Is there a bank account with multiple "pots"

jamescg1972

Hi,

At the moment, I put about £150 away a month towards annual bills and car servicing etc.

It is all in one account and I can never work out how much I have towards each bill.

Are there any accounts (prefereably online) that you can separate the money into separate pots - a bit like the money box I used to have as a kid with a section for rent, phone, leccy etc in.

Even better would be one where I can pay in small amounts to each individual pot so I don;t have to split it up each month manually.

I vaguely remember there used to be this kind of account (from Virgin, perhaps?)

CHeers

James

MarkFromCornwall

jamescg1972 wrote: »

Hi,

At the moment, I put about £150 away a month towards annual bills and car servicing etc.

It is all in one account and I can never work out how much I have towards each bill.

Are there any accounts (prefereably online) that you can separate the money into separate pots - a bit like the money box I used to have as a kid with a section for rent, phone, leccy etc in.

Even better would be one where I can pay in small amounts to each individual pot so I don;t have to split it up each month manually.

I vaguely remember there used to be this kind of account (from Virgin, perhaps?)

CHeers

James

The Principality Buidling Society's eSaver account has this feature, although I haven't tried using it myself. Here's a quote from their help pages:

What are savings pots?
Savings pots allow you to divide up your total savings balance so that you can save for specific things, e.g. holiday of a lifetime. Each pot can be named and money can be moved between each pot in real time. Please note that all money in the pots will still sit within your one e-SAVER account and will receive the same rate of interest.

I hope this helps.
Mark.

Consumerist

Intelligent Finance do a system of "jars" which you put in a "plan" where each separate account (current, savings, mortgage, ISA. etc.) is a jar within your overall plan.

Is this the sort of thing you're looking for ?
.

opinions4u

IF, Egg and Halifax are 3 examples that allow you to name the savings account involved.

Alternatively, why not maintain a simple Excel spreadsheet?

jamescg1972

Thanks all of you - Didn't realise Egg do that sort of thing (I have an Egg Account as well) (Edit to Add - Actually, re reading the above, Egg don't quite do what I want, but I guess I could open a number of accounts and call each one a different thing. I'll look at the Principality BS account I think - Thanks again to you all)

Cheers

James

jamescg1972

Went for IF account in the end as it allowed me to pay directly in to each separate pot, whereas I would have to manually move cash between pots with Principality (How lazy do you have to be to not want to move money around on the computer!)

Cheers

James

Consumerist

jamescg1972 wrote: »

(How lazy do you have to be to not want to move money around on the computer!)

In fact, moving money about in a spreadsheet is the "lazy" way to do it. You don't even have to go online. You can also experiment with "what-if" scenarios.

I must confess that I have never really seen any sense in these types of account. But then I run my entire finances using spreadsheets. I suppose it's a matter of what you get used to.
.

tiff

I dont use spreadsheets and love having different accounts for different things. Lloyds let you name your accounts too. I've only fairly recently had this system, with direct debits going into each account, its great to know you have each thing covered.

Consumerist

tiff wrote: »

. . . and love having different accounts for different things.

OK, I understand the attraction of holding different accounts for different things but how do you keep track of how much is in each of the accounts at any given time?

Don't you find that you need to keep an off-line record of each of the accounts anyway?
.

tiff

If you sign up for Egg Money Manager (think you have to be an Egg customer) then you can put all your log ins with different banks and see all your accounts in one go. So I have several Halifax accounts, Lloyds, Egg, Virgin etc and can see all the balances there.

Baldur

tiff wrote: »

If you sign up for Egg Money Manager (think you have to be an Egg customer) then you can put all your log ins with different banks and see all your accounts in one go. So I have several Halifax accounts, Lloyds, Egg, Virgin etc and can see all the balances there.

First Direct Internet Banking Plus offers the same facility and you don't have to bank with FD to use the service - http://www2.banking.firstdirect.com/1/2/ourservices/internet-banking-plus