Savings help!

teaspoon1

I currently have the following savings:

£8,000 in Nationwide ISA Bond till at least April 2009 - 6.15%
£3,200 in NS&I Direct ISA - 5.30% (I think)
£3,000 in Halifax 10% Regular Saver till July 2009 - 10% gross
£4,000 in Halifax Reward Websaver - 5.8% gross

My main bank account is the Halifax a/c which pays 5.12% gross.

I have a few £ spread around NatWest e-saver, First Direct and Co-Op Bank to get bonuses - these accounts will be closed after the bonuses are paid.

I really want to make the most of my savings and I know I should start with the NS&I ISA crap rate! I've read up on the NatWest bonus ISA rate and am tempted... but have seen the 17 pages of posts both negative and positive!

I am also thinking of opening an A&L current a/c and keeping £2,500 balance in it to get the 8% interest.

Any advice?

opinions4u

Your Web Saver Reward rate is now 5.3%. Egg still hanging in at 6.55% (no rate cut yet though) is a similar sort of account.

If you want to stay with Halifax and bank with them, their new Guaranteed Saver Reward rate fixed a 6% (can deposit further, allows 4 withdrawals) may be a home for some of that money.

If I were you I'd go for the ISA transfer but be sure to review it in 12 months.

teaspoon1

Thanks opinions4u.

I should mention that I can only transfer my NS&I ISA funds (I think) as the NW ISA Bond is fixed till April. Is this true?

Baldur

teaspoon1 wrote: »

the NW ISA Bond is fixed till April. Is this true?

I suspect that your NW 6.15% fixed until April is going to look very good, if the predicted reductions in BoE base rate come about.

teaspoon1

Baldur - you're right, but it's only fixed till April.

The NatWest 6.67% ISA rate is valid for 12 months. It looks even better! I might switch my NS&I ISA funds to it.

Do you think it's worth opening the A&L a/c to get the 8% interest on balances up to £2.5K? It's better than most savings a/cs and instant access.

fullstop

The NS & I Direct ISA is now only paying 4.8%. and bound to go south when rates are cut again this week.

Baldur

teaspoon1 wrote: »

Baldur - you're right, but it's only fixed till April. The NatWest 6.67% ISA rate is valid for 12 months.

I think that you are reading what you want to read there, the bonus rate may be fixed but the underlying interest rate is clearly shown to be variable, so could change at any time.

teaspoon1

Baldur - oops. Thanks for pointing that out.

teaspoon1

So I need to transfer my NS&I money somewhere, which ISA to go for????

Baldur

See this post & scroll down for those which accept inward transfers, BUT be aware that the rates shown may have changed in many cases, as the post was last edited on 20th October.

Also try the Moneyfacts site - fixed rates shown in the link as an example, but play with the search functions.

teaspoon1

OK. It seems that I have two choices:

1. Go for the NatWest ISA at 6.67% variable and transfer out again if the rate starts to look crap.

2. Go for the Birmingham Midshires ISA Bond at 6.15% fixed for a year. Can I transfer the money after the year is up without penalty?

Which looks better? If the NatWest rate drops significantly, everything else might too. So I might be better off with BM...