Unemployed - what do to with savings?

fatbunneh

My current account is with HSBC. I opened an international student account with them when I started uni (2004) and it was never automatically upgraded. I'm a British citizen but was living overseas before I came to the UK for university. It has an attached savings account but the rate of interest is something like 0.003% (!)

psychic_teabag

fatbunneh wrote: »

One last thing - seeing as I'm not earning money, does that mean the interest I gain from a savings account won't be taxed?

Yes, that's correct. Though you have to fill in a form to ask for the interest to be paid gross. At the moment, non-ISA accounts tend to pay slightly higher (before tax) than ISA accounts. And there are some special accounts which pay quite a bit more - regular savings accounts tend to pay a bit more (but aren't so convenient for lump sums), some current accounts pay higher rates on limited balances.

Presuambly you hope to become a taxpayer soon, so there is still a case for making full use of your ISA allowance while it is available. But if you can get a higher interest rate in the short term, you might keep the money there and move it to an ISA at the end of the financial year, rather than the beginning.

Milarky

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Unfortunately not, since a couple are assessed on their joint income. So long as she lives with an employed partner, she will not be eligible for most means-tested benefits.

I didn't read it like that. The working partner - already conceded - only removes claimant from 'income-based' not 'contributory' JSA (first 26 weeks provided claimant has paid 2 years previous NI.) It isn't clear whether the OP has previously paid NICs (24, ex student, so may not have done!) but such a claim would be taken automatically if she has eligibility.