Egg Accounts

...I took a look at Egg because they have become such a well-known, trusted bank. Most people will have heard of the Egg credit card (0% balance transfers for 6 months - "the card that loves you back") but they may not realise that Egg provides a whole range of standard financial products including mortgages, loans, ISAs and, crucially, savings accounts.

Accounts Available
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Egg offers ...
...customers who already hold an Egg ISA.

Opening An Account
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I chose to apply for the Egg Internet account. Applications are done online; the questions are fairly standard apart from the security questions. You must give your date of birth, mother's maiden name, memorable date, memorable address and password. I suggest you choose relatives' anniversaries and addresses, as I find it embarrassingly ... more

Just before Christmas 2002, I was reviewing my limited savings and decided they needed to be spruced up. They were languishing in various old bank accounts, which do not pay particularly high interest rates e.g. old student accounts. So, I thought I'd shop around on the internet.

I took a look at Egg because they have become such a well-known, trusted bank. Most people will have heard of the Egg credit card (0% balance transfers for 6 months - "the card that loves you back") but they may not realise that Egg provides a whole range of standard financial products including mortgages, loans, ISAs and, crucially, savings accounts.

Accounts Available
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Egg offers 4 different types of savings account: Internet, Investor, Standard and Cash Card. Each account offers a slightly different method of access and operation e.g. Internet is operated only online with BACS or CHAPS withdrawals whereas Cash Card can be operated via internet, phone or post with ATM withdrawals. You "pay" for the level of convenience you require via the interest rate. Currently, Internet and Investor both offer 4.75% gross whereas Standard offers 2.00% gross and Cash Card offers 1.75% gross - these rates are across the whole account i.e. from £0.01 upwards, without those irksome "tiers". In addition, the Internet account carries the guarantee that until 31 December 2007 the gross interest rate will at least equal the Bank of England base rate i.e. your money is guaranteed not to depreciate. Interest is credited according to calendar months; so, for example, if you requested monthly interest, it would be credited at the end of the month rather than one month from your account opening date.

All of the accounts can be operated via the internet. Deposits can be made via electronic transfer or cheque. There is no withdrawal notice period. Postal statements are available, at least once per year. Accounts are available to anyone 16 or over who is a permanent UK resident (excluding Channel Islands and Isle of Man), except the Investor account which is only available to customers who already hold an Egg ISA.

Opening An Account
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I chose to apply for the Egg Internet account. Applications are done online; the questions are fairly standard apart from the security questions. You must give your date of birth, mother's maiden name, memorable date, memorable address and password. I suggest you choose relatives' anniversaries and addresses, as I find it embarrassingly easy to forget anything else. Another easy to remember alternative might be a school address or your school graduation date. (If you encounter problems navigating the website, check you're using the equivalent of Internet Explorer 4.0+, set to accept cookies.)

Once you've submitted all your details, you will have to wait for a printed copy to be posted to you for verification. This will arrive within a couple of days. Check your details and, if necessary, add details of your preferred method of initial deposit. I chose to pay via switch, so this was already detailed on my application form, but you can choose to pay via cheque instead. Sign and return the form via the prepaid envelope.

Your account will then be activated as soon as they receive the form and you will be able to login for the first time. Egg will post out confirmation of this but you will find you can login before you receive this letter, as it will obviously take a couple of days via the post.

Operating Your Account
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To log in, you simply go to the Egg website (www.egg.com) and click on "your accounts" in the top right hand corner. You will have to fill in some security details: First Name, Surname, Date of Birth, Postcode, Mother's Maiden Name and Password. Once you have logged in, you will be able to access all your Egg accounts. You will remain logged in until you log out or have been inactive for 15 minutes, in which case Egg will log you out automatically to prevent security risks. Once logged out you will have to re-enter your security details. To be safe, I would suggest that you only access your accounts from your home computer unless you can ensure that no-one else uses your computer within 15 minutes.

Within your account area, you will be able to view statements, make payments, amend your details and order stationary e.g. paying-in envelopes. There is also the option to send secure emails to Egg, in case you have any account queries. Although there are online help files, I find the secure email function to be very reassuring. There was a slight admin hiccup in opening my account - I received a letter saying Egg was unable to administer my initial switch deposit even though the amount had debited my switch account and credited my Egg account. I immediately emailed Egg and received a personal response within 2 days explaining the letter was a computer generated error and that I should ignore it. This response was sent out during the holidays; during 'normal' non-holiday periods, you can expect a response within 24 hours. Additionally, Egg are very good about actually *acting* on your queries. For example, I emailed Egg to see if I needed to submit a seperate R85 form for a newly opened second account - I received an email response stating that I did have to do this and that the form would be sent to me (the form arrived 2 days later through the post).

The more cautious among my readers will have spotted the potential security problem - if you forget your log in details or someone else manages to discover them and you can't access your account, how can you contact Egg without using the secure email facility? Don't worry: Egg have already thought of this. If you need to amend your password or any log in details, simply call them on 0845 3660047. They will ask you 8 different 'security' questions, to which only you are likely to know the answer - a mixture of personal information and account information. Once your identity is confirmed, they will make any amendments you require. You don't have to wait until you forget your password - you can call Egg as often as you like to change it.

One useful point to note is, although these are savings accounts, you can set up direct debits so someone who doesn't use their bank account much might be able to consider this as an alternative to a standard current account. Although the Internet account requires withdrawals to be made to another bank account, the Cash Card account offers instant access via ATMs.

Overall Impressions
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I admit I was initially slightly dubious about opening an account with an internet bank. However, my application was processed very quickly and my transactions have been carried out safely. Moreover I have been impressed by the website security, ease of use and the excellent customer service encountered.

There are a number of additional services that are not available through my traditional offline bank accounts. I can name my accounts - I've called my savings account "Rainy Day"! I can view all my Egg accounts in the same place and instantly compare credit balances, e.g. savings accounts, with debit balances, e.g. loans. There is also the option of upgrading free of charge to Egg Money Manager, which allows you to view other non-Egg accounts that you currently have online access to alongside your Egg accounts. (You will need the equivalent of Internet Explorer 5.0+ to use this service and the accuracy of the account information will depend on the other banks you use.) You must download the "password safe" (an ActiveX component) to each computer that you wish to use Egg Money Manager on - this stores your non-Egg account login details in secure encrypted format (industry standard 128-bit encryption). I have not experienced any problems with Egg Money Manager, although it is rather annoying that it's only available for PC users. Egg has stated: "[We] assure you we're looking to make Money Manager available to as many users as possible, however, until a suitable alternative to Microsoft ActiveX is available, we will not be able to offer this service to Mac users."

Customer service is faultless - communications whether online or offline are both timely and courteous. Egg seems very much aware of its customers and likes to treat them as individuals. For example, when talking to a customer service agent, you will be asked how you'd like to be addressed. This is a small point but one which I appreciate; it creates a friendly atmosphere and demonstrates consideration.

The only minor irritation I have encountered with Egg is their very occasional site outages - which are more than forgivable as these affect every site on the internet. These do not normally last long and Egg provides a very handy notification service. Just give them an email address (it does not need to be your registered address) and they will email you as soon as the site is back online. I find this very useful unlike Capital One who merely post an irksome "check back later, we're very sorry" message.

I am very happy with my Egg account and would recommend it to anyone with reliable internet access.

[Review last updated: 17.08.04]
 

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