christmas savings club

flat599

:xmastree: NEXT YEAR, STARTING FROM JANUARY. I PROPOSE TO START A SAVINGS CLUB FOR XMAS 2006 FOR MY FAMILY & FRIENDS.
AT PRESENT EVERYONE BUYS SHOPPING VOUCHERS,WHICH LIMITS YOU TO SELECTED STORES ONLY.
THATS WHY I WANT TO OFFER A CASH ALTERNATIVE.
MY QUESTION IS, WHO OFFERS THE BEST INTEREST RATES FOR SAVINGS LASTING ONLY 11 MONTHS. (JANUARY TILL DECEMBER 1ST).
AVERAGE MONTHLY SAVINGS £400
DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE AN ACTIVE SAVINGS CLUB ?,IF SO ANY TIPS???
:santa2: :xmassign:

cngarrod

Hi,

My wife is now looking to do the same where she works and we were thinking aout the terms and conditions that we shoudl apply. Do you have any tips?

Things like "miss 3 donations and you forfeit interest"
Payments to be made within 1 week of pay day (they are in retail and get paid 4 weekly).
Payment holidays allowed for time off and so forth - but any more than 3, refer to 1st one...

Any pointers greatly received!

Craig

ReportInvestor

After the "Fare"pak fiasco why do it via a collective vehicle and not your own savings account?

I was astonished by the numbers caught out in this scam. It probably highlights the gulf between ordinary families and the mainstream financial services industry .

The best approach for Christmas 2007 would be an Ipswich BS 1 Yr regular saver account @ 8.25% with £90pm starting now.

Then when it matures you can spend the money with whoever is offering the best Christmas deals / presents you require .

Ipswich BS is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme - unlike other Christmas savings schemes.

And there is even the outside chance of a merger windfall thrown in for good measure.

That would be a welcome Christmas present .

Queen_B_3

I'm currently in an xmas club at work. Everyone pays in every month if they want and it gets paid out in November. We always donate the interest to charity as we don't really get that much interest as the money goes into a current account. Unfortunatly the club is ceasing this year so for next years savings I have created a standing order to go into a proper savings account so I can accumulate more interest.

cngarrod

Hi,

Thanks for all replies. I think the reaosn my wife is looking to run it is simply that she has been asked by a few at work and our daughters fancy doing same.

Its not a formal "farepak" type scheme as such, more like the old style christmas clubs that used to be around when i was a nipper!

BTW - you have to sign a disclaimer that if the Ipswich BS mergers / is acquired within the 1st 5 years of you opening an account that any benefits go to a charity... so the windfall option is unlikely!

Debt_Free_Chick

cngarrod wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for all replies. I think the reaosn my wife is looking to run it is simply that she has been asked by a few at work and our daughters fancy doing same.

But does she really want the responsibility of handling other people's money, sorting out squabbles/disagreements, taking criticism like "why didn't you put it in the xyz account instead?" etc etc.

TBH a simple savings account for Christmas (or any other "event") is pretty basic financial planning and shouldn't be beyond many people. I suspect a fair few former Farepack customers will be going that way, at least for Christmas 2007!

ReportInvestor

cngarrod wrote:

BTW - you have to sign a disclaimer that if the Ipswich BS mergers / is acquired within the 1st 5 years of you opening an account that any benefits go to a charity... so the windfall option is unlikely!

That is a misunderstanding of the rules relating to building society mergers. i.e. it is 100% wrong.

Check the outgoing Mercantile, Lambeth, Universal and Portman BSs for confirmation.

They are being taken over by Leeds, Portman, Newcastle and Nationwide respecively & paying windfalls to recent members as well as long term members.

Any enterpriseing work colleague should point out this Ipswich account for Christmas saving for individuals. Why miss out on the 8.25% by pooling money collectively at a lousy rate ?

And if you can't afford the £90pm minimum, do £45pm each in a joint account (with an understanding that the first named shares any possible windfall with the second named).

ReportInvestor

For smaller amounts - starting @ £25pm - there is the

Britannia BS 7.5% Regular Saver

No extra windfalls anticipated here in 2007, although never say never. But who needs a windfall with that interest rate ?

ReportInvestor

And don't forget tax free ISAs as a means of saving for Christmas if you haven't got enough to use your £3K annual allowance.

Kent Reliance's 5.21% Direct Saver is the equivalent of 6.51% for a basic rate taxpayer. (And there may be windfall possibilities with this one.)

This also allows total flexibility as you can invest from £1 and don't have to save the same amount each month - or anything in one month if you hit hard times.

ISAs can only be used by individuals.

Do work based collective Christmas Savings accounts pool investments in trustee account, or do people usually trust one individual at work to invest the money in their sole name?

steve1905

I've run a Christmas savings club, or should I call it a Holiday savings club that pays out in November - some of the members aren't christians. I tried to open an account for this club in some of the High street banks and basically, they were not interested, knowing the money would be coming out in the short term.

I eventually opened up a business banking account with the abbey - poultry interest rates, no customer service - just put the savings through a whole in the wall.
I think most of members like the convenience of handing the money over, maybe a bit extra if they have a good week and perhaps giving it a miss for a week or two if they are strapped for cash. Plus it's not so easy to get hold of on a sudden whim.
This will be the last year I run the savings club, I've decided to pass the dubious pleasure on. It's a fair bit of running around, some people think they are doing you a favour when they hand the money over. Having said that, the majority or savers grease your palm on pay out day.
.

steve1905

flat599 wrote:

:xmastree: NEXT YEAR, STARTING FROM JANUARY. I PROPOSE TO START A SAVINGS CLUB FOR XMAS 2006 FOR MY FAMILY & FRIENDS.
AT PRESENT EVERYONE BUYS SHOPPING VOUCHERS,WHICH LIMITS YOU TO SELECTED STORES ONLY.
THATS WHY I WANT TO OFFER A CASH ALTERNATIVE.
MY QUESTION IS, WHO OFFERS THE BEST INTEREST RATES FOR SAVINGS LASTING ONLY 11 MONTHS. (JANUARY TILL DECEMBER 1ST).
AVERAGE MONTHLY SAVINGS £400
DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE AN ACTIVE SAVINGS CLUB ?,IF SO ANY TIPS???
:santa2: :xmassign:

Having run a savings club, some advice would be let

1/ have a set paying in day, otherwise you'll be taking cash/cheques every day, and night if you're on shift work
2/ Have an area where you take savings, otherwise you end up running around after people. You may be surprised how many people are happy for you to chase them up (as if they are doing you a favour taking their savings)
3/ Let people know that they will be paid out by cheque, paying out in cash is more risky - especially where large sums are involved.
4/ Probably most important, make sure you have a reliable, trustworthy partner who you can rely on to take the reigns when you are on Holiday or unwell.
5/This probably goes without saying, but record every transaction in a book, keep it upto date on your computer (always back it up).
6/ In a previous club I ran the members all had individual paying in booklets which enabled them to keep there own records.