Post Office Instant Saver Review

Overall Rating

Let me first state that the current interest rate really isn ' t good, its a variable rate account that follows the Bank of England ' s base rate and at the present that means the rate is low (and may go lower soon) but it is backed by the Irish government, which means if you have a lot of money and the bank went bust you would get 100% of EVERYTHING which is good.
Opening the account is going to be a nightmare because so many people are opening accounts. You get a letter saying it could take up to 4 weeks, so sit back and knit me that jumper for Xmas I have always been asking for.
So... to recap, if you wish to have a place to keep your money safe and you not so fussed about a great rate at the monent then post office instant saver is good.
NOW.. here is where the problems occur, you receive a letter telling you to wait, so you wait, while the little xmas elves decide on whether or not to ask you for further id (you cant hand id in at the start, post office will do 'electronic' checks) and then if Santa needs the id, he puts you on the naughty list and apparently sends you a letter telling you of this.. you get 28 days to reply to this letter (about 4 weeks) and if you don ' t receive this letter, this 4 weeks will pass while your knitting me a jumper (because you have been told to wait 4 weeks and you never knew about this letter than hasn ' t arrived at your door, maybe one of the reindeer ate it) and your cheque will be sent back to you and application canceled. you wont receive interest because account was never opened.
now assuming you haven ' t been put on the naughty list you account is opened and you will receive your cards and you may notice that something is wrong with a spelling (maybe Santa should have checked the list twice) you can ring up but you will need a special number that is 6 digits long to even correct a spelling mistake, if the spelling mistake is part of your address you might not even get the number!! best solution then would be to write in, this takes a while and I would suggest recorded mail because Rudolf likes to eat a lot
once everything is up and working the customer service on the telephone appear to be helpful, most are clear and explain things at a pace that is easy to keep up with. accessing money via the post office is quick and painless and transferring money to your other bank over the telephone is also hassle free (although adding a bank account originally stops you doing anything for a week for security reasons)
as I said earlier the interest isn ' t great at the min and if you wish to close your account you cant simply go to your post office you have to write a letter and maybe Santa is sluggish from all the pies he has ate but it appears to take ages.
all in all I think the process of opening and closing an account is a lot of hassle but once its open you don ' t have any problems.
if you want to use the account as a current account get a current account. If you want to save long term in a safe environment then this is as good a place as any.