Wedding Savings - Best savings account

looktothefuture · 28 February 2011 at 12:29PM

I need to save £4000 in 12 months - which is doable (just!!) for our wedding in April 2012.

Which is the best savings account with instant access with a high interest?

Help?

psychic_teabag · 28 February 2011 at 3:22PM

Are you starting from scratch (and so saving £333 per month) or do you already have an initial lump sum ? A regular savings account is likely to pay the best rate. Are you likely to need early access to some of the money ? Many regular savers need to run for a full 12 months and don't give early access.

Provided you're under 35 and have never owned a house, Santander have a first-home-saver paying 5% - despite the name, you don't have to use the money to buy a house. Unlike some other regular savers, it allows an initial lump sump deposit. Note that many on the forum advise against saving with Santander.

First Direct has a regular saver paying 8% but with some strings attached. See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts for other options.

casper_g · 28 February 2011 at 4:06PM

Assuming you're starting saving from zero, then a regular saver account will give the best interest rate, as stated above. But you are likely to need to access some of the funds well in advance of the wedding. To be honest, the average amount in the account during the next year is only going to be £1000-2000 so the amount of interest you'll earn anywhere is not going to be vast (say £50-100 tops). Be wary of locking your money away in any account that makes it difficult to access, as you are bound to need to pay deposits etc to venues and suppliers.

I would be tempted to simply put the money in the best-paying simple instant access savings account you can find. Personally I'd look for one with internet banking so I could transfer the cash to my current accound at short notice when needed.

Alternatively maybe look at the Santander "Preferred Current Account" which will pay you 5% on balances up to £2500. You're unlikely to have much more than this in the account for a significant period, so the interest rate is good, and you can just pay for wedding things with the debit card! The only problem is it's Santander, and they have the worst reputation imaginable for screwing things up....

psychic_teabag · 28 February 2011 at 5:16PM

You can supplement the interest by getting a Halifax reward current account, and passing £1000 through it (briefly) per month, giving an extra £5 net per month.

looktothefuture · 1 March 2011 at 1:22PM

thanks everyone. for the time being I've just transferred the money I have got (£150) into my online barclays savings account - it's got 0.1% interest but for the time being it'll do until I can find an account I'm happy with (and I can't spend the cash as I can only draw it out from a cashier!)

Wedding Savings - Best savings account

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