Halifax reg saver query

worcester1

oops sorry!

It's actually 7% and my payments come out 1st of each month from my current account straight into the regular saver via SO as I am already a halifax customer. See my payments below


01 Jan 2007 Standing Order 250.00 1,750.00
01 Dec 2006 Standing Order 250.00 1,500.00
01 Nov 2006 Standing Order 250.00 1,250.00
01 Oct 2006 Standing Order 250.00 1,000.00
01 Sep 2006 Standing Order 250.00 750.00
01 Aug 2006 Standing Order 250.00 500.00
01 Jul 2006 Opened by Transfer 250.00 250.00

Interest details

Interest frequency: Annually

Next interest payment date: 01 July 2007

Interest payment details: Added to this account

Does this mean that my last payment will June07, cause if I make another payment on 01 July 2007, my total payments would have been £3250???????


You also mentioned;


If you're a taxpayer and haven't registered for gross interest (R85) - then 20% tax will be deducted (£21) - leaving net interest of £84.


What is R85? does this let me pay less tax on my final savings? Looks like all the interest I will get for a £3000 savings is a mere £168 (this sucks)

One other thing, I can't remember nominating another account to transfer my £3+interest to another account. I would like to continue saving £250 even after the end of this regualr safer (that's the 3K+interest and £250 a month) for the next 4-5 years.

What's the best savings account I can use to get more interest.

worcester1

oops sorry!

It's actually 7% and my payments come out 1st of each month from my current account straight into the regular saver via SO as I am already a halifax customer. See my payments below


01 Jan 2007 Standing Order 250.00 1,750.00
01 Dec 2006 Standing Order 250.00 1,500.00
01 Nov 2006 Standing Order 250.00 1,250.00
01 Oct 2006 Standing Order 250.00 1,000.00
01 Sep 2006 Standing Order 250.00 750.00
01 Aug 2006 Standing Order 250.00 500.00
01 Jul 2006 Opened by Transfer 250.00 250.00

Interest details

Interest frequency: Annually

Next interest payment date: 01 July 2007

Interest payment details: Added to this account

Does this mean that my last payment will June07, cause if I make another payment on 01 July 2007, my total payments would have been £3250???????


You also mentioned;


If you're a taxpayer and haven't registered for gross interest (R85) - then 20% tax will be deducted (£21) - leaving net interest of £84.


What is R85? does this let me pay less tax on my final savings? Looks like all the interest I will get for a £3000 savings is a mere £168 (this sucks)

One other thing, I can't remember nominating another account to transfer my £3+interest to another account. I would like to continue saving £250 even after the end of this regualr safer (that's the 3K+interest and £250 a month) for the next 4-5 years.

What's the best savings account I can use to get more interest.

jennifernil

I have one of the Halifax regular savers too. My £250 goes in from my Halifax current account on the 1st of every month. On the anniversary of opening the £3000 plus interest goes into my Websaver and the £250 per month saving continues. No complications so far!
If you do not cancel it then it will automatically continue. I am about to go into my 3rd year soon.
If you have used your ISA allowance then next best is probably Icesave or similar. You could also do regular savers with other banks, but most want you to open a current account too.

Mikeyorks

worcester1 wrote:

oops sorry!

It's actually 7% and my payments come out 1st of each month from my current account straight into the regular saver via SO as I am already a halifax customer. See my payments below

OK. You appear to have online access? So it you log into your Halifax Portfolio and open the Reg Saver account there are a number of headings? At the top right is the Anniversary date - and the account you have nominated to receive the money from this account .. is on the left?

R85 ... is the form used to have your interest paid gross. Otherwise 20% tax will be deducted by Halifax and paid over to HMRC. But ... you can only claim gross interest if you don't pay tax. If you do pay tax .. but only at the 10% level - you can claim the other 10% back after the end (5th April) of the tax year. But you do that on an R40 .. direct to HMRC. If you don't pay tax .. Halifax are one of the increasing number of institutions that hold the data electronically and won't accept a paper R85. You have to 'phone them with your NI number - do the registration - and then they will write to you to confirm the registration.

If your anniversary date is 1st July - like a number of people, you're on track to put 13 payments into the account in the first year. It's best avoided - as Halifax will sweep all 13 payments into your nominated account 1st July. One of those payments will have only been in for 1 day - so you'll get no interest on it. And your Reg saver (Year 2) will have no payment for the first month (July) of the new account ... and you're not allowed to make an extra payment in the month, despite the previous one has been swept out before it's feet really touched! So to avoid all this (you only need to do this once) ...... after your 1st June 07 payment reaches the Reg Saver .... go into your Current account and change the SO date to the 2nd of the month (i.e 2nd July). That will resolve the problem for this and future years - as the anniversary date remains constant.

Looks like all the interest I will get for a £3000 savings is a mere £168 (this sucks)

Sorry - not being rude - but you've got a real comprehension problem with this Regular Saver thing.;) You will actually only get around £84 interest (net) in the 1st year. So I have to suspect you've doubled my figure (£84 x 2 = £168 ??) - because I used an average of £1500 (half of what you consider you've saved) in my rough calculation.

You have to remember that 7% is ... £7 for every £100 you have in the account for a full year. And only your 1st July 2006 payment matches that criteria! Your next payment will only have been attracting 7% for 11 months etc etc .. and your final payment only for 1 month. (so your final payment only attracts 7% x £250 = £17.50 / 12 = £1.45 gross)

Bottom line ... you will have had an average of £1500 in for the full year - that computes at 7% x £1500 = £105 gross interest - or £84 net if tax is deducted. Yes - it's nothing like the £210 gross you would earn on £3k for a full year - but you don't have it in for a full year.

But if you're putting the £250 monthly from current earnings (rather than re-cycling the same £3k each year - as I do) then you will have £3k + interest to drop into eg a Web Saver (5%) whilst you drip feed more money into the Reg Saver at 7%

Read this for more info :-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1108401263,93536,

...... particularly the bit entitled 'They really do pay this amount' . But ... bear in mind you really are getting 7% .. as opposed to 3% in the current account or just over 5% if you've got the High Interest current account

What's the best savings account I can use to get more interest.

If you're looking at lump sum deposits rather than Regular savers (which do offer the best rates for 'drip feed' sums) .. reading here :-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1098730527,15721,

worcester1

Thanks a lot Mikeyorks - very good stuff - cheers a lot for taking the time to explain all the stuff mentioned above. I will certainly be stopping my payment once the June has gone through and showing on my regular saving account.

The norminated account is a liquid saver acount that pays only 3%. I have read the links with interest and unfortunately still don't understand what to do with the full £3084. Do I put this on a saving account that pays monyhly interest and dip feed this into another regular saver or just pay the whole amount into a fixed or variable saving accounts.

You mentioned that, you personally recycle the £3000 from one saving account to a regular saver. Do you find this the best saving method? What saving account do you use as your feeder account

The thing is, I want to save the whole £3080 permanently and also save another £200 or £250 each month for the next 4-5 years.

Cheers

Mikeyorks

worcester1 wrote:

You mentioned that, you personally recycle the £3000 from one saving account to a regular saver. Do you find this the best saving method? What saving account do you use as your feeder account

The thing is, I want to save the whole £3080 permanently and also save another £200 or £250 each month for the next 4-5 years.

Cheers

Sorry - just seen this.

I start off with £6k in a Halifax Web saver (5% .. but hopefully will ease up as far as 5.25% over the next few weeks). And have set up SOs directly from that to each of 2 Regular Savers - one each for self and wife, at £250pm. When the Reg savers mature - they feed back the funds automatically (the 'nominated' account) into the same Web saver as above. I then take the interest out into a different web saver - and the cycle just starts again.

Other than that I check it each month - it requires no work other than moving the Interest.

In your case - you appear to have 2 choices (I keep my 'easy access' funds with Halifax as my main bank - as I can't be doing with opening current accounts all over just for a few extra £s in interest) - if you predominantly want to stay within Halifax.

1. Put the £3080 into a Web saver. You can get up to 5.55% if you open a 'fixed rate' saver - but that rate ties your money for 2 years. You may consider leaving it in the ordinary saver at 5% until the position on interest rate rises has stabilised. Then feed your Reg Saver, for next year, from the £200/£250 per month saving you mention. Make sure the web savers you open don't have a cash card (you can move money to your current account in seconds - so no point) - otherwise you only get 4.5%
http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/phoneweb_websaver.shtml
.......... or
2. Put £3000 of the £3080 into a web saver as your feeder account - and set up a £250 SO direct to your Reg Saver. Put the £80 surplus into a different Web saver - and add the £200 / £250 extra savings into this each month. At some point change your nominated account to be the above feeder Web saver - and just move £80 out when your Reg Saver matures its 2nd year? Then it has £3k in ready to re-cycle!

On balance I'd go for 2). as it makes sure your Reg Saver is benefitting from the max each month?? Best of luck with it all;)