Banking & Saving - Double Whammy - Safety and high savings rates from Abbey

Abbey is one of the largest banks in the UK and is owned by Banco Santander, the largest bank in the euro area and the seventh largest bank in the world by profit.

Abbey was acquired by the Santander Group in 2004 and is now part of a comprehensive range of great brands, combining the heritage and familiarity of the Abbey brand with the experience and expertise of Santander group.

Santander has a vast number of well established operations spanning the globe, with some brands in the UK that you may already be familiar with. These include Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley, cahoot, Cater Allen and GE Capital Bank.

This huge network of successful brands makes Abbey unique, as it is extremely well backed-up. This alone emphasises just how safe Abbey is, and club this together with the fact that Abbey offers several market leading banking products, for both personal and business customers, and you're onto a winner.

To add to the security of your money, Abbey customers are also covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which means that individuals holding accounts with Abbey are also protected for up to £50,000 (£100,000 per joint account).

This time of year is always an active one for savers, as the ISA deadline is soon to expire and renew. This is because every tax year (April 6th – April 5th) individuals can deposit up to £3,600 into an ISA and pay no tax on the returns earned from interest. As yearly allowances cannot roll-over to the following year, it is vital that savers take advantage of this tax-free incentive before the 2008/09 allowance expires.

Abbey is offering a market beating 3.5% on its Direct Reward ISA to savers that leave their funds untouched for 12 months. Unfortunately, existing balances held in ISAs cannot be transferred to this account, however, transfers are permitted with the Abbey Direct ISA (Issue 3), with an impressive 3% paid on balances of £9,000+ & get 3% AER for 12 months from account opening, or 2.50% for anything below £9,000.

For more details on this great ISA, check out our ISA section

If you're looking to switch to a great current account then consider the Abbey current account. Earn a fantastic 5% AER on balances up to £2,500 (up to £1,000 if not switching) for 12 months and 0.1% for anything over, plus a 0% interest-free Overdraft for the first four months. To qualify for this leading rate, all you need to do is credit your account with at least £1,000 per month for 12 months.

With the Abbey Current Account you can access your funds 24 hours a day 7 days a week via the e-banking service, 24-hour telephone banking service, and at most UK ATM's.

For more details on this fantastic offer, check out our abbey bank accounts

Written by Sam Gooch