Anyone looking to take out a new instant access savings account should check if they will be penalised for withdrawing their money before they commit their funds, one expert has warned.
Michelle Slade, analyst at Moneyfacts, explained that just because a savings account is dubbed instant access does not always mean that people can get their money whenever they want without having to pay for the privilege as a number of accounts have hidden charges.
"It is not just one or two of them; it is quite a lot of them that do it, a large percentage. I think around 25 per cent of them have some sort of penalty charge on them," she said.
She added that calling such accounts instant access is not misleading as people can still get to their money but have to pay a penalty.
A recent study on savings accounts by Nationwide found that 54 per cent of consumers consider instant access to their money to be very important or essential.
Warning over instant access savings accounts
Warning over instant access savings accounts
Mon, 12 May 2008
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