minimal nil–interest moving £'s from bdg society

ED

Please can readers here share ideas of how I can move a lump–sum from a building society online a/c to another bdg soc (or Birmingham Midshires), with a minimum number of days earning nil interest?

The £'s are in Leeds & Holbeck BS 'Online Saver' a/c which normally requires "5 banking days" to transfer to the linked external a/c. In reality, with Birmingham Midshires that would probably be a week (eg £'s leave Mon, arrive Fri, & probably earn nil interest until the following banking day – ie Monday).

Can I instruct the bdg soc instead to allow the receiving a/c to collect via Direct Debit? If so, how many days are my £'s likely to earn nil interest? Has anyone here moved £'s from Leeds & Holbeck BS in this way?

Incidentally, the reason I need access to some of my lump sum (from house-sale proceeds) is so I can 'trickle' them via Standing Orders into regular, monthly savings a/c's with various BSs + banks (just as Martin Lewis recommends in the Savings Fountain!)

I see Leeds & Holbeck BS, having withdrawn Online Saver from new applications, have today launched Issue 2 of it, but at a much reduced interest rate of only 5% gross – guaranteed for the following 9–month period not to be lower than 0.25% above Base Rate. A member of my family has immediately written to them in chastisement at turning an innovative a/c into one less competitive than those available from Northern Rock, Birmingham Midshires, Alliance + Leicester, Norwich & Peterborough BS, Yorkshire BS (+ cahoot for existing a/c holders).

Milarky

Why not do a 'test run' using your direct debit suggestion - but for a nominal amount?

musicman1951

This isn't much help but i know that in places like Sweden, bank transfers (and cheques credited) are done within an hour! I guess only UK takes nearly a week in some institutions! Let's hope it will change, but how can we complain?! My Halifax current accounts pays into another Halifax account instantly!
You mention not being entirely happy with Leeds and Holbeck BS. I live in Leeds and called into their Head Office Branch to ask what the online savings account interest rate was. Cashier didn't know and so I asked others. 4 staff told me that they were not allowed to give out any information about this account as it's 'an online' account! Abbey, Yorkshire, Halifax and Nationwide all gave me helpful information at their branches. Leeds and Holbeck seem to be 10 years behind! They took years to introduce an online account.... then closed it within days!

ED

musicmanYorkshire – Bizarre reaction you had from 4 staff members in-branch! Same thing happened to me at Abbey, years ago, possibly because staff had no personal experience of using the eSaver a/c.

Leeds & Holbeck BS were polite enough to respond on Saturday (!) to my family's email enquiry. They state :

"We do in fact take just 3 working days for BACS transfers, same as other institutions but we say 'up-to' 5 because some people have differing interpretations of what a working day is."

This is excellent news, and assuming (we'll check!) it means £'s instructed online during Monday to transfer-out will arrive as cleared funds in our linked a/c on Wednesday, then we'll keep the Online Saver a/c going until next March when the bonus expires.

Apparently Issue 2 of the a/c was launched because the initial one was very 'oversubscribed' – not surprising as it was highly competitive @ 5.30% gross till March '05.

Anyone here experienced outward BACS transfers from a Leeds & Holbeck online a/c? If so, how many banking days did it take for your £'s to reach your linked a/c?

Likewise, how many days elapsed in outward transfers from Birmingham Midshires Internet Easy Access Savings a/c?

Our family tested Norwich & Peterborough BS, which took 4 banking days inclusive (ie £'s out Monday, arrived Thursday). Ditto from Halifax and from Alliance + Leicester PP Current a/c.

Coventry BS and First Direct seem to be the only confirmed 3-day (inclusive) for BACS transfers. (We're not testing banks or BSs that don't have an instantly linked online savings a/c paying a competitive interest rate.)

What experience do Cahoot 'Introductory Rate Savings' a/c holders have of moving £'s? Are £'s instantly moved by you online from that a/c to the Cahoot current a/c, 1 day prior to Standing Orders going out?

Anyone here got other suggestions of suitable banks or BSs?

Perhaps Martin Lewis could write an article about "Transferring £'s between your banks or bdg societies via minimal nil-interest days". Using the quickest method would be very helpful for people following Martin's 'Savings Fountain' principle of monthly Standing Orders into regular monthly savings a/c's. Loss of interest during transit is a big deterrent for many people. (Government, take note, if you want to encourage the savings habit!)

babysaver

Can I play devil's advocate and say that other countries where cheques clear instantly and transfers are done immediately probably charge fees for day-today banking. I don't agree with the banks taking up to 5 days to clear funds but would really hate having to pay to request a transfer, have a cheque cashed, pay D/Ds and S/Os which most of our banks don't.....

ED

babysaver – I totally agree with your comments.

Instant clearance of cheques we write would also give no benefit to us. Alliance + Leicester's Premier Plus Current a/c pays a useful 5.37% gross (5.5 AER) per annum, so currently if I supply on a Thursday mid-afternoon someone with my £5,000 A+L cheque, I'm likely to gain approx £3.67 in 5 days interest from A+L!

At least with current £ transfer facilities, we MoneySavingSearchers can benefit from shrewd timing of money movements, whilst more laid-back people's complacency causes their £'s to earn nil-interest for protracted periods. Eg outward BACS transfers conducted on Thursdays or Fridays being in-transit through the weekend possibly + Bank Holiday!

Robert_Sterling_3

On line accounts pay a higher rate because you do not take up the branch staffs's valuable time. The information you need is available on line.