Regular Savings Accounts discussion

icklemish

Thanks grumbler-you are very speedy
Sorry, I keep coming up with questions.

What do people think the best savings account is, which also allows you to set up a standing order/direct debit to pay in to the regular saver. I currently have an ICICI savings account and ING account, but neither appear to have the facility to set up a standing order/direct debit (i could be wrong on this-if so, how do i set up up a so/dd from either of these)

cheers again in advance...hope that is my last query

lipidicman

What happens with the Abbey Regular saver at maturity?

There is no 'nominated account' as with the Halifax, so I guess the account is converted.

Also, do we have to prevent the '13th payment'? (Imagine you open the account of the 20 dec and pay into the account every month starting from 5th Jan. 5th of Nov will be your 12th payment and the 12th of Dec (a few days before the maturity) would be your 13th - would this be rejected?)

papaya_2

webwiz wrote:

you would then have £24000 all earning the higher rate for subsequent years.

This account has a 0.75% bonus for the first year only!

Kazza242

lipidicman wrote:

What happens with the Abbey Regular saver at maturity?

There is no 'nominated account' as with the Halifax, so I guess the account is converted.

Also, do we have to prevent the '13th payment'? (Imagine you open the account of the 20 dec and pay into the account every month starting from 5th Jan. 5th of Nov will be your 12th payment and the 12th of Dec (a few days before the maturity) would be your 13th - would this be rejected?)

The Abbey regular saver, launched in Sep 2004, at 6.5% (and later increased to 7%) runs for a year. After the year, the money + interest is transferred into Abbey's normal regular savings account - that currently pays 4.75% gross. Account holders can then continue making payments into the normal regular saver for many years - I guess until Abbey withdraw it.

Many saver's have opted to withdraw their funds as soon as the money is transferred into the lower paying regular saver. There are better rates available elsewhere.

lipidicman

Cheers Kazza

Just to clarify, do you mean 'transferred' or 'converted' as I have only this 7% account?

Also, I guess that '13th payment' wont be a problem here (the problem with the halifax was I then paid in after the account was flushed and that was then two payments in a month - otherwise it would have sat empty for nearly a month. With Halifax, withold that last payment until just after maturity)

I guess I need to find another regular saver. Already have the halifax so I had better go and do some research.......

Kazza242

lipidicman wrote:

Cheers Kazza

Just to clarify, do you mean 'transferred' or 'converted' as I have only this 7% account?

After my 7% Abbey regular saver matured, they did not contact me about altering my standing order to include a different acc/no, so I guess the account is converted over - or to put it better; the rate reverts to 4.75% on maturity.

The 13th payment shouldn't be a problem, because:

- Your account will mature on the 1st of the month, a year after you opened it. Using your example, if the account was opened on the 20 Dec 2004, then your account will mature on 1st Dec 2005.

Abbey setting the maturity date to the 1st of the month, means that there is no possibility of your 13th payment receiving 7%. Therefore, as each account holder will be receiving only 4.75% on their subsequent payments following account maturity, Abbey allow this to continue.

lipidicman wrote:

I guess I need to find another regular saver. Already have the halifax so I had better go and do some research.......

I found myself in this position just as my Abbey regular saver was about to mature. Very fortunately for me, Cheshire Building Society had just launched their 8% regular saver. I just made the deadline to open the account by a couple of days. Otherwise, I probably would have opened the Principality BS 6% regular saver, as they also allow £500 per month like Abbey.

steady__eddie

Regretfully this may only be of interest to a small band of regular savers, to wit, Furness B.S. members. They are offering 6% gross for 12 months min £25, max £250/month to existing members. I have sent away for details and will post if there is anything interesting contained therein.
As an afterthought, could this be a path that other institutions could follow to reward loyalty ?

steady__eddie

Received the info. today, there is only one point worth noting and I quote,
"PLEASE NOTE: Customers living outside of our branch network (North West of England) must invest a MINIMUM of £50 per month, this will be closely monitored."

lipidicman

Kazza242 wrote:

Abbey setting the maturity date to the 1st of the month, means that there is no possibility of your 13th payment receiving 7%....

arghh! not good. This was the optimum strategy with the Halifax as you got two payments in as quickly as possible maximising the interest. In my case it looks as thoughI have effectively lost a month (ie it is converting 11 months and a few days after I opened it!)

G00SE_2

Hi,

I'm thinking of opening a Regular Savings Account and paying into it from my ING account, as recommended by Martin. However it was pointed out to me that the time taken between the payment leaving ING and hitting the the Regular Savings Account could make significant inroads into the interest gained.

Does anyone know exactly how long the transfer takes and whether it is worth considering?

I'm fairly new to much of this so advice is greatly appreciated!