Two thirds of easy access savings accounts come with restrictions – can you access your savings in an emergency?

Having money set aside in an emergency fund is a key part of building up your financial resilience and offering you protection in case you need cash in a hurry.

As it is very difficult to predict when a disruption may arise, it is important to have your emergency fund saved in an account that you can access at the drop of a hat.

At the same time, you will still want your emergency fund to earn interest and grow faster than inflation. Many will therefore put their cash into a top easy access savings account with a high interest rate.

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But despite what the term easy access implies, new research suggests just a handful of the top easy access accounts truly have no restrictions on how and when you can withdraw your savings.

A survey by MoneyComms, commissioned by Paragon Bank’s Spring, found that 73% (22) of the top 30 easy access savings accounts either impose a cut-off time or don't offer quick withdrawals within two hours.

This means savers could be stuck waiting until the next day to get access to their hard-earned savings – and while this may be a minor inconvenience to some, it could be more serious for those who require immediate access.

Of the top 30 providers, 15 set a cut-off time for same-day access to your cash, with one third of these requiring customers to make a withdrawal request before 3pm to have the money transferred on the same day.

Five of the top easy access accounts only commit to sending withdrawals to customers by the end of the next working day, potentially leaving savers waiting more than 24 hours for their cash.

Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at MoneyComms, said: “Most savers with an online easy access savings account probably assume that any withdrawal transfers to their nominated bank account would be made immediately, but that's often not the case.

“Many providers have a cut-off time for same-day transfers, and if you miss that, you won't receive your funds until the next working day, and cause big problems over a weekend.”

Some of the top easy access accounts also penalise savers that withdraw too often with lower interest rates. Of the top 50 easy access accounts, 22% disincentivise frequent withdrawals by imposing lower interest rates, while 12% block further withdrawals once a limit is reached.

Overall, MoneyComms found that genuinely easy access accounts which allow you to save without restriction are incredibly rare.

Of the 56 easy access accounts offered by the UK’s top 17 current account providers, just 10 are truly ‘pure’, the research found, meaning they are free from limits, fees or conditions like boosted rates.

There is a tradeoff for choosing these accounts too – the average interest rate among them is just 2.01%, far below the latest inflation reading.

Derek Sprawling, head of money at Spring by Paragon Bank, said: “Many accounts badged as ‘easy access’ are loaded with restrictions or short-lived bonuses that catch savers off guard. Most savers seeking a genuine easy access account want a simple choice and to know they can achieve a rewarding rate without sacrificing access to their money or having to navigate through a range of restrictions.”

Top easy access savers with fast withdrawals

The top easy access accounts with fast withdrawals are ones which use the ‘Faster Payments’ system for quick bank transfers. A customer may have to wait a maximum of two hours to access funds withdrawn from an account with Faster Payments.

Chase’s Saver offers the highest easy access savings rate right now, paying 4.5% interest, and it uses the Faster Payments system for immediate withdrawals. There is a catch, however – Chase’s Saver comes with a boosted rate of 1.94% for 12 months, meaning after one year of holding the account, the interest rate will fall.

It is not the only top easy access account that uses a boosted rate – MoneyComms found 20% of the top 50 accounts on the market rely on short-term bonus rates to up their competitiveness.

Meanwhile, the analysis highlighted that Cahoot’s Simple Saver, which pays a 4.4% interest rate, allows for immediate transfers via Faster Payments.

Paragon Bank’s Spring savings account also allows for immediate withdrawals via Faster Payments and pays 4.3% interest.