Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

EatingTheElephant · 11 June 2016 at 10:09PM

We use the coop for our business banking (free-ish with fsb membership) and I have to agree that the online banking interface is truly terrible - I hate it with a passion!!!

Busy_Mee1 · 13 June 2016 at 7:43AM

Hi ETE I don't envy you having to use the COOP Internet banking for business - it is awful. I like Barclays, TSB and S@antander - all very easy to use. M&S is OK but you need a card reader which is a faff.

Hi Abi, it took me a while to get round to using bank accounts and I did quite a bit of research and thinking about which bank accounts would suit our purposes. You really need to understand the requirements of the T&Cs for each account, how much you need to pay in and how many direct debits you need. You also need to be quite organised and keep good records of your accounts. According to MSE opening numerous bank accounts could have a slight impact on your credit score, so the advice is don't do it just before you need to apply for a mortgage.
After giving it quite a bit of thought I switched a current account we had had for 30 years to M&S, this gave us £100 switching bonus + £10 a month for 12 months on an M&S gift card and also a regular saver @6%. I kept our other current account (Barclays) because that is also our mortgage offset account, but also pays £12.00 a month in Blue rewards. I then opened 2x TSB accounts (1 each) to deposit £2000 in each (5% interest) + 2x regular savers @5%+ cash back on contactless . I also opened a joint S@antander 123 to get 3% interest up to £20k, cashback on bills and 2x regular savers.
I then opened two donor accounts with N@t West and set up 4 direct debits on each - I have then switched these to the COOP to get 2x £150 switching bonus + £4 per month reward.

I have worked out that this will all net around £1788 over the year (£1000 in interest and £788 in cashback and rewards). We pay 40% tax so to net this amount in earnings we would have to earn approx an additional £3k per year.

I have worked out that I probably spent about 5 hours on the set up of these accounts and then maybe an hour a week checking everything is Ok. I have set up standing orders to transfer money in and out of the accounts to automate everything as much as possible. The worse job is where you have to manually transfer direct debits to new accounts to meet the T&Cs, because this means a phone call to the recipient of the direct debit, but you only have to do this once at the beginning.
So I calculate that I will spend around 57 hours on this over the year. £3000 divided by 57 gives an hourly rate of £52 per hour :T So as far as I am concerned very well worth it !

I realise that what I am doing wouldn't suit everyone, it takes a bit of effort and you have to be organised or you could get in a bit of a pickle. There are also lots of different accounts to the ones I use offering incentives and rewards, so you just have to work out which suit your circumstances, but I would say if your current account isn't giving you anything move to a bank that is :money:

Sorry this is a bit of a ramble but I hope it helps

shangaijimmy · 13 June 2016 at 8:04AM

It's definitely worth doing and the Internet makes it a fairly straightforward process.

Kittenkirst · 13 June 2016 at 8:16AM

Thanks for such a fab insight into the switching Busymee!
It's something I'm interested in trying however we have our mortgage agreed but don't get our house until September time, so will start researching more then (once I know the mortgage is a done deal!)

Having your explanation of it really helps with understanding

abi_a_mfw_mum · 13 June 2016 at 9:24AM

Thank you very much for such a comprehensive explanation BusyMee, I really appreciate it. It sounds like I need to get researching which accounts will work best for us. I'm currently thinking of just opening a couple more, seeing how it goes and adding to it if it works for us.

Busy_Mee1 · 14 June 2016 at 7:47AM

Kittenkirst and Abi, glad it was helpful, but I am no expert and there are lots of people who are much better than me at playing with current accounts. I read a lot on the budgeting and banking board (although they are quite a scary lot on there :eek: wobetide anyone asking silly questions) and of course we have our own Shanghaijimmy who has been playing the banks for ages.
In general MSE news, I am having a spendy week staying with relatives but a nice break.
The Ebaying is looking good - 10 items listed, 7 with watchers and 2 bids in already :T

Busy_Mee1 · 17 June 2016 at 7:43AM

Why is it a week off work goes so quickly ?
I have had a lovely week off work, and I was also going to say a week off being MFW. But to be honest I don't ever to stop thinking about it. It has been quite a spendy week but we have made good MSE choices, we used our smaller car to drive to relatives to save on petrol, and had food from the MaccyDs saver menu on the motorway (£1.49 per sandwich) as opposed to £3.99 for an ordinary sandwich. Mr Mee rates the coffee in MaccyDs and proudly saves the stickers from the side of the cup to get a free cup when you have saved 6. This is his contribution to being MF:rotfl: I also bought a load of plants from the bargain nursery near our relatives, I have been waiting to do my plant pots until we had been to visit because plants are so much cheaper there. Unfortunately the weather has turned cool and rainy here so I haven't got out to do them yet, but the forecast for tomorrow is better.
I had a nice shopping trip yesterday with DD, and lunch out - I also bought some sandals in the sale. Not budgeted for but they are lovely and so had to be bought

.
The good news from DD is that she got a good mark for her dissertation after all the stressing. She is just waiting on her final mark, but she will graduate whatever. So another event for the diary, the graduation ceremony is in a months time. We have a busy few months coming up, with a wedding, a holiday, 2 x 80th Birthday Parties and a graduation. I am not sure how we will fare with money saving through this lot :eek:
The eBaying is going well, I have bids on 3 items and a little bidding war going on one item. It is funny I wasn't sure whether this particular item would sell, but it is very popular. The items finish on Sunday and I plan to use the proceeds to cover our spending this week. I have cleared my wardrobe out and have another 10 items to list on Sunday and a large bag for the charity shop.
Hope everyone has a good weekend

LadyGnome · 17 June 2016 at 10:43AM

It sounds like you have had a lovely week. I'm impressed you managed to be MSE even when on holiday. Even better that Ebay will be paying for it.

You must be delighted for your DD.

themadvix · 17 June 2016 at 2:51PM

Hi BusyMee,

I find the weirdest things attract attention on Ebay, and the stuff you think you'd sell no problem takes ages to go!

Well done to your DD - you sound like you've got two very sensible children there! You must be proud.

I'm so impressed with your saving skills - I'd love to be able to save/pay off that much, but our mortgage is smaller than yours, so I guess it's all relative!

Busy_Mee1 · 18 June 2016 at 7:50AM

Thanks LG and Madvix - I must admit I did get a bit of eye leakage when she told me her results. It was a big relief and I suspect there may be more eye leakage when it comes to the graduation - I am such a wuss.

Madvix - I ought to be better at saving really, my mortgage total brings me out in a cold sweat if I think about it too much.

Anyway some good news in the boring mid month financial slump is that TCB have paid out £19.99, which I have paid into the O&S account along with a £3.64 Tilly Tidy. The total in the O&S account so far this month is £190.40, so it looks like I will break the £200 barrier this month (over £500 since April). All free money :j
Have a good weekend

Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

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