LloydsTSB Vantage Account - too good to be true?

YorkshireBoy

Card_Sharp wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of what to put in an application if they have an unusual source of income, such as professional gambler, betfair trader or stock market trader?

Since what you put here is recorded with the Fraud Prevention Agencies, you might want to put what you put on your last (recent) financial product application...and what you intend to put on your next one.

Consistency is the key, otherwise you could (in the worst case scenario) finish up with a CIFAS marker!

koenig

Sorry if this has been asked before but do I need to keep the direct debits with the Vantage account to meet the terms and conditions, or were they only needed for opening the account?

Many Thanks

10_66

koenig wrote: »

Sorry if this has been asked before but do I need to keep the direct debits with the Vantage account to meet the terms and conditions, or were they only needed for opening the account?

Many Thanks

I think it depends on whether you're getting 4% or 3% interest rate. I have the 3% Vantage and you do not need direct debits for this. I think you needed the DD's for the 4% Vantage, so if you're still getting 4% I'd say you still need to keep the DD's.

DragonQ

10_66 wrote: »

I think it depends on whether you're getting 4% or 3% interest rate. I have the 3% Vantage and you do not need direct debits for this. I think you needed the DD's for the 4% Vantage, so if you're still getting 4% I'd say you still need to keep the DD's.

I can't remember if there's anything in the T&Cs but the summary on their website doesn't say anything about direct debits having to remain, it just says they had to be set up by 31st October 2012 to get the 4% rate.

Gromitt

DragonQ wrote: »

I can't remember if there's anything in the T&Cs but the summary on their website doesn't say anything about direct debits having to remain, it just says they had to be set up by 31st October 2012 to get the 4% rate.

I'm sure a few people on here have got letters from them after having or removing a DD from one of the accounts paying 4%.

NINJA1200

Hi guys!

After reading this thread, I realized that some people have up to 4% until 6000 pounds, but when I call the bank they don't know anything about that, except those 3% until £5000.

I'm thinking about open several classic accounts with vantage and take my money out of the ISA account because it suddenly dropped to 1%, which is ridiculous low.

Thanks!

Yorkie1

NINJA1200 wrote: »

Hi guys!

After reading this thread, I realized that some people have up to 4% until 6000 pounds, but when I call the bank they don't know anything about that, except those 3% until £5000.

I'm thinking about open several classic accounts with vantage and take my money out of the ISA account because it suddenly dropped to 1%, which is ridiculous low.

Thanks!

1. That offer was only open for registrations for a set period of time last year, and expires at the end of next month. By early November, all of those with Vantage accounts will be back to the standard £5K at 3% per account.

2. Are you a tax payer? Although ISA rates are poor, you can get better rates than 1% and the money is permanently sheltered from tax on the interest. Moving the money from the tax shelter should only be done after careful consideration of the figures, which I have the sense you've not yet done.

DragonQ

Yorkie1 wrote: »

2. Are you a tax payer? Although ISA rates are poor, you can get better rates than 1% and the money is permanently sheltered from tax on the interest. Moving the money from the tax shelter should only be done after careful consideration of the figures, which I have the sense you've not yet done.

Personal cirucmstances come into play also, like what the money is for and when you're planning to spend it (if at all).

You're right though - ISAs are almost always higher rates than normal savings accounts and that's still the case right now (AFAIK). It's just a few weird current accounts offering 3-5% complicating the market a bit.

NINJA1200

Yorkie1 wrote: »

1. That offer was only open for registrations for a set period of time last year, and expires at the end of next month. By early November, all of those with Vantage accounts will be back to the standard £5K at 3% per account.

2. Are you a tax payer? Although ISA rates are poor, you can get better rates than 1% and the money is permanently sheltered from tax on the interest. Moving the money from the tax shelter should only be done after careful consideration of the figures, which I have the sense you've not yet done.

Finally I understood this thing about the 4% up to £6000. Thank you Yorkie!

Regarding the second paragraph, to be honest I honest I don't understand much of tax your are speaking about. I have a permanent job and every month I put aside about 1000 pounds from my wage and what I want is to have the most profit with it.
Up until now I thought that my ISA account would always have about 2,7% interest, but it dropped a few days ago to 1%. Therefore i'm not interested in having that account anymore and I think it would be better to have multiple classic accounts with vantage and move £1000 around one per month so that I could take advantage of its 3% interest.

Would this be a wrong change for me?
In what way would be better to continue with my ISA?

What does the tax got to do with this?

Thanks in advance!

DragonQ

NINJA1200 wrote: »

Finally I understood this thing about the 4% up to £6000. Thank you Yorkie!

Regarding the second paragraph, to be honest I honest I don't understand much of tax your are speaking about. I have a permanent job and every month I put aside about 1000 pounds from my wage and what I want is to have the most profit with it.
Up until now I thought that my ISA account would always have about 2,7% interest, but it dropped a few days ago to 1%. Therefore i'm not interested in having that account anymore and I think it would be better to have multiple classic accounts with vantage and move £1000 around one per month so that I could take advantage of its 3% interest.

Would this be a wrong change for me?
In what way would be better to continue with my ISA?

What does the tax got to do with this?

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like you don't even know why you have an ISA. Interest earned in cash ISAs are exempt from tax. Interest earned elsewhere is taxed at the appropriate rate, so if you're a basic rate tax payer (20%) then you won't get 3% in a Vantage account, you'll get 2.4%. If you're a higher rate tax payer (40%) then you'll get 1.8%.

The other problem is that even though ISA rates are crap right now, they will go up eventually, and if you remove your money from an ISA, you can't put it back without using up your allowance. Essentially, withdrawing money from an ISA when you don't need to is "wasting" your ISA allowance. So, depending on what income tax you pay, it's probably going to be better for you in the long run to transfer your ISA to a provider offering more than 1%.