Regularly Beat the Best Savings Account Rates Discussion Area

scoot65

BenL wrote: »

I also thought this account was fixed up high but I only have minimal paperwork for it now, I also thought it was a 1 year account.

I will get the 6.85% for most of it, applied 1st May 08? as it was opened 01 May 2007 and the conditions met.

I was planning on using just over 1/2 the amount for the next years ISA allowance as I thought the account would be matured and closed.

Looking at the YBS.co.uk website it looks like the account will just keep going.

hhmmm, better have a look around anyway for any better rates after the year is up.

I've just looked at the paperwork I got when I opened a YBS Reg Saver last September '07, it reads....

"Gross Rate P.A 7.10 % (variable)
Net Rate P.A 5.68% (variable)"

So yep, it's variable!!

webfred

Hi

My husband and I are self employed and put 25% of the partnership profits away each month for tax. I would ideally like a high interest account which allows two withdrawls per year. I will be depositing £500+ per month. It would be good if I can put extra in on an as and when basis.

I'm quite happy to use internet only account, and it would help if I could could request the money to go to the my current account so that I can split the money between our separate tax bills.

Any recommendations

lindos90

Hi, Im looking into the A&L regular saver, now its on offer again to save the max £250 a month as OH and I are giving stoozing a go for a year.

I am currently not working (childcare bills left me with £15 a week out of my salary, so taking a career break)

Husband therefore main wage earner (his wage goes into our current joint account with TSB), but wanting to max out as much as possible by the savings account being in my name, and therefore tax free!

I understand that I would also need to open a current account with A&L, but I have a couple of questions, and feel really stupid asking the bank directly...

Does the £500 minimum deposit have to be a salary payment? could it be a SO from another account (ie our TSB current account)?

The blerb from the bank says 'transfering' to their current account, does that mean you can only have one current account?

Can you only have one regular savings account running at a time with one provider?

Can you stipulate a day rather than date when the deposit is made? (I seem to remember something about loosing more interest if its a date, as money can be 'in limbo' over the weekend).

Ideally we could do with a regular saver that allows £500 monthly deposit, but the interest rates seem alot lower, and they are few and far between...unless anyone knows otherwise?

Any advice would be great, thanks.

Paul_Herring

lindos90 wrote: »

Does the £500 minimum deposit have to be a salary payment?

In this particular instance it would appear not. Just deposits in general.

could it be a SO from another account (ie our TSB current account)?

One or more, totalling £500 per month, yes.

The blerb from the bank says 'transfering' to their current account, does that mean you can only have one current account?

No. I have three (though A&L isn't one of them - LTSB, NW and Barclays) The wording is to try and get you to move things like standing orders and direct debits over to their account. You don't have to though.

Can you only have one regular savings account running at a time with one provider?

Yes, only one per person - Hubby could perhaps open one as well?

Can you stipulate a day rather than date when the deposit is made? (I seem to remember something about loosing more interest if its a date, as money can be 'in limbo' over the weekend).

Since you'll be in control of the standing order from your main account, yes. Though LTSB don't as I recall have a 'first monday of the month' option for their monthly standing orders. You could try a SO for £125 every Monday or (probably better) Tuesday, but that would result in 5 payments for 4 months of the year (a problem if you're on a tight budget.)

cornerstone13

Hi Lindos90

We did this last year with A&L - the Regular Saver facility is only for one year, after that the rate drops. We set up a standing order for £500 each month from our usual current account (Cahoot) to the A&L current account (make sure you have the right A&L account for the regular saver facility - there are two with very similar names and it's only offered on one). Then we set up £250 to go into the regular saver and used the other £250 to make a few payments - the rate in the A&L current account is quite low so we didn't want to leave much there. It worked well and we received the interest on the anniversary date, transferred the whole lot back into the A&L current account and then transferred it on to a different high interest account.

lindos90

Thank you herring and cornerstone, very helpful replies!!!
Just tried to make an appointment to set this up with A&L, nice to have a number for the actual branch in the phone book, they were busy, left a message and they called back within 10 mins.
In contrast just called Abbey to arrange an appointment to 'upgrade' my cash isa to their better rate direct isa, call center assistant had me on hold for 20 mins while thay tried to connect me to my local branch...gave up in the end.
A bit off topic I know, but maybe useful feedback for someone!

philipstreet

mary wrote: »

The rate is 6.6% now and is variable

I just checked my YBS Regular Saver account and it says the interest rate is 3.1% (which is doubled at the end of the year, to 6.2%) - it started off as 3.5% last June, went up to 3.6%, then down to 3.35% and then now 3.1% since March.

RayWolfe

No, it's 6.6%, 3.1% without the bonus.

Newly_retired

Sorry if this has been answered before, but having read Martin's article about transferring from a High Interest account to a Regular Saver, and more or less understood the maths, I'm just wondering :
If I have £250 spare income coming in per month, is there are point putting it into a High Interest account just to transfer it into a Regular Saver? Surely I will be losing interest during the clearing/ transfer days and I might as well have a DD or SO straight from current a/c into Regular Saver? Or have I missed a trick here?

Dan29

Newly_retired wrote: »

Sorry if this has been answered before, but having read Martin's article about transferring from a High Interest account to a Regular Saver, and more or less understood the maths, I'm just wondering :
If I have £250 spare income coming in per month, is there are point putting it into a High Interest account just to transfer it into a Regular Saver? Surely I will be losing interest during the clearing/ transfer days and I might as well have a DD or SO straight from current a/c into Regular Saver? Or have I missed a trick here?

For new money (e.g. I get paid £1500 a month and have £1250 outgoings so have £250 spare to save each month), you could open a Regular Savings account and transfer your spare money straight into it each month. However beware that some require you to deposit the same amount each month, say £250, so you have to make sure you can commit to doing that for the specified time (e.g. a year).

For existing savings (e.g. I have £3000 already in the bank) you can drip feed into a Regular Savings account, keeping the rest in your High Interest savings account and transferring the maximum into the Regular Savings account each month. However with a 7% Fixed Rate account on offer from ICICI you'd need a very good rate from the Regular Savings account to make a profit after taking into account the lost interest while transferring to - and at the end of the term from - the Regular Savings account.