Looking for A New Account with interest....

FreddieM

I currently have three current accounts, one I use for my salary and general day to day things, A & L premier acct. I am quite happy with that.

The second is with the Halifax which offers something like 0.1% interest. I have had this account when I took out a mortgage nearly 15 years back and although my mortgage has been shifted to better options, I still have the current account which I use for all my monthly Direct Debits etc. Im looking at a painless way to change to an interest bearing account taking into consideration that the money paid into this account is never more than £900 which is paid directly from a pension.

The third is an old Nationwide Flex account which I keep a few pounds in so that I can (in the past put money into it for taking out when abroad) use it if I am on holiday rather than pay bank fees

Is there any good advice on the best type of account I should be applying for. I don't have any credit problems (as far as I know) Just looking for some help to obtain the best deal Any help would be appreciated

YorkshireBoy

Could you redesignate the Halifax one a Reward account? By paying an additional £100 in (could move £100 out - to a Halifax savings account even - and back in again to top up the £900 pension) you'd earn a £5 reward payment each month.

Short of a 6%ish paying account, and a £2.5K average balance, you won't find a better return than that.

Or maybe you wanted another (4th) account entirely (your OP isn't clear as to whether you'd like/want to end up with 1, 2, 3, or 4 accounts)?

rb10

FreddieM wrote: »

The second is with the Halifax which offers something like 0.1% interest. I have had this account when I took out a mortgage nearly 15 years back and although my mortgage has been shifted to better options, I still have the current account which I use for all my monthly Direct Debits etc. Im looking at a painless way to change to an interest bearing account taking into consideration that the money paid into this account is never more than £900 which is paid directly from a pension.

It's hard to find interest-paying current accounts that don't require a minimum monthly pay-in of £1000.

A way around this is to have your £900-ish going into the Halifax account, then transfer some instantly into a Websaver and back to the current account. This means the required £1000 has been paid in. (A websaver can be opened instantly online. It pays rubbish interest, but can be useful to get your minimum monthly credit up!).

You can then change your current account to a Reward account (quickest way to do it is over the phone - click here and put your phone number in; they'll call you back straight away.

The third is an old Nationwide Flex account which I keep a few pounds in so that I can (in the past put money into it for taking out when abroad) use it if I am on holiday rather than pay bank fees

Very sensible. I'd keep that one open, exactly as you describe, if it was me.

FreddieM

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Could you redesignate the Halifax one a Reward account? By paying an additional £100 in (could move £100 out - to a Halifax savings account even - and back in again to top up the £900 pension) you'd earn a £5 reward payment each month.

Short of a 6%ish paying account, and a £2.5K average balance, you won't find a better return than that.

Or maybe you wanted another (4th) account entirely (your OP isn't clear as to whether you'd like/want to end up with 1, 2, 3, or 4 accounts)?

Thanks for that, personally if I could do it I would open a second A & L account for all my DDs. I don't want another account just one to replace the Halifax which is giving me zilch interest. The reward account is nearly an option but I can't really afford to put that extra £100 into Halifax IYSWIM

YorkshireBoy

FreddieM wrote: »

...I can't really afford to put that extra £100 into Halifax IYSWIM

Not necessary. Read my (and rb10's) reply again.

£900 in
£100 out same day
£100 straight back in again

End result = £1,000 monthly funding criteria met

YorkshireBoy

FreddieM wrote: »

personally if I could do it I would open a second A & L account for all my DDs.

Some people on here have reported bagging a second A&L Premier/Premier Direct account, despite the T&Cs saying you couldn't do it.

However, why go to the trouble of shifting DDs when you'd probably get a better return with a Reward account. Forget "interest", think simply of "ROI" (return on investment).

FreddieM

So let me get this right, as long as during every month £1000 goes into the reward account even if it's not all at the same time it is still valid. The reason I ask this is because my pension of £750 goes in around the 25th but I top it up to £900 when my salary gets paid into A & L??

Just thinking out loud, I have a £100 to spare in my Halifax currently, how realistic would it be to pay that into my A & L acct and on say the 25th then DD it back on the 29th (ish), would that count. Or am I making this hard for myself and not being realistic

book12

You can try the following accounts, which offers interest rates instead of 0.10%:

• Cahoot (http://www.cahoot.com/cahoot_products/cahoot_current_account/current_account.html)
• LTSB (with Vantage) (http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/classic_and_classic_plus_accounts.asp, http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/vantage.asp)

YorkshireBoy

FreddieM wrote: »

So let me get this right, as long as during every month £1000 goes into the reward account even if it's not all at the same time it is still valid.

Yes.

Or am I making this hard for myself and not being realistic

You just need to do what's right for you. By having a Halifax savings account you could possibly cut down on admin time (thinking of 'ROI' again!).

FreddieM

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Yes.You just need to do what's right for you. By having a Halifax savings account you could possibly cut down on admin time (thinking of 'ROI' again!).

Got it..... Thanks for all your help, gonna give this a go ;-)

blueberrypie

FreddieM wrote: »

So let me get this right, as long as during every month £1000 goes into the reward account even if it's not all at the same time it is still valid.

Yes, that's right.

The reason I ask this is because my pension of £750 goes in around the 25th but I top it up to £900 when my salary gets paid into A & L??

Just thinking out loud, I have a £100 to spare in my Halifax currently, how realistic would it be to pay that into my A & L acct and on say the 25th then DD it back on the 29th (ish), would that count. Or am I making this hard for myself and not being realistic

The only potential problem with this is that if you're transferring money on the 29th of the month, it won't necessarily arrive in your bank account before the end of the month. If, for example, A&L doesn't send your transfer via Faster Payments (and with A&L, you have no way of knowing if a paymeng is going FP or not), it could take until the 1st of the month to arrive in your Halifax account - or even longer if the 29th is a Saturday.

So I'd suggest that you do that extra transfer earlier in the month - if you don't generally have funds available prior to your wages/pension being paid, perhaps you could transfer £250 in and out on the 1st or 2nd of each month, then let the £750 make it up to the required £1000.