Instant Access Savings

Having some savings put aside is important to most people, and with increased focus on the importance of putting money aside there are now many different types of savings accounts available to consumers in the UK. People decide to save for many different reasons, such as for emergencies, for a rainy day, for a holiday, for a child’s future, for their dream wedding, and more.

The reason for your savings will help to determine the type of savings account you select – for instance if you have a toddler and want to start saving for his or her future education then you will not need easy access to the funds for many years and can opt for a high interest long term savings account.

On the other hand, you may be savings for emergencies or on a short term basis, where you may need fast and easy access to your cash at any time, and in these cases you need to look for a suitable instant access savings account. Saving is something that most people strive to do, even if it is only a modest amount each month, but there is little point whacking your hard earned money into a long term savings account if you have no back up in the event of emergencies.

If you are limited in the amount of savings that you have or the amount that you can afford to save each month, then you are better off opting for an instant access savings account so that you can get a hold of your cash without any penalties should you need to do so.

There are a number of banks and building societies, as well as online financial institutions that offer instant access savings accounts, so you can enjoy plenty of choice. There are also a number of benefits to choosing an instant access savings account.

These include easy access to your cash whenever you need it, with no notice and no penalties imposed, low minimum deposits, which are usually just £1.00, and plenty of choice when it comes to selecting an account. One of the main drawbacks to this type of account is that the interest paid on savings is usually very low, so you won’t make a huge fortune with an instant access savings account.

This said, there are now a number of savings accounts that do offer quite impressive rates of interest to savers. The competition when it comes to savings has been hotting up over recent years, and in order to try and attract custom a number of financial institutions such as banks and online savings account providers have been offering attractive rates of interest, which have been further boosted by the rise in the base interest rate in the UK.

When it comes to interest rate rises applied to the base rate by the Bank of England, there are a number of banks that are very slow to pass on the interest rate rises, and some that do not pass on the rise at all. However, there are also some that act quickly and pass on over and above the amount of the rise, and these are the instant access savings accounts to look out for.

Over recent months instant access savings accounts such as ICICI, Icesave, and Sainsbury’s have all hit the financial headlines as a result of the attractive interest rates that they have been offering to customers. Accounts such as these have made is possible for consumers to enjoy the benefits of having an instant access savings account without having to make so much of a compromise in terms of the interest earned on their savings.