What to do with money following exchange of contract on house sale

Catbells

xrjtg wrote: »

The only minor downside is a remote chance of losing some of your money if you have more than the £50000 with them.

How do you mean?

opinions4u

Catbells wrote: »

What would happen if I wanted to take back the funds after, say 5 months to buy a house? Opinions4u - you mention it was for 12 months only is this upto or only for 12 months?

My understanding is that if you close the account early they will pay interest, including bonus, calculated on a daily basis up to the date of closure.

I haven't tested this though. So if you were uncertain about it you could leave a nominal amount in the account (e.g. £1) for the remainder of the 12 months and then all the due interest would be paid on the anniversary of the account opening (which might actually be a nice little bonus after you've moved in).

Their General Investment Conditions page 6, 5.4 and 5.6 seem to suggest that the first statement that I've made is accurate though.

The reference to £50k above is talking about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). If Bank of Scotland collapsed, you are only covered for £50k per individual.

While it's unlikely that this would happen (especially given the Government's stake in the bank) you could mitigate that by limiting your savings (e.g. have two accounts, one in your name and one in a partner's name, each with up to £48,500 - slighlty less than the £50k covered by the FSCS, allowing for interest to be paid in the case of bank collapse).

noh

If the Bank of Scotland was allowed to collapse no other savings would be safe.

joerugby

noh wrote: »

If the Bank of Scotland was allowed to collapse no other savings would be safe.

I don't think they are likely to collapse, and if they did there would no doubt be another rescue package, but the fact remains that only £50,000 per person is guaranteed.

Don't expect any sympathy if you invest more and it goes wrong.