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Family Savings Get a Helping Hand

N&P believes that families with dependent children are poorly served by the savings industry as there are very few accounts designed to meet their specific needs.  N& P’s Family Savings Accounts are designed to help families make their money work as hard as possible (at a time in life when it is probably the most difficult financially) and encourage them to put money aside to meet the rising costs of raising a family. 

Rachel Thrussell, head of savings at Moneyfacts, commented:

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“Very few institutions offer savings accounts designed to meet the specific requirements of families with dependent children, so it is really refreshing to see the new range of family savings products from N& P. These accounts offer some of the best ‘no strings attached’ rates and terms currently available. It will be interesting to see whether other providers also start to offer accounts that appeal to families and whether we see a separate category develop for these customers.”    

N& P’s research revealed that families with dependent children want the following: 

The range comprises:

• Family Easy Access Account - for day-to-day savings, where parents want to put money aside whenever they can and have access at any time
• Family Regular Saver Account - for parents who want to save a small amount each month to build up a savings pot and don’t require frequent access to the money
• Family Young Saver Account - for young people up to the age of 18 who want to open and operate an account in their own name or for relatives / guardians to save on behalf of the child.

Finally N& P is also offering a Family Five Year Bond - exclusively available to anyone with one or more of the other Family Savings Accounts who wants to invest their money for a longer period of time. The range allows families to pick and choose the best accounts for their savings requirements.Product details:

Family Easy Access Account

• Variable rate of 4.75% gross/AER with guarantee that interest will be no lower than 1% below the BoE Base Rate until 1st January 2010
• Minimum balance £1 / maximum balance £1million
• Easy access without notice or loss of interest on amount withdrawn
• Choice of cash card or passbook
• Interest paid annually on 1st January

Family Regular Saver Account

• Fixed rate of 8% gross/AER in first year, including bonus (5% fixed excluding bonus), moving to a variable rate of 6% gross/AER including bonus (3% excluding bonus) from the second year onwards
• The 3% annual bonus is paid if 12 consecutive monthly payments have been made, with no more than one withdrawal
• Minimum monthly deposit £1
• Maximum monthly deposit £250
• Passbook account 
• One account per person
• Interest paid annually on each anniversary

Family Young Saver Account

• Variable rate of 5.80% gross/AER with guarantee that interest will be no lower than 0.5% below the BoE Base Rate until 1st January 2010
• Minimum balance £1 / maximum balance £1million
• Easy access without notice or loss of interest on amount withdrawn
• Can be opened in child’s own name (for children over the age of 7) OR on trustee basis by parent/ guardian/ grandparents
• Passbook account – cash card available to young people at age 13
• Maximum age 18
• Interest paid annually on 1st January

Exclusive Products:

Family Five Year Bond

• Fixed rate of 5.50% gross/AER for five years
• Guarantee that rate will be at least 0.25% above N& P’s standard Five Year Bond
• Minimum balance £1,000 / maximum balance £1million
• Available only to those who open or hold one or more of the Family Accounts
• Earlier access or closure on 180 days’ loss of interest
• Can also be opened on a trustee basis

To complement this range, N&P will also be launching exclusive mortgage and insurance deals for holders of Family Savings Accounts. 

Gary Lacey, group product manager at N& P, commented:

“We are very pleased to be launching such an extensive range of savings products specifically for families.  There are lots of accounts already available in the market, but hardly any that are tailored to help families.  Many families miss out on the best deals as these accounts tend to be restricted to remote channels, or have a relatively high minimum investment.

“Families are increasingly hard hit by the soaring cost of day-to-day bills and we wanted to offer savings products that will help their money work harder, whether they need easy access, want to put money aside regularly, or want to encourage their children to start saving.”

“Our research tells us that families want transparency and no nasty surprises from their savings account and I believe that our new range of ‘no strings attached’ accounts deliver this.  For example, the accounts can be opened with any amount from £1 upwards, the rates are really attractive (with guarantees and no short term bonuses); and there is easy access to money.  In addition, a passbook is available on the accounts as we know that many customers prefer to keep track of their savings in this way, and all accounts can be opened and operated at a branch.”