What to do with proceeds from flat sale?

MariodelMonaco

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of selling my flat to buy a house, but we're completing on one transaction before starting on the next. This means I am going to end up with about £890,000 cash coming my way.

Where do people think I should put it til we find something to buy and get close to completion on the purchase? I was thinking a straight forward NSI account but unless I've misunderstood, it can take a while (like a week) to get your money back out again - not necessarily a deal breaker but not the most convenient situation.

I'd prefer to be able to do a faster payment, or pay for a CHAPS transaction, which I don't think they offer. Is it too risky to put it in a savings account with a normal bank, given that it's 10 times the £85k guaranteed deposit amount? I might only have it a month, but it could turn out to be 2 or 3 months depending on how it all goes.

xylophone

If you want the security without the inconvenience of using several accounts, NS&I is the answer? http://www.nsandi.com/savings-direct-saver

Why not ring and ask about a transfer for the purpose of completing on a house purchase?

ColdIron

For that sort of money and your short timescale I think the NS&I Direct Saver is the only game in town if you want it to be secure

I don't think getting your money out will be your issue, I recall most of my withdrawals taking about 3 days or so, rather the time it takes getting the account set up. Haste is not a word in their lexicon

It took me a month although perhaps that was unusual as they took nearly a fortnight to get the documents out to me and then fumbled the ball when they were returned

If you are going to deposit your cash with them I'd get the ball rolling now