earned and in some occasions could possibly eat into the actual savings!

A word of caution when choosing new accounts- if an offer seems too good to be true, quite possibly it is, however with careful research into terms and conditions, it is possible to find the ideal account to match your own personal spending/savings habits.