Earn 6% on in-credit balances up to £2,500 for 12 months with Alliance & Leicester's Premier Direct Current Account.
What's the deal?
Alliance & Leicester have raised the rate of interest paid on their Premier Direct Current Account to a market-topping 6% AER. The rate is fixed for 12 months and available on balances up to £2,500.
The Premier Direct Current Account is fee free - although you will need to pay in at least £500 a month - and comes with an interest free overdraft of up to £2,000 for 12 months too.
Alliance & Leicester also offer a free switching service to help you move your banking from your existing current account so you don't have the hassle of sorting direct debits and standing orders yourself.
After the initial 12 month period in-credit balances will accumulate interest at a rate of 1% AER variable and arranged overdrafts will remain interest free but a fee of 50p a day (capped at a £5 a month maximum) will be applied when they are in use.
What makes it great?
Alliance & Leicester's Premier Direct Current Account isn't an award winning current account for nothing. The 6% AER paid on balances up to £2,500 is market leading (beating the rate paid on the vast majority of savings accounts too) and fixed for 12 months giving you the reassurance that your money will be working as hard as possible while it's sitting in your current account. Couple this with an interest free, fee free overdraft and you have a year of rewarding banking ahead of you.
What's the catch?
The rate of interest paid on in-credit balances will fall to 1% AER (variable) after a year so if a decent return is what's important to you you'll need to remember to check whether it still stands up against the competition.
Similarly, after the initial 12 month period the overdraft will no longer be fee free so if it's a feature you regularly use you will need to review its suitability after that time.
It's also worth bearing in mind that in-credit balances over £2,500 will accumulate interest at a rate of just 0.1% AER so maintaining your account balance over this 'cap' for any length of time isn't going to be particularly profitable.
One more point to note is that Alliance & Leicester are at some stage in the not to distant future going to be rebranded as Santander (along with Abbey and Bradford & Bingley). This is currently on the cards for mid-2010 as the other Santander-owned UK banking brands are going to be transformed first.
While Santander (who are the second largest banking group in the world) have announced that they hope to maintain a similar level of branch access to that currently available when they merge the three brands, little is known about what will happen to their product range. That said; as Alliance & Leicester aren't due to undergo any changes for the next year, the 12 months' worth of enhanced banking available as an introductory offer on this account shouldn't be affected.
We have done our very best to make sure that the information included in this Deal is accurate. However, sometimes offers can be withdrawn or changed at the last minute so please do check that you're able to redeem this Deal before parting with any money, or going out of your way to take advantage of the offer.
