what to do with £700k for eight weeks

Thefunkygibbons

Subject to the house sale going through on time (which is not certain, but that is another story) I will have house proceeds of £700K knocking around for 8 weeks

Obviously I need to have access so I can return the purchase price of the new place to the solicitor in good time

I need to check the solicor's rates, but I expet that they will be quite low. My own bank pays about 1% on balances of that size

Any other cunning plans that people recommend?

somethingcorporate

You will need to balance return with risk of having it in one place (safety net of £85k per bank). So I'd pick a relatively big establishment to mitigate that risk (for such a short space of time).

Santander (spit) offer 3% - max £2m deposit.

Probably about the best rate if you want to stay with a big bank.

Ambiss

If you need the money in 8 weeks and dont want to risk your capital
then I would put it in an instant access savings account

I beleive Nationwide Santander and Ingdirect all offer around 3% for web based instant access accounts - probably net you around £400 in interest per week before tax

rockitup

At 3% interest you should rake in around £3221 in gross interest less whatever tax you have to pay on that.

Still pays for a few things for the house....

Loughton_Monkey

Ambiss wrote: »

If you need the money in 8 weeks and dont want to risk your capital
then I would put it in an instant access savings account

I beleive Nationwide Santander and Ingdirect all offer around 3% for web based instant access accounts - probably net you around £400 in interest in the 8 weeks

????????

£700K @ 3% = £21,000 per annum = £404 per week.

£404 per week for 8 weeks = £3,232, less 20% tax = £2,585

Thefunkygibbons

Wonder how long it would take to get the account open

Ambiss

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

????????

£700K @ 3% = £21,000 per annum = £404 per week.

£404 per week for 8 weeks = £3,232, less 20% tax = £2,585

my mistake - I calculated it weekly not for 8 weeks

rockitup

Thefunkygibbons wrote: »

Wonder how long it would take to get the account open

If one of their advisers is reading this thread they have already got the kettle on!

Rollinghome

Santander (spit)

From my experience of Santander I'd be very wary of using them if you might need your cash quickly.

During the short period I used them they first froze me out of my account containing a very large sum when they one day decided they hadn't had ID docs for me - they had in reality had them more than two months before. Even more unbelievably, after getting nowhere by phone, the branch manager I saw dolefully explained that he couldn't contact the only individual in the entire organisation who could sort it out because she job-shared and wouldn't be in until the following week.

When I wanted another account closed before the end of the tax year it took two weeks of constant chasing to get it done. And when I arranged and paid for a CHAPS transfer of a couple of hundred k Santander forgot to send it.

If there's any way to mess up, Santander will find it.

Thefunkygibbons

Decided to go with the Santander offer as I have an old Abbey National account so I am known to them so should make opening the thing quicker

Sceptic001

Thefunkygibbons wrote: »

Decided to go with the Santander offer as I have an old Abbey National account so I am known to them so should make opening the thing quicker

:rotfl:
OK, so no doubt we will see you again in about eight weeks complaining that your house purchase has fallen through because you couldn't get your money out of Santander in time...

(Seriously though, I would check with them what the rules are on withdrawals. Many "instant access" accounts limit daily withdrawals to £10k or £25k.)