Best Place for 10k??

twopointfour

Hello all,
long time browser first time poster - have been trawling many threads but end up going round in circles on this one! (Main point * below!)

We have 10k in savings which is in a piddlingly low interest (I am talking a pound or two a month!!) and needs moving for that reason asap.

We don't want to dice with anything like shares or similar investments, just a bank or building society account with high interest and online access available (online only would be fine)

But we would need to be able to access the money so much of what I am finding is unsuitable (high interest = untouchable?)

(We have been slowly but surely eating into these savings as our family grows and our outgoings are currently greatly higher than our incomings, yet if we spend it all on a yacht we'd been entitled to housing benefit, council tax support, higher child / working benefits and credits... :rotfl: the madness eh.)

So this 10k is currently a burden - never thought we would see it that way as we worked many years to build up a nest egg for a deposit on a house, then the housing market crashed and we are left renting with not enough in wages or deposit for a mortgage.

Sorry, gone way off the point -

*If you had 10k which bank would you put it in and why??
Thank you in advance

Annisele

Depends on what you mean by "our outgoings are currently greatly higher than our incomings".

If you're burning through your savings at £20 per month, you might want to consider putting some of it in instant access and locking some of it away for a year. If you're burning through them at £1k a week, it doesn't really matter where you put it. Also, if the overspending is a temporary thing (until one of you goes back to work after having kids, for example), you'll want to take account of how long it will last.

There are some savings account best buys on the main MSE site; have a look through those and see what suits you (i.e. do you need branch access, that sort of thing).

You might also want to pop over to the debt free wannabee board (even though you don't actually have any debts yet). If you post a Statement of Affairs (see stickies on that board) they'll help you to cut expenditure.

And do try not to see the £10k as a burden. The DFW board will help you with that if nothing else; £10k in credit is infinitely better than £10k in debt with no way to repay it!

kidmugsy

You could each open a cash isa that operates via the internet. That way you'd get decent interest, and get it tax-fee. If yiu have a current account at Nationwide, you could open theirs. Or there's one at the Halifax, one at Santander (though many people dislike their service), one at the West Brom BS and, no doubt, others.

twopointfour

Thank you, some financial food for thought there.
Our current bank account is breaking even each month really, until there is a bill to pay! So over the course of a year we're in the red when wages coming in are totted up against monies going out.
On paper we are low-income and I fully appreciate that having savings is somewhat of a blessing, but it seems that if we didn't have it or frittered it away, then we would get enough in support/exceptions (e.g. not having to pay council tax) that we would be in the black each month instead :think:

So if we can at the very least have our savings making a better % interest it would help and mean that we don't have to make as big a dent in them each quarter. We are very lucky to have no debts or credit cards, and have tried to change energy suppliers to make monthly payments instead of awaiting a shock through the letter box, but aparently we have to wait for a 1st bill (changed at Christmas) until that can be done.

I digress. Thank you again, any personal experiences with good savings accounts appreciated - with tesco at present (and just thinking we are being diddled as have seen another thread about higher rates for new customers... will read through that also).

kidmugsy

If you want to get rid of it in such a way as to allow you to claim benefits, why not stick it into a pension each? Use your allowances for 10-11 and 11-12 and bingo!