Intelligent Finance - good for savers and those trying to balance a lot of financial goals at once (Intelligent Finance)

Member Name: edinburgher

Product:	Intelligent Finance
Date:	05/01/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, reliable, competitive rates

Disadvantages: Customer service not always great

**I'm reviewing this bank purely as a saver and my thoughts should be viewed in this light!**

At the beginning of this year I decided that sitting under an umbrella of debts gathered during my time as a student was less than beneficial to both my prospects of ever getting a mortgage and more importantly, my sanity :-)

I turned to Intelligent Finance who were offering a very healthy interest rate on their iSaver product at the time. The interest rate has since fallen, but it remains at a competitive level and is guaranteed to be at least 1% above the base rate until the end of 2009. This suited me ideally, as I hope to be debt free by June.

In addition to this, Internet-only operation of accounts and flexbility were factors that appealed particularly.

Opening my initial iSaver was simple - a quick online form, provision of a few photocopied documents and an electronic transfer from my current account. The whole process took roughly a fortnight.

The account was managed through a cleanly laid out and fairly intuitive interface and I've only had one query about using my account online that I couldn't answer using their online help.

This online 'portal' allows you access to all your savings accounts and since opening the initial one I have opened another couple to help with the budgeting (holidays etc.) Opening additional accounts/'jars' is as simple as completing another simple form online and returning it signed once they post out the paper version. You can also carry out easy transfers between jars and opt to have the account for jar x paid into jar y and so on - really useful for regular savings.

Their customer service is hit and miss, as with all contact centres. I've spoken to some very insincere individuals, but some have been very helpful. To the best of my knowledge I've only ever spoken to Scots, which means that there isn't any real problems with language barriers etc. Oddly enough, their online messaging service for enquiries is great and they reply within one working day to queries. This is the polar opposite to most modern banks, who appear to view e-mails with disgust.

Pros:

Healthy enough rates in a market that doesn't favour savers
Easy account opening
Easy additional account opening
East account maintenance
Option to choose to have interest paid into one central 'jar'

Cons:

Queues to speak to someone in the contact centre
Some advisors are less enthusiastic than others
Security process when speaking to advisors can be cumbersome

Summary: Good bank for savers with intuitive account management online