Who on here are spreading their savings?

Oblivion

tiptoe_mouse wrote: »

Aah - that's different then. Did Nationwide automatically roll the matured TESSA into an ISA for you, or did you have to sign something? Just curious really.

tiptoe

Yes, I'm curious about this too. As you've already pointed out tiptoe, when a TESSA came to maturity, you had six months to roll it into a Tessa Only ISA (TOISA) in order to preserve its tax-free status, otherwise it would just revert to a normal taxable savings account. I'm a bit concerned that he keeps referring to his as a Mature Tessa, which implies to me it wasn't converted.

My recollection back in 2004 when our TESSAs matured was that the building society wrote to us describing the options, and we had to pro-actively visit the High Street outlet to sign the forms to roll them into a TOISA.

There is, of course, no such thing as a TESSA or a TOISA now since with the rule changes at the 6th April 2008, TOISAs automatically became ISAs.

Dave.

loulou41

The adult children do have lots of money sitting in different accounts with Nationwide. They are waiting for the right time to buy a house. Hubby said NW should be ok, but am a bit worried and yet we do not want to have too may accounts with 35k in each.

evenasus

tiptoe_mouse wrote: »

Aah - that's different then. Did Nationwide automatically roll the matured TESSA into an ISA for you, or did you have to sign something? Just curious really.

You'd have to check the terms of this ISA Bond (or check with Nationwide directly) to establish whether it can be transferred either to one of their products or elsewhere. I'd imagine you'd be tied into Nationwide for a fixed number of years - do you know how many?

tiptoe

Originally Posted by Oblivion
Yes, I'm curious about this too. As you've already pointed out tiptoe, when a TESSA came to maturity, you had six months to roll it into a Tessa Only ISA (TOISA) in order to preserve its tax-free status, otherwise it would just revert to a normal taxable savings account. I'm a bit concerned that he keeps referring to his as a Mature Tessa, which implies to me it wasn't converted.

My recollection back in 2004 when our TESSAs matured was that the building society wrote to us describing the options, and we had to pro-actively visit the High Street outlet to sign the forms to roll them into a TOISA.

There is, of course, no such thing as a TESSA or a TOISA now since with the rule changes at the 6th April 2008, TOISAs automatically became ISAs.

Dave.

Just dug out the actual Certificate of Investment.
The certificate, dated 2001, states it is a TESSA MATURITY ISA BOND.
The subsequent summary statments have both the MEMBERS ISA BOND and the TESSA MATURITY ISA BOND (their words) on the same Summary Statement.
Both bonds mature yearly and they write and ask each year what I would like to do with the capial and the interest on both.
I honestly can't remember the transfer of the old TESSA to the TM ISA BOND. But I must have done it.
Hubby (I'm a she actually Dave;) ) also has both types of bonds with Nationwide. He's so busy looking after his company's finances that I'm left to deal with ours.

tiptoe_mouse

evenasus wrote: »

Just dug out the actual Certificate of Investment.
The certificate, dated 2001, states it is a TESSA MATURITY ISA BOND.
The subsequent summary statments have both the MEMBERS ISA BOND and the TESSA MATURITY ISA BOND (their words) on the same Summary Statement.
Both bonds mature yearly and they write and ask each year what I would like to do with the capial and the interest on both.
I honestly can't remember the transfer of the old TESSA to the TM ISA BOND. But I must have done it.
Hubby (I'm a she actually Dave;) ) also has both types of bonds with Nationwide. He's so busy looking after his company's finances that I'm left to deal with ours.

I'm in charge of financial stuff in our household as well .

I reckon it would be a good idea, a few months before the maturity date, to scout around for a good ISA to transfer these into. It can be a fixed term or easy access - up to you. As others have said, it doesn't matter if they were originally TESSAs - they're all ISAs now.

Might also be worth asking Nationwide now if they can transfer you to a better paying product with them for no penalty.

tiptoe

wombat42_2

loulou41 wrote: »

The adult children do have lots of money sitting in different accounts with Nationwide. They are waiting for the right time to buy a house. Hubby said NW should be ok, but am a bit worried and yet we do not want to have too may accounts with 35k in each.

Apart from NSI and NR, i think NW is the safest around.

evenasus

tiptoe_mouse wrote: »

I'm in charge of financial stuff in our household as well .

I reckon it would be a good idea, a few months before the maturity date, to scout around for a good ISA to transfer these into. It can be a fixed term or easy access - up to you. As others have said, it doesn't matter if they were originally TESSAs - they're all ISAs now.

Might also be worth asking Nationwide now if they can transfer you to a better paying product with them for no penalty.

tiptoe

Will definitely scout around to look for a good ISA deal before next March.
I know there is no penalty with Nationwide if I transfer to their fixed rate ISA BOND currently 6.15%. I have to make a trip to town and complete this in the branch. Not available to be done online.

I'm only in charge of savings tiptoe, don't have anything to do with gas, electric, insurance etc. Oh, I do go and get my car tax disc from the post office though.

tiptoe_mouse

evenasus wrote: »

I'm only in charge of savings tiptoe, don't have anything to do with gas, electric, insurance etc. Oh, I do go and get my car tax disc from the post office though.

I'd check out what your other half is doing with those. My Dad is a rate tart with savings, but my Mum recently found out he'd
(a) Never switched gas and electric providers from the default suppliers; and
(b) Been paying by standing order and not direct debit, and hadn't increased the amount, so they were being charged for being in arrears.

My Mum has always left my Dad in charge of finances, despite my advice to learn more in case Dad's ill or something worse.

tiptoe

Jonbvn

tiptoe_mouse wrote: »

I'd check out what your other half is doing with those. My Dad is a rate tart with savings, but my Mum recently found out he'd
(a) Never switched gas and electric providers from the default suppliers; and
(b) Been paying by standing order and not direct debit, and hadn't increased the amount, so they were being charged for being in arrears.

You do realise that the above constitutes a capital offence on MSE?;)

cvd

Apart from NSI and NR, i think NW is the safest around.

Personally I would rate HSBC above NW in the safety league.

NW is so big that if it got into difficulty then the government would have to intervene - if they did not, they would be committing political suicide. But governments are concerned about votes - so they do not have to worry about those with a very large investment because there are not very many such people.

I have over £35,000 in NW and I am not concerned - but I would not put all my savings in one place, just in case.

LongTermLurker

tawse57 wrote: »

I think a question that needs to be asked is whether it is better to spread savings around in 35K pots between various banks, and possibly putting yourself at risk by having savings in a 'riskier' bank, or do you opt for an organisation, so I believe, such as the Nationwide or Leeds Building Society which I have read basically fund all their loans from their savings and hence are not as exposed as the likes of HBOS or B&B?

No-one knows, so that's why, in my mind, it's better to spread - spreading means you may have to reclaim part of your money from the FSCS, or you may not.

Sticking to one bank means you may have to reclaim £35000 of your money from the FSCS and forego the rest, or you may not...

tawse57 wrote: »

Another question, especially if you have a pot of money waiting to buy a house, is whether you fix interest rates now with 6 or 12 month bonds... anticipating a fall in IRs in the coming weeks... or do you keep the money in easy access accounts in order to be able to buy that 50% off house next Spring... or even to be able to bail out of a potentially failing bank? Then again, inflation might suddenly kick in and IRs might rise next Spring?

I would say the answer is to look at a bank that will allow you to get out of the fixed deal early, such as Kaupthing Edge - better still, don't fix £30k, fix 3x£10k or 2 tens and 2 fives - that way you don't necessarily have to get out of all of them. Another option is to lock some up for 6 months and some for 12.