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How Active Savings works

How to manage your savings with an Active Savings Account

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Important information - Active Savings provides you with information to help you make informed decisions but it’s not personal advice. Fixed term products generally only allow access to funds at maturity. Inflation reduces the future spending power of money.

What is an Active Savings Account?

Hargreaves Lansdown has partnered with lots of banks and building societies to bring you an online savings platform. Giving you competitive rates and a wide range of easy access and fixed rate savings. You can choose where and how to save, all through one online account.

1

Open your Active Savings Account online

You don't need to add any money until you're ready to start saving.

2

Browse all available savings products

After setting up your account, you'll be able to see the full range of easy access and fixed rate savings, from the banks and building societies we've partnered with, including any private offers which are only shown to Active Savings clients when they are available.

3

Add cash and choose a savings product

After you've decided on your savings priorities, add cash and select as many or as little savings products as you'd like.

Get started

Example rates shown

Less time shopping around

New products are added all the time, including rates that are often best in market.

Quick and easy

When you're ready, use a debit card to deposit your money, or transfer cash from your Fund and Share Account.

You'll deposit your money into a temporary home called the cash hub until you move it to your chosen savings products. You won't earn interest until you add your cash to a savings product.

Grow your savings free of charge

We don’t charge you directly, instead we charge our banking partners. This means the same or similar products offered directly by the banks and building societies may have different rates to those available on Active Savings.

Mix and match without paperwork

You can choose any combination of easy access and fixed rate savings. Once your account is open there’s no ID checks and no application forms whenever you want to move your money between different banking partners.

Complete control and visibility

Keep track of your savings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Give us your instructions to add, move or withdraw cash anytime from the cash hub.

Log in to see how much money you have, the interest you’re earning and your transaction history. You can also view a tax statement at the end of the tax year.

Your money is protected

Money in the cash hub is kept separate from our own company money in a safeguarded account with Barclays Bank.

Once you move your money into a savings product, it’s held with that banking partner, not HL. Each banking partner on our platform has Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) cover up to £85,000.

More about how your money is protected

Plan ahead when a fixed rate ends

We’ll email you with plenty of time to choose what happens next.

The banking partner may have a new fixed rate which you can choose to rollover to if you want to. Otherwise your money will return to the cash hub at maturity and you can shop our latest rates for a new product, or withdraw your money. But it won’t earn interest in the cash hub.

Alternatively you can pick a default savings product in advance and we’ll move your money there for you at maturity so it keeps earning interest.

Ready to get started?

Open an Active Savings Account and watch your savings grow.

Open an account

What is the cash hub?

We are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution, which means we must treat your money in a certain way.

  • All money coming in and going out of your Active Savings Account goes through the cash hub.
  • The cash hub is a segregated bank account, currently held with Barclays Bank plc, where your money will be safeguarded by us until you choose what to do with it. You won’t earn any interest on money held in the cash hub.
  • Money in the cash hub is either protected through the FCA’s safeguarding rules if we (Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Ltd) were to fail, or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), if Barclays were to fail. Read more about how your money is protected.
  • When we receive your money into the cash hub, we’ll immediately issue your Active Savings Account with the same amount of electronic money (e-money) so you can put it into a savings product or withdraw it.
  • E-money is simply an electronic monetary value, equal to your money held in the Cash Hub, which we are authorised by the FCA to hold on your behalf.
  • You won’t earn any interest until you add your e-money to savings products. If you haven’t done this within 30 working days of the e-money being issued, we may return your money to you. We’ll let you know if we do.

What do AER and Gross mean?

AER (Annual Equivalent Rate)
Shows what the interest rate/expected profit rate would be if it was paid and compounded once each year. It helps you compare the rates on different savings products.

Easy access products provide variable rates and fixed term products pay a fixed rate.

Gross
The interest rate without any tax removed. Interest/profits are paid gross. You are responsible for paying any tax due on interest/profits that exceed your Personal Savings Allowance to HM Revenue & Customs. Tax treatment can change.

It takes all the hard work out of finding better rates.

MRS EDWARDS, Hampshire

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Help and support

If you have any questions about Active Savings, you can speak to one of our client support experts.

Contact us

Read our FAQs

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This website is issued by Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited (company number 1896481), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference 115248.

The Active Savings service is provided by Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited (company number 8355960). Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number 915119). Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 with firm reference 901007 for the issuing of electronic money.

Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited and Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited are subsidiaries of Hargreaves Lansdown plc (company number 2122142).