Regular Savers - if you were me...

gelato_cat

Hi all

I currently have the following monthly savers, paying in these amounts:

Halifax - £250/month
Lloyds (two-year) - £250/month
A&L - £250/month
YBS - £500/month

All of this money is saved from my monthly salary (ie is new money and not held in a high-interest account while waiting to be drip-fed in).

I've got current accounts with Halifax (main one, not really interested in switching), A&L (prerequisite for RS) and Lloyds (ditto).

I also have approx £26k in an Icesave account and can probably save another £500/month from my salary, although may need access to the cash if I save that much.

Two questions:

a) Are there any "easy" regular savers I'm missing (ie online banking, don't have to put in the same amount each month, no withdrawal penalties etc)? A&L is as far as I'm prepared to go hassle-wise. I saw the Loughborough one before they restricted it and thought it was a bit too strict for my needs given I may need access.

b) Is it worth me taking some of the Icesave money and drip feeding it into yet more regular savers? I've done a bit of research and most of the ones I don't have require either a regularly-funded current account and/or (in the case of many building societies) for me to live within the locality (which I generally don't). I'll do it if I can get good returns, but I'm wondering if the admin/loss of interest in transferring things around etc is worth it.

thoughts?

Suze

bluu2k

Hi Suze,

Wonder if you have any child/ren. If yes, you may want to try:

1. Halifax Children regular saver: max 100/month @ 10.00% per child. (but one child could have more than one a/c if opened by different adults--you figure it out )

2. YSB One Day a/c: you can put up to 3800 pounds in per year (cash I would say, not transfer from your a/c or by your cheque) I think, to get the rate of 5.7% NET. This is the gross rate, but your child does not have to pay tax on any amount s/he receives within the limit of her/his annual allowance of app. 5000 pounds.

Edit: Thanks aleph_0. I should have written that: Each of your children can put up to 3800 pounds per year into his/her YSB One Day a/c (if they can lol)...

This will reduce further if your husband and/or somebody else also open Halifax children reg saver for the child.



In addition, or in case you have not yet had any baby, I think YBS Internet Saver would be a good option to consider. Put a small amount you might unexpectedly need from time to time into this a/c.

Lower rate if compare w/ IceSave (5.55%), but you can instantly access your money by using Link Card any time, with daily limit of 250 quids if withdrawal from an ATM [STRIKE], or 500 if from a branch[/STRIKE]. Save you some days of transit between your IceSave's and a c/a.

(Thanks YorkshireBoy for the update)

Cheers,

aleph_0

Each child is only allowed to earn £100 interest from gifts from each parent (I think the allowance applies to each parent) before tax would be payable at the parent's income, to ensure people don't use their children for this purpose

YorkshireBoy

bluu2k wrote: »

...or 500 if from a branch.

I've been told recently that this is not now possible... "It's an internet account and all such (over £250) withdrawals should be made by BACS transfer from the website". This message has come from both branch staff and head office.

alfiesmum

Skipton Building Society have a regular saver that you can deposit £1000 per month in. Not a huge rate at 5.85% (?) but the money builds up faster so may be worth looking at perhaps?

Milarky

Pricipality have a one year fixed rate of 6.50% Saver Bond Issue 4 for variable amounts. No withdrawals during paying in period.

Ipswich Target Saver Issue 3 pays 6.90% (variable) for 12 months but min payments are higher, with the same maximum

knightsaver_2

I have opened this in the last week for myself. It is a new account as I had just opened a regular saver with them, when they advised they had this higher paying one. They allowed me to switch to the 8% and I had confirmation today. I live in Reading, so there is not a local restriction.
Good savings
Knightsaver

tom188

There is now a local restriction as of the beginning of this week.

benood

Are you maxing out your ISA contributions? Mini/maxi - if you don't need the money anytime soon over the long term you will probably be better off in equity based investments.

That's what I'd be doing if I was you (on the information provided), I'd also be watching the regular savers like a hawk to make sure that the banks didn't pull a fast one and cut the rate back.

gelato_cat

Thanks for the tip - will check it out!

Suze

alfiesmum wrote: »

Skipton Building Society have a regular saver that you can deposit £1000 per month in. Not a huge rate at 5.85% (?) but the money builds up faster so may be worth looking at perhaps?

gelato_cat

bluu2k wrote:

Wonder if you have any child/ren.

Not yet - but hopefully your suggestions have been useful for someone else

bluu2k wrote:

In addition, or in case you have not yet had any baby, I think YBS Internet Saver would be a good option to consider. Put a small amount you might unexpectedly need from time to time into this a/c.

Lower rate if compare w/ IceSave (5.55%), but you can instantly access your money by using Link Card any time, with daily limit of 250 quids if withdrawal from an ATM [STRIKE], or 500 if from a branch[/STRIKE]. Save you some days of transit between your IceSave's and a c/a.

(Thanks YorkshireBoy for the update)

I've got one of these as well - on YB's recommendation a couple of months ago

Thanks for replying!

Suze