Barclays Online Savings Accounts review

Barclays is a British multinational bank. This bank has head quarter in London, U.K. this bank operates in 50 different countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and South America. Barclays bank is fourth largest bank in the world. Recently Barclays launched online high yield savings account in America.

Barclays Saving account product targets US consumers with an instant access saving bank account and longer-term CD products that pay interest rates of up to 1.75 per cent for five-year deposits.

Barclays Saving Account/CD rates

Two banks we reviewed previously are offering a better rate,  Tiaa direct and Ever bank. Still, compared to a bank of this magnitude, we need to compare them with Bank of America, Wachovia or Chase. Comparing them Barclays rates are quiet high. It will be interesting to watch the future rate changes.

If fed decides to stick to low interest rate regime, we predict a rate drop from Barclays by early 2013. Deposits in Barclays is definitely FDIC insured. There is no doubt that their state of the art online banking facility and almost industry leading interest rates in US will be liked by Americans.

As per expectation from today’s banks, users can easily deposit funds, check their account balance, transfer funds to other account quite efficiently. There is neither a minimum opening balance requirement nor an annual maintenance fee.

As per Financial Times report, Barclay’s recent expansion to US is an effort to establish cheap source of funding for their international credit card business. They are providing credit cards through their Barclaycard service since year 2004. They have over 5 million credit card customers.

As per the article, Barclays ruled out any possibility to enlarge their footprint in USA. So we will probably not see brick and mortar Barclays branches near us in next few years. This will mainly exists as an internet bank.Having P.O.  Box in their contact address solidifies this assumption.

Salient features of Barclays saving account

• Secure, 24/7 access
• Easy transfers to other banks
• Simple, scheduled transfers
• Direct deposit for consistent savings
• No hidden fees
• No minimum balances
• No need to change banks

The interest on your savings will be calculated on daily basis so as to give you maximum interest on your savings. And this interest will be credited to account every month. So if you want to open an online savings account then Barclays is the one for you, irrespective of how much money you want to put in savings account.

Barclays online CD features include

• Early withdrawal penalty for all terms is 90 days of interest on principal withdrawn
• The longer you keep money, better return you get
• 14-day grace period at maturity

Recommendation for Barclays Bank

We would recommend Barclays to anyone who feels comfortable with the idea of an online bank. Remember we didn’t recommend Tiaa direct even with higher rates, that’s because we anticipate the rate from to go down very soon. In this case also we anticipate rates to go down lower and lower as they secure more and more deposits from consumers.

We give Barclays an “Invest” rating. This is perfect for a large emergency fund or other big savings goal.  But, do remember that putting money in saving account is a bad financial decision, as you lose money to inflation.

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