💬 Anna's two pence worth (#5): Hip, hip, hooray for grandparents' day

Anna Bowes is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Money Box, Breakfast and News programs, as well as the national press, providing expert analysis and commentary on the UK savings market. Anna has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years and for most of that time has been helping people to make the most of their savings.

As this week’s Financial Press summary covers, last Sunday was National Grandparents’ Day – a worthy day to celebrate, especially now that more and more grandchildren are being helped by the 'Bank of Grandma and Grandpa'. We had a question this week from a grandparent who wanted to know if they could help their granddaughter with a deposit for her first home, with the use of Equity Release.

While we can help grandparents and their grandchildren to find the right home for released cash, as they save for a deposit (the Lifetime ISA springs to mind), we asked one of our partners, Responsible Equity Release, to answer this increasingly popular question and to point out the critical things to watch out for, for those who decide to take this route.

🔖 Read: "Will releasing equity now mean my children are left with next to nothing when I die?”

According to other press reports, the Marcus Online Savings Account has been hugely popular – although it has a strange requirement for a mobile phone number and if you don’t have one, you can’t have the account. We’ve undertaken some research this week to find out which other best buy online accounts reject you if you don’t have a mobile. We’ve also checked the requirements for some of the best postal easy access accounts, for the more traditional among you.

🔖 Read: Why is a mobile phone number a deal breaker for a savings account?

In addition to the question about equity release, we’ve had a couple of Ask Anna questions about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. As well as answering these specific questions, we have also produced a free guide called How safe is your cash? Download it today.

🔖 Read: Ask Anna: Financial Services Compensation Scheme

And finally, the Rates Rundown. No new best buy busting easy access accounts but there are some best buy cash ISAs this week, that may be of interest. Take a look at these and all the other savings account news from the past week.

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