Next best after 8% regular and full ISA?

heloid

Hi guys,

With starting a new well paid job and a redundancy payout from my previous I'm in a good position savings wise.

Problem is I'm already £4000 in to my ISA allowance and will need somewhere else to put money once it's full (I'm already maxing out a FD regular saver as well).

I don't want to lock it away as I'm going to be buying a car and maybe a holiday within the next 12 months. Is the only real option left a 3% ish easy access saver? I'm going to get !!!!!! all from it with my tax rate.

Thanks

psychic_teabag

I like the Monmouthshire BS flexible saver : not the best reg saver at only 4%, but flexible over deposits (up to £1k per month) and withdrawals (up to 4 per year).

Ultrasonic

You probably realise this, but just in case not and thinking of your planned purchases, you only get the 8% interest rate with FD if you keep the account open for a year (the only way to take money out is to close the account, at which point I think you'd get just 0.05% interest). HSBC also do a regular saver that pays 6%, but will have the same problem.

psychic_teabag wrote: »

I like the Monmouthshire BS flexible saver : not the best reg saver at only 4%, but flexible over deposits (up to £1k per month) and withdrawals (up to 4 per year).

That account looks interesting. The only minor issue is needing to keep it open for a year to get the 4%, but crucially you can still make withdrawels and get this rate. This isn't true for the OP, but 4% gross is 3.2% net for lower rate taxpayers, which beats most non-fixed term ISAs. Is there a catch I'm missing?

Edit: Oh, and note the 4% rate is only available for the first year. It would be worth moving the money elsewhere once the 2% bonus rate had been paid.

heloid

The ISA and reg saver are definitely long term for 12 months. Plan is to put the funds from the reg saver in to next years ISA and eventually use the money for a house deposit.

Thanks PT, that account sounds perfect. I doubt I will completely empty it out so should still get interest at the end.

Ultrasonic

heloid wrote: »

I doubt I will completely empty it out so should still get interest at the end.

You only have to keep a minimum balance of £1 and pay in a minimum of £20 a month, so there shouldn't be any real need to close the account early. (I'm sure even the most tentative of hagglers could get £1 knocked off the price of a car if they absolutely had to )

I'm tempted to open one of these accounts myself now.

heloid

!!!!!!, you only get the 2% bonus interest AFTER 12 months, not the first 12 months. Better off with a 3%+ somewhere else.

MoneySaverLog

HSBC regular saver pays 6% save up to £250 a month, have to pay in £500 a month to their Bank Account though.

May be you could do this to get round it

SO Main Bank -> HSBC Bank Account £550
SO HSBC Bank -> HSBC Regular Saver £250
SO HSBC Bank -> 1st Account £300
SO 1st Account -> FD Regular Saver £300

:-)

psychic_teabag

Ultrasonic wrote: »

You only have to keep a minimum balance of £1 and pay in a minimum of £20 a month, so there shouldn't be any real need to close the account early.

No, you don't have to pay in every month. Or at least you didn't used to have to. There are some old threads discussing this account. (issue one had a huge flaw which let you dump the entire annual allowance in in one go ! They fixed that in issue 2.)

I believe the rule is that if you deposit monthly by DD, it has to be £20 per month. But there is no requirement to deposit monthly by DD, and therefore at all.

psychic_teabag

heloid wrote: »

!!!!!!, you only get the 2% bonus interest AFTER 12 months, not the first 12 months. Better off with a 3%+ somewhere else.

The 2% bonus is paid on the anniversary, but it is earned at 2% throughout the year.

Ultrasonic

psychic_teabag wrote: »

No, you don't have to pay in every month. Or at least you didn't used to have to. There are some old threads discussing this account. (issue one had a huge flaw which let you dump the entire annual allowance in in one go ! They fixed that in issue 2.)

I believe the rule is that if you deposit monthly by DD, it has to be £20 per month. But there is no requirement to deposit monthly by DD, and therefore at all.

Thanks for explaining that. Looking again at the details it looks like you are right.

calypso_rhapsody

I just did the sums comparing the best instant access account (Santander Esaver 5 paying 3.2%) with the Monmouthshire 4% regular saver and if you put the max of £1k a month into the Montmouthshire account you end up £38.40 better off net over a year ... is it worth the hassle for you?

I've opened a FD regular saver though as that works out about £70 for the year net better ... Haven't looked at HSBC but it will be about half way between ...