Regular Savings Accounts Article Discussion

mhoc · 20 July 2016 at 9:59AM

KTF wrote: »

When one FD or HSBC regular saver matures you can open a new one.

and you can set up the new First Direct monthly saver online, all you need to do is on the anniversary date is to ring and have the old saver closed and the balance put into your FD current and then you can start again.

I've also got a Leeds monthly saver which only allows a £250 maximum a month to be put in but the interest is 3% gross, I set it up online and just then sent them a cheque for month one.
I then set up a standing order from the normal current account.
the main advantage of this is that its continuous, no need to renew every 12 months

colsten · 20 July 2016 at 10:07AM

mhoc wrote: »

and you can set up the new First Direct monthly saver online, all you need to do is on the anniversary date is to ring and have the old saver closed and the balance put into your FD current and then you can start again.

You don't have to ring anyone at maturity. Your old RS gets automatically closed and the money transferred to a savings account. You can do as you please with that money, incl transferring it out (via the FD current account) to a non-FD account.

mhoc · 20 July 2016 at 10:09AM

I was going to recommend the Yorkshire Building Society monthly saver

http://www.ybs.co.uk/savings/regular/index.html

but the terms have changed now - maximum is still £500 but the interest is now only 2%, one withdrawal per year and it seems to need renewing every 2 years - open by post or inbranch

this is still a good interest rate and these accounts do have their uses.
For instance our annual 5 car multi car policy is due in a few days followed by the final balance on the holiday payment and last year we also had the builder in to do the bathroom.
So if I started a new account now with £500 a month there would be sufficient to cover the big bills for July/August 2018 - might be a good idea to book the builder now to have a chance of getting him in!

apt · 20 July 2016 at 11:37AM

colsten wrote: »

You don't have to ring anyone at maturity. Your old RS gets automatically closed and the money transferred to a savings account. You can do as you please with that money, incl transferring it out (via the FD current account) to a non-FD account.

True, but it tends to save a day or two if you ring up.

Flobberchops · 20 July 2016 at 12:29PM

beegee757 wrote: »

We have made the big decision to send our little one to private education - we are looking for a good savings account where we can maximise our regular monthly savings, but that allows us to withdraw the cash 3x per year in order to pay school fees (NB will require interest to be applied monthly, rather than annually).

Could I ask why you need monthly interest rather than annually? The monthly interest payment on most regular savers will be on the order of single-digit pounds due to the maximum monthly deposit, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the kind of fees you indicate in another post.

If you're dead-set on monthly payments, Barclays have a couple of children's products.
- Children's regular saver: 3.5% AER, pay in £5-£100 monthly, compounded monthly, 12 month term, no restriction on withdrawals BUT interest reduced to 1.51% on months where withdrawal is made
- Children's instant saver: 1.51% AER, balance from £1 with no upper cap, no restriction on withdrawals

You'd probably be better off with a selection of adult regular savings accounts and interest-paying current accounts held in your and/or your partner's name. The accounts above would have the benefit of not cutting into your £500/£1000 personal savings allowance.

The best (i.e. highest rate) children's savings products on the market are probably Halifax's Kid's regular saver, Junior ISA, and Young Saver accounts, which have rates of 4%, 3% and 2.25% respectively, however these all have interest paid *annually* and only the Young Saver offers unlimited withdrawals. The Regular Saver may still be of interest as a way of accruing a lump sum on an annual basis, and the JISA as a way of earmarking funds for when your child turns 18, though I'm aware that's not really what you asked for!

In summary: the usual adult accounts and investment options will give you the best and most flexible returns. Some children's savings accounts may be of use as a way of supplementing the interest and taking pressure off your own Personal Savings Allowance.

beegee757 · 21 July 2016 at 8:32AM

Flobberchops wrote: »

Could I ask why you need monthly interest rather than annually? The monthly interest payment on most regular savers will be on the order of single-digit pounds due to the maximum monthly deposit, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the kind of fees you indicate in another post.

If you're dead-set on monthly payments, Barclays have a couple of children's products.
- Children's regular saver: 3.5% AER, pay in £5-£100 monthly, compounded monthly, 12 month term, no restriction on withdrawals BUT interest reduced to 1.51% on months where withdrawal is made
- Children's instant saver: 1.51% AER, balance from £1 with no upper cap, no restriction on withdrawals

You'd probably be better off with a selection of adult regular savings accounts and interest-paying current accounts held in your and/or your partner's name. The accounts above would have the benefit of not cutting into your £500/£1000 personal savings allowance.

The best (i.e. highest rate) children's savings products on the market are probably Halifax's Kid's regular saver, Junior ISA, and Young Saver accounts, which have rates of 4%, 3% and 2.25% respectively, however these all have interest paid *annually* and only the Young Saver offers unlimited withdrawals. The Regular Saver may still be of interest as a way of accruing a lump sum on an annual basis, and the JISA as a way of earmarking funds for when your child turns 18, though I'm aware that's not really what you asked for!

In summary: the usual adult accounts and investment options will give you the best and most flexible returns. Some children's savings accounts may be of use as a way of supplementing the interest and taking pressure off your own Personal Savings Allowance.

Big thank you Flobberchops! When we started looking at fees we thought we had to pay the fees 3x per annum (ie didn't know that we could pay annually), so assumed that an account that allowed regular withdrawals and paid interest monthly would earn more interest than an annual interest a/c.

I had not even thought about opening a kids a/c to pay school fees!! (That's why these posts are so helpful, gives us lots to think about!)

TomJ · 2 August 2016 at 12:18PM

The article is a little misleading in suggesting you need a 1-2-3 Account to get the Santander Regular eSaver, though it does not state it outright. Any Santander current account will do. Granted, the woman in the branch I spoke to was under the same misapprehension to start with, but by showing her the relevant part of the bank's documentation I was able to set one up with an Everyday current account.

magicrichard5 · 3 August 2016 at 9:45AM

Santander regular e-saver now pays 3% interest. It's on issue 2.

http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/savings/regular-esaver

clivep · 3 August 2016 at 10:19AM

As the rate on a new Santander Regular esaver is now 3%. I just checked the t's & c's for my account and it does say "5% AER/Gross rate (variable)" so as it is variable I wondered if my rate would go down to 3%. Looking at the Santander interest rate finder shows a Regular esaver at 5% and a Regular esaver (issue 2) at 3% so it appears to me that existing accounts will continue to get 5% (I've certainly not had anything from Santander to the contrary).

magicrichard5 · 4 August 2016 at 1:37PM

Yes, sorry - I should have said that the issue is for new people signing up, which I was going to.

It's also now only worth it for people who have exhausted the £20k limit in the main account.

Regular Savings Accounts Article Discussion

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free