First post! Advice regarding savings account.

Phil3822

Hello all and may I comment on what a great and helpful site and community this is.

I currently have an ISA where I annually use my tax free allowance. I decided I wanted to save more so 2 months ago choose premium bonds, set up a standing order for £250 a month.

After reading this site I'm thinking maybe I would be better looking at another savings account rather than the bonds.

I only want a short term account to save for a year or so for when I move. Just to top up my existing money really. Need instant access, and I assume as its short term monthly interest would be best?

Hope this makes sense and there is enough info, please feel free to ask me anything. Hope you can advise!

Thanks in advance.

Tils

Well you mentioned you only want to save for a year (ish) and you can save £250 per month right?

Personally maybe you should look at a Regular Saver account if you can consistantly save the money each month. Gives much higher interest for your money.

http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/

is a good place to start looking at the accounts.

http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/bestbuys/savings_regular.aspx

Maybe have a read and see if they meet your requirements.

infinite010

Hi guys, I also need some advice...

I'm a student who lives at home. I have about £5000, to put away for over 3 years. I don't need any access to it till after that time. However, I don't want to have to make any effort to ensure regular payments (so not one of those regular saver accounts). I'm a student, so I don't pay any tax, and won't be paying any tax for another 4 years.

What I'd like is an account where I can stick all the money and not have to worry about it. At the moment it's in an account with something like 0.1% interest so its actually shrinking. The best thing so far from my own research is a Halifax websaver, but need to open a current account along side that. I don't really have a good credit rating; I was rejected for a student account for Abbey about 4 months ago...the reason they gave was a low credit score. (I don't have anything to lower by credit rating).

I've looked at a few accounts, but I was wondering what others think I should do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

SeanW

If you have £5 000 to put away for 3 years, why can't you put £250 into a regular saver every month? Find a good savings account, which lets you set up a standing order into a regular saver, no effort after that.

Halifax Websaver at 4.75% isn't good. ICICI Bank will pay for example 5.15%,and Bradford Bingley 5.1%, but there are better. You would need a cheque account for ICICI, or ability to setup a direct debit for Bradford & Bingley. (I dont know if either of these let you do direct debit/standing order into another account)

You tax free now, if any of this money is likely to remain in the account after you graduate, putting some into an ISA would be beneficial later on in life.

infinite010

Thank you for the quick reply SeanW.
I think you're right, having a regular saver would probably be the best.

What is the best regular saver account to get? I intend to save £250 a month (that's the maximum isn't it?). I dont need any acess to my money for a good few years and I don't need to pay tax, as I am a student.

Also, at the moment, all my money is at Abbey. If I were to open a regular saver account at another bank, would I be able to arrange for the money to automatically move from the Abbey current account to wherever the regular saver account is?
How would I do this, would I need to arrange this with Abbey, or the other bank?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks again in advance, and I apologise for my lack of knowledge.

Phil3822

Thanks for that info, a kinda hijacked thread here but at least I've got a place to start looking. Cheers.

infinite010

lol yeh sorry about that Phil3822!

SeanW

If you have a current account with Abbey, I cannot see a reason you shouldn't be able to setup a standing order from it, so long as you have enough in it.

If you drip feed a regular saver from a high rate account, you get a better overall interest rate than putting the money in from something paying 0.1%.

Some regular savers may require you pay your salary into a current account at the same bank, which may be tricky if you dont have a salary.

bcl999

This reply for infinite010

I just opened a regular saver with Yorkshire Building Society. Their monthly limit is £500 rather than £250, so you could get your money the extra interest quicker. The rate is 6.50% so long as you save 11 out of 12 months, otherwise it goes down to 3%. I think you need to open it at a branch but then you just set up a standing order from wherever you want to pay from.