Saving £1k/month for a mortgage - options?

nc101

Up to now my finances have been a real mess (living abroad, starting companies that didn't work out etc), so at the age of 41 I've no real savings or even a pension, plus I've never had the chance to buy a house before.

However I've now got a well paid job while living in a shed, so it looks like I can put aside up to £1000 a month.

My plan is get a house first and save for old age once that's done. I was wondering if anyone has advice on savings accounts.

My work does a contributed pension scheme where I can choose 3% or 6% of my salary and they match it, so even though I want to get the house first I doubt it's a good idea to pass this up. So £250 will go there regardless.

After that I figured change my bank account to First Direct so I can use their 8% regular savings scheme, but that's a maximum of £300/month. So I still need to put £400 somewhere each month - ISA's I assume?

Or can I do better than the First Direct account since I can put more than £300 aside each month? I'm not too keen on changing my bank account (currently HSBC), but will if it's worth it...

(I just read a thread where someone was putting £100/month aside for a house, so kinda feel bad that I'm saving so much. However I wish I'd been so sensible 20 years ago)

getmore4less

THere are other monthy savers that dont require a bank account they will probably be better than an regular ISA, might be a monthly ISA paying a decent rate.

I woud go to the full 6% if it is matched why throw away money

nc101

is there a downside to changing bank do you think? The actual move looks simple but I'm imagining things like credit checks etc going all awry...

(I changed once before, about 20 years ago when I was a student. The new bank asked for 6 months of paper statements before taking my account!)

Loughton_Monkey

nc101 wrote: »

is there a downside to changing bank do you think? The actual move looks simple but I'm imagining things like credit checks etc going all awry...

(I changed once before, about 20 years ago when I was a student. The new bank asked for 6 months of paper statements before taking my account!)

First Direct are an excellent bank - and part of HSBC. You should have no trouble moving. Why not just keep the old HSBC account? I never 'close' current accounts, so have quite a collection which I use occasionally if and when the bank comes up with good deals.

If there are any credit reasons why you would be refused, probably better to know them now rather than later when perhaps it matters more (mortgage etc.).