Savings advice??

elex

I was wondering if anybody could help me.

I've just decided to start saving and managed to scrape together £2000 and i plan to add betweent £50-100 a week.

I was wondering where would be the best place to put this money? in an isa? savings account? (I currently bank with Santander and personally have never had any problems with them so i'd prefare to stay with them rather than going somewhere else.) but reading over all the accounts just confused me abit...

I'd just like an account that i can put this 2k in and add £50-100 a week and earn something extra instead of it sitting around waiting to be used..what i dont want is an account i will be charged for accessing as i may never touch it... however you never know when you really need such an amount of cash.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

ses6jwg

Santander flexible isa is not a bad option at 2.81% easy access, can be opened via online banking

MoneySaverLog

3.07% is available from West Bromwich Building Society with their instant access ISA. Personally I would never touch Santander, they have a lot to learn about customer service.

ses6jwg

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

3.07% is available from West Bromwich Building Society with their instant access ISA. Personally I would never touch Santander, they have a lot to learn about customer service.

By the time you send the ID off and go through the kaffufle of opening the account on £2000 the op would make just as much interest by opening the Flexible ISA via their online banking within 48 hours and no messing about via post.

I know you despise Santander but I work in a branch and we very rarely get issues nowadays and have not had a log in complaint in 6 months.

The OP has already said they have had no problems, and nor have millions have other customers - however I do appreciate there is work still to be done.

I recently tried to open an account with the supposedly "ace customer service" co-operative bank and it was the biggest ball ache imaginable with long waits on the telephone each time. Experience of customer service is unique.

qpop

ses6jwg wrote: »

By the time you send the ID off and go through the kaffufle of opening the account on £2000 the op would make just as much interest by opening the Flexible ISA via their online banking within 48 hours and no messing about via post.

I know you despise Santander but I work in a branch and we very rarely get issues nowadays and have not had a log in complaint in 6 months.

The OP has already said they have had no problems, and nor have millions have other customers - however I do appreciate there is work still to be done.

I recently tried to open an account with the supposedly "ace customer service" co-operative bank and it was the biggest ball ache imaginable with long waits on the telephone each time. Experience of customer service is unique.

Having previously worked for a bank, I have to say the fact that you tried to open an account with the Co-Op, doesn't exude confidence in Santander.

It's a bit like going for laser eye surgery, and the operating surgeon wearing glasses.

ses6jwg

qpop wrote: »

Having previously worked for a bank, I have to say the fact that you tried to open an account with the Co-Op, doesn't exude confidence in Santander.

It's a bit like going for laser eye surgery, and the operating surgeon wearing glasses.

I have my main bank account with Santander, various savings account, 2 credit cards, a life insurance policy. Never had any problems and never had any cause to.

I tried to open an account with the Co-op to do a fake switcher from Nationwide and make myself £200.

qpop

ses6jwg wrote: »

I have my main bank account with Santander, various savings account, 2 credit cards, a life insurance policy. Never had any problems and never had any cause to.

I tried to open an account with the Co-op to do a fake switcher from Nationwide and make myself £200.

In that case I think complaining about the customer service of a bank that you are scamming out of £200 is an odd thing to do.

Anyway we're way off topic, I'm afraid.

As others stated, a cash ISA sounds good.

If £2,000 was deposited for 1 year in Santanders Cash ISA at 2.81% AER, assuming daily compounding, it would be worth £2,057 at the end of the year.

If the same £2,000 was deposited in West Brom at 3.07%, but took three weeks to set up, it would be worth £2,058.71, on the same assumptions.

That ignores the fact that the year the interest is paid for is likely to start after the first deposit. It also ignores the extra cash that's planned to be deposited regularly.

In conclusion, it's worth the initial hassle, to get the higher rate.

crittertog

ses6jwg wrote: »

By the time you send the ID off and go through the kaffufle of opening the account

West Brom should open an account with an electronic ID verification (they did for me). Granted, the postal system will introduce a slight delay ...

ses6jwg

qpop wrote: »

In that case I think complaining about the customer service of a bank that you are scamming out of £200 is an odd thing to do.

Anyway we're way off topic, I'm afraid.

As others stated, a cash ISA sounds good.

If £2,000 was deposited for 1 year in Santanders Cash ISA at 2.81% AER, assuming daily compounding, it would be worth £2,057 at the end of the year.

If the same £2,000 was deposited in West Brom at 3.07%, but took three weeks to set up, it would be worth £2,058.71, on the same assumptions.

That ignores the fact that the year the interest is paid for is likely to start after the first deposit. It also ignores the extra cash that's planned to be deposited regularly.

In conclusion, it's worth the initial hassle, to get the higher rate.

"Scamming" and legitimately exploiting the T&Cs are hardly the same thing now are they, smarty pants?

By your assumption there must be hundreds of "scammers" on MSE all doing the same thing.

In any case, had it been a genuine switcher the service would not have been any different.

The OP has also said they would prefer to stay with Santander. They also offer a 5% regular saver if you fund the C/A with £1k pcm, albeit taxed, not sure how this would compare to the ISA for monthly payments.

TDM850

Elex have you considered a Stocks & Shares ISA. A lot of providers don't charge annual or management fees, and if the dealing fee is low enough you can buy blue chip stocks, (e.g. Unilever, Tesco, Vodafone) and grow your investment through the dividend yield. Lets say you bought bought blue chip stocks within the ISA tax shelter with your £2000, you could add your £25-£50 per month - with an average dividend yield of say 5% that's a return of £100 pa, which you can either reinvest into stock or you could withdraw the cash every year and leave the stocks in your ISA shelter. FYI Traders Own offer a Stocks & Shares ISA, no fees, you simply pay £9 per trade for every stock you purchase in the ISA wrapper. Info on the Stocks & Shares ISA here.

MoneySaverLog

Well I live not too far away from a branch in Birmingham, so would not have to go though the post to apply anyway as I can just pop into their branch.

However I'm getting more with the AA cash isa at 3.35% so happy there.