Minimum deposits into bank accounts

flergalwit

Many bank accounts require you to pay in a minimum monthly amount, at least to get various benefits (e.g. Halifax Reward, Nationwide Flexaccount, Lloyds Classic with Vantage, First Direct 1st Account).

My impression is that it's completely permissible to transfer in the required amount of money from another account and seconds later transfer it out again. (You can easily do both online.) You don't even need to wait a working day between transferring in and out, nor even till the 5pm (or whenever it is) deadline.

Is this correct? Are there any known exceptions to this?

For the Flexaccount account, you need to pay in £750pm for the last 3 months to keep the benefits, such as the 4.25% ISA (or have completed a transfer within the last 4 months). Does anyone know what £750pm for the last 3 month means? Is it for the previous three calendar months before the current one? What if the previous three months you paid in on the 1st and it's now (say) the 2nd of the subsequent month and you were intending to pay in the next day. Would that lose you the benefits on the grounds that you haven't paid in for over a month?

Thanks.

MoneySaverLog

Yes you can move the money around e.g. I do the following

£1,000 Vantage 1 to 2 to 3 to 1 again. Then £1,000 out to Halifax and back again as £1005. Then £550 out to HSBC, From there £250 to their regular saver and £300 to First Direct 1st Account. Then FD move my £300 to their regular saver. I have £1 in their savings account so don't have to put in £1,500 a month :-)

I was thinking of Nationwide too, but I've subscribed to the Lloyds TSB ISA now, but their FlexAccount is there dormant. As is a Natwest Account. They are there as back up accounts outside of Lloyds Banking Group.

BugsyBrowne

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Yes you can move the money around e.g. I do the following

£1,000 Vantage 1 to 2 to 3 to 1 again. Then £1,000 out to Halifax and back again as £1005. Then £550 out to HSBC, From there £250 to their regular saver and £300 to First Direct 1st Account. Then FD move my £300 to their regular saver. I have £1 in their savings account so don't have to put in £1,500 a month :-)

I was thinking of Nationwide too, but I've subscribed to the Lloyds TSB ISA now, but their FlexAccount is there dormant. As is a Natwest Account. They are there as back up accounts outside of Lloyds Banking Group.

Have you got a Secret fetish for bank accounts by any chance?

flergalwit

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Yes you can move the money around e.g. I do the following

£1,000 Vantage 1 to 2 to 3 to 1 again. Then £1,000 out to Halifax and back again as £1005. Then £550 out to HSBC, From there £250 to their regular saver and £300 to First Direct 1st Account. Then FD move my £300 to their regular saver. I have £1 in their savings account so don't have to put in £1,500 a month :-)

OK that works. It's tempting to try and do this by standing order but the problem is if one of the payments is delayed (or doesn't go through for whatever reason) then an account could be overdrawn. So it might be safest to do it manually.

It occurs to me btw that you don't even need to have £1000. You could start from an account with no balance but a £1000+ overdraft. As long as you do all the moving and put it back before the cut-off time, I believe you don't get charged - though it may depend on the T&Cs of the bank.

flergalwit

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

Have you got a Secret fetish for bank accounts by any chance?

I don't necessarily know why having 3 Vantage accounts is advantageous, but having a Halifax Reward, a First Direct and an HSBC account all make sense - Halifax because of the £5pm reward and the other two because of their 8% and 6% resp regular savers. I might open First Direct and HSBC accounts myself for this very reason. (With First Direct there's also the £100 reward for switching, which unfortunately I'm not eligible for as I used to have a First Direct account, a long time ago.)

MoneySaverLog

Pay in on the 15th or previous working day if weekend or bank holiday
Manual move around between vantage accounts and Halifax and back again before the 16th

SO 16th from Vantage 1 to HSBC
SO 20th from HSBC to Regular Saver and HSBC to FD 1st Account
SO 6th from FD 1st to FD Regular Saver

Yes I lose a few days interest in the process but 6% and 8% more than make up for it and I'm covered for weekends and bank holidays should there be any.

Yes you could use a £1,000 OD and do it that way, and I have done in the past and it works because you have until 3.30pm with Lloyds to put it right and the use of the OD is literally seconds whilst it's moved around :-)

MoneySaverLog

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

Have you got a Secret fetish for bank accounts by any chance?

Only for getting the best out of them

BugsyBrowne

flergalwit wrote: »

I don't necessarily know why having 3 Vantage accounts is advantageous, but having a Halifax Reward, a First Direct and an HSBC account all make sense - Halifax because of the £5pm reward and the other two because of their 8% and 6% resp regular savers. I might open First Direct and HSBC accounts myself for this very reason. (With First Direct there's also the £100 reward for switching, which unfortunately I'm not eligible for as I used to have a First Direct account, a long time ago.)

No I agree that Halifax £1.25 a week really makes a difference with the mortgage payments.

flergalwit

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

No I agree that Halifax £1.25 a week really makes a difference with the mortgage payments.

Getting £5 monthly for doing something that takes about 30 seconds each month seems a reasonable use of time to me. But each to their own.

BugsyBrowne

flergalwit wrote: »

Getting £5 monthly for doing something that takes about 30 seconds each month seems a reasonable use of time to me. But each to their own.

I take it these banks are free of charge then and don't charge a monthly fee?

flergalwit

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

I take it these banks are free of charge then and don't charge a monthly fee?

That is correct.