First Active Regular Saver - 7.15% on up to €1K p.m.

Hey. Just started on this site. Really great advice.

I have around 10k lieing around and have a certain amount per month coming in.
Would FA be the best option for both savings accounts, regular and e-savings.
As in I open a regular saving account mentioned in this thread and also open up an e savings accounts and deposit the 10k in there.

Also, can I say set it up so I can do a standing order from say an AIB account to the FA savings account each month for 1,000. Can I even do it from the e-savings account and would it make financial sense to do it?

Thanks.
 
cooker3 said:
Would FA be the best option for both savings accounts, regular and e-savings.
As in I open a regular saving account mentioned in this thread and also open up an e savings accounts and deposit the 10k in there.
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check the financial best buys but yes, thats pretty much the best deal you can get. Go into the branch to set up the regular savings a/c and then when your a/c is active, set up the esavings a/c online. that's what i did and it was very easy.

cooker3 said:
Also, can I say set it up so I can do a standing order from say an AIB account to the FA savings account each month for 1,000. Can I even do it from the e-savings account and would it make financial sense to do it?
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again yes, i have a SO going from my NIB a/c to FA reg saver. And there have been plenty of posts on here about the benefits of using the lump sum a/c to drip feed into your reg savings a/c. do a search. and you could then use your other funds to go into another reg savings a/c from the financial best buys section.

hope that helps.
 
bfield said:
check the financial best buys but yes, thats pretty much the best deal you can get. Go into the branch to set up the regular savings a/c and then when your a/c is active, set up the esavings a/c online. that's what i did and it was very easy.



again yes, i have a SO going from my NIB a/c to FA reg saver. And there have been plenty of posts on here about the benefits of using the lump sum a/c to drip feed into your reg savings a/c. do a search. and you could then use your other funds to go into another reg savings a/c from the financial best buys section.

hope that helps.
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good advise, that's pretty much what I'm doing too. Can someone tell me when interest is added to the monthly saver accounts?
 
Am I missing something? Halifax offer 10% on balances on their current account. This doesnt sound like a good deal at all
 
Terms and conditions on Halifax a/c only 10% on balances up to €2000, reduces to 0.1% on rest, also you must lodge €1500 every month or the whole lot reverts to 0.1%
 
one more question, hopefully someone can help me. If I want to increase the amount credited to my monthly saver account each month, how can I do it? I had a look in my account but I can't see an option to do this...
 
If you mean how do you change the amount you put into your reg savings account then, its not through First Active but through the bank you have the standing order coming from. I know you can change your standing order online for AIB ( in other words you can change the amount every month, once it doesnt exceed €1000 or be below €1)

You can amend your standing orders online for Halifax and BOI..

remember its a standing order not a direct debit (which sometimes requires to notify your bank in writing - AIB definately)
 
Darando said:
If you mean how do you change the amount you put into your reg savings account then, its not through First Active but through the bank you have the standing order coming from. I know you can change your standing order online for AIB ( in other words you can change the amount every month, once it doesnt exceed €1000 or be below €1)

You can amend your standing orders online for Halifax and BOI..

remember its a standing order not a direct debit (which sometimes requires to notify your bank in writing - AIB definately)
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yep, that's what I mean. I'll look into it tomorrow.
 
I'm thinking of opening up an FA regular & lump sum accounts.

Can someone please summarise all of the above threads into one step by step thread, perhaps answering the following or in amore suitable format:

1. How to set up the FA lump sum saving account & regular savings account?
2. Lump savings account - interest rate at 5.22%?
3. Regular savings account - interest rate at 7.15%?
4. Is it possible to view both accounts online?
5. Is it possible to make any transactions online?
6. Are there any penalities for withdrawals made?
7. Is it advisable to get an ATM, or do without it, govenment taxes etc?
8. Whats the best way to pay into the regular savings account & can this be done from a BOI account or any other account outside of FA?
9. How long will the 5.22% & 7.15% rates last?
10. Terms & conditions?

Appreciate that a lot of the above may have been discussed before but it would be easier if an AAM poster with all the knowledge could summarise it in one thread

Thanks
 
Pope John 11 said:
I'm thinking of opening up an FA regular & lump sum accounts.

Can someone please summarise all of the above threads into one step by step thread, perhaps answering the following or in amore suitable format:

1. How to set up the FA lump sum saving account & regular savings account?
2. Lump savings account - interest rate at 5.22%?
3. Regular savings account - interest rate at 7.15%?
4. Is it possible to view both accounts online?
5. Is it possible to make any transactions online?
6. Are there any penalities for withdrawals made?
7. Is it advisable to get an ATM, or do without it, govenment taxes etc?
8. Whats the best way to pay into the regular savings account & can this be done from a BOI account or any other account outside of FA?
9. How long will the 5.22% & 7.15% rates last?
10. Terms & conditions?

Appreciate that a lot of the above may have been discussed before but it would be easier if an AAM poster with all the knowledge could summarise it in one thread

Thanks
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all this info can be found on the First Active website. answers to 2,3 and 4 are YES. 8. yes you can deposit from any Irish bank account.

not 100% sure on the remainder of your questions.
 
Pope John 11 said:
2. Lump savings account - interest rate at 5.22%? Can only be set up online online, send in your personal details

3. Regular savings account - interest rate at 7.15%? Go into the branch, setup standing order with your bank (I did all of this online with BOI, although allow about 8 working days for this to be setup).

4. Is it possible to view both accounts online? Yes, both accounts will appear under one user account.

5. Is it possible to make any transactions online? Yes, ring up and setup accounts that you want to transfer funds into by electronic transfer. These will appear in your online account.

6. Are there any penalities for withdrawals made? Not for the lump sum, not sure about the regular saver.

7. Is it advisable to get an ATM, or do without it, government taxes etc? Depends on how quickly you need to get at your cash. I didn't bother.
8. Whats the best way to pay into the regular savings account & can this be done from a BOI account or any other account outside of FA? See above. Very easily done from Banking 365.

9. How long will the 5.22% & 7.15% rates last? Something to keep an eye on.
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I notice that FA still don't say how long the 7.15% rate is guaranteed for. Most banks do give a min date for their rates. I have one of these accounts & hope they don't drop for a good while!

Has anyone been told a min time in any correspondance they've had? A girl in their Ranelagh branch said a few months back that it was guarnateed to at least Jan 09 but not very reliable info I thought.
 
FA are far from unique in offering no rate guarantee. See the www.itsyourmoney.ie lists of regular saver and lump sum deposit accounts for example. If/when they drop the rate just look elsewhere.
 
ClubMan said:
FA are far from unique in offering no rate guarantee. See the www.itsyourmoney.ie lists of regular saver and lump sum deposit accounts for example. If/when they drop the rate just look elsewhere.
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Yes, I'm keeping an eye out for any rate changes. The annoying thing though is as follows:

If I put the max 1K a month into FA, at year end I'd be getting 12K @7.15% int. After 2 years, if rate remained, it would be 24K @7.15%.

So if one knew when the rate was guaranteed for, you could work out if it was worth your while keeping savings in a bank with a higher rate until guaranteed date or to put it in a smaller rated bank that gauranteed it for longer!

I guess the banks are intentionally not saying for such a reason.
 
Hi Folks,
I'm new to this Site - Am I missing somthing here ? I have 4 accounts with Anglo ( Wife & 2 Children ) and I'm getting 8 % on all 4 accounts & I can lodge a max of 1000 Euro a month into each account. - Much better than First Active, Right ?
Thanks.
 
TomPetty said:
Hi Folks,
I'm new to this Site - Am I missing somthing here ? I have 4 accounts with Anglo ( Wife & 2 Children ) and I'm getting 8 % on all 4 accounts & I can lodge a max of 1000 Euro a month into each account. - Much better than First Active, Right ?
Thanks.
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Anglo's offer is for 1 year only. First Active's & many others have no end period. So less than 2 months after the year is up I'd have made more interest in the FA account than yours did in 12!
 
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