Ethical easy access high interest savings accounts?

[trickyex]

I have around 35K in a Bonus savings account with F Direct which I need to access regularly over the coming months/year - I have used up my ISA allowance so cant use that option. The FD account is only 3.75% and dips to just over 1% each time I access my money.

Am doing some research into the best interest rates which I can access without giving notice or losing interest and would prefer to use one of the more ethical options such as the building societies.

What are your recommendations/experiences?

TIA.

Nationwide triple access also 3.75 but doesn’t dip unless you make more than 3 withdrawals. Think there are some other limited access accounts that do similar. Just did quick search on limited access came up with Coventry 5 access saver 4.15% after that you lose 50 days interest. They are variable rate so will gradually drop when base rate goes down. Spread money across the 2 accounts and you would get 8 accesses a year with no penalty Find another similar and you could get more. If you have partner/DH you could get one each of Coventry one giving 10 accesses per year. Search limited access to see if there are any others

Hargreaves Landsdown, you can put your money in their and then choose from loads of savings accounts from different providers. You can have multiple at once, move money around open and close accounts easily.

Hi @trickyex I have savings and ISAs with various building societies for ethical reasons too. Have you checked what's available to you as an existing customer e.g. if you already have an account with Skipton there's a 4.15% bond up to £20k. Could you stick some of your savings in there, leaving enough elsewhere for the withdrawals you need to make? I would check what accessible options they have but I keep accidentally losing this message so I'm going to post it quick!

Thanks for that.
I dont have any other accounts with building societies at the moment.
Am trawling through options I just find I am very slow at comparing them all...

Have just looked up Coventry and that account sounds good thank you @helibirdcomp.

Is HL an ethical provider> I dont know anything about them (about to have a look now) @CraftyNavySeal

Would 4 withdrawals be any good? If so, West Bromwich BS has a savings account that might suit, interest drops on fifth withdrawal.

Thanks @HarpQuartet I saw that too on my searching. Sounds even better.

Am also interested in the Hargreaves Lansdown suggestion just slightly unsure how I found out about their ethical credentials.

There's rarely anything in place to stop you from opening another limited access account and transferring to that once you've used up your alloted withdrawals on one account. Normally the interest rate is the same across issues too although one issue may change slightly before or after the other.

If you were doing it every week you might get either told off or account closed but every few months wouldn't flag an issue.

Hargreaves Lansdown are primarily an investment platform so I wouldn't say ethical really applies as they sell all sorts of funds from all over the world. Not sure if you mean that the platform is ethical or the savings accounts you take out are. The active savings offering is fairly new and means you can have accounts with multiple providers in one place, Raisen is a similar platform. The drawback is that they don't cover all providers and their interest rate offerings are sometimes slightly less than going straight to the actual provider. They are also a bit of a pain as they keep timing you out while you are researching the accounts and yes you do still have to look at the terms and conditions of each one. I suspect if you compare their rates to the various building societies mentioned here you will find better going direct. 2 or 3 separate accounts is not a huge bother to manage. If you are going for more than that it might be worth it. I also might go to them if I wanted a fixed rate (ie locked in for the duration) account which isn't what you asked for but I'd still be going to the comparisons websites to check the rate they were offering first.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/ethical-banking/

NS&I also have some green bonds

go to the savings section of moneysavingexpert.com and find the best paying instant access savings account you can. Ignore any that you deem unethical for whatever reason.