Ditch your dinosaur current account or risk squandering hundreds of pounds 14 July 2009 at 5:52PM in Budgeting & Bank Accounts 8 replies 1.7K views

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

Ditch your dinosaur current account

"An MSE survey shows millions could be squandering hundreds in interest or paying huge charges via their existing account..."

Lokolo

An MSE survey of over 22,000 MoneySavers, which closed today, shows one fifth of those sampled have over £2,500 in their account, meaning they are almost guaranteed to be missing out on vast sums in interest.

Not if they all bank with Lloyds Current Account Vantage....

But in all seriousness, who leaves £2.5k in their current accounts!?

Joe_Bloggs

With the advent of faster payments it may be possible for the banks to offer their customers a sweep facility. Thus when the current accounts is short, then funds are transferred from a higher rate savings account to the current. When the current account is flush with funds the bank can transfer the excess to higher rate savings.
I am sure this can all be done with the aid of computer technology. For now it will have to be a home PC as I can't see any bank being up to the task.
J_B.

StAnToN_2

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

With the advent of faster payments it may be possible for the banks to offer their customers a sweep facility. Thus when the current accounts is short, then funds are transferred from a higher rate savings account to the current. When the current account is flush with funds the bank can transfer the excess to higher rate savings.
I am sure this can all be done with the aid of computer technology. For now it will have to be a home PC as I can't see any bank being up to the task.
J_B.

Barclays used to offer this, it was called an Open Plan Facility. Where you would have separate savings 'pots'. Money would sweep across from the Current Account if it reached a certain level or went below a certain level (set by the customer) to a savings 'pot', also known as a 'Savings Reserve'.

This certainly is not a new idea.

Extant

StAnToN wrote: »

Barclays used to offer this, it was called an Open Plan Facility. Where you would have separate savings 'pots'. Money would sweep across from the Current Account if it reached a certain level or went below a certain level (set by the customer) to a savings 'pot', also known as a 'Savings Reserve'.

This certainly is not a new idea.

Prior to that we offered a regular sweep, outside of OpenPlan. You'll still see it on some Premier clients, and businesses still use them extensively.

I suspect many banks would be unwilling to offer the facility again as it is the customer's responsibility to manage their accounts, along with posing significant resource issues etc.

stclair

I love lloyds tsbs save the change I think other banks should introduce a similar service as i think its a great idea.

It would make the old savings jar redundant though lol

exel1966

Lokolo wrote: »

Not if they all bank with Lloyds Current Account Vantage....

But in all seriousness, who leaves £2.5k in their current accounts!?

Me ! In A&L to use as a savings account at 8.50%AER

and

£7k each in numerous Lloyds Classic Vantage accounts being used as savings accounts azt 4.00%AER !

You certainley don't want to ditch these accounts !

will-in-estoril

BarclaysManager wrote: »

I suspect many banks would be unwilling to offer the facility again as it is the customer's responsibility to manage their accounts, along with posing significant resource issues etc.

Or to put it another way: why would fat cat bankers want to lift a finger to do anything which would help a customer to either earn a higher rate of interest on savings or reduce bank charges?

Extant

will-in-estoril wrote: »

Or to put it another way: why would fat cat bankers want to lift a finger to do anything which would help a customer to either earn a higher rate of interest on savings or reduce bank charges?

Because customers are so incapable of managing their own finances through the plethora of channels now open to them - it's so easy for customers to move their funds to a different bank to get the latest ISA rate etc., but between their own accounts? Of course not.