Money in lots of accounts... How do you keep track?!

xmillyx

Hello all,

I got the email yesterday about Natwest reducing the interest on the E-ISA account yesterday from 1.75 to 1%. I have over 5k in there...

Now the obvious thing to do is to move it. I was thinking of popping it in a santander 123 current account. I chose this one as I also have a bond maturing next August so that could go into it as well. But I'm open to other suggestions!

This money will be used for a house deposit in the next 18 months or so. So it's important that I have easy access to it. One thing that's concerning me is that will it affect my credit rating when I come to apply for a mortgage if I have multiple current accounts?

Also all my accounts are currently with Natwest.. Apart from my credit card (which I pay off in full each month) which is with Santander. Obviously up until now it's been so simple to move money around as and when and see it all together on the screen. How do people with multiple accounts with different banks cope??

Sorry for the rambling I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to this!

Blackdog

It's great that you are looking around for the best rates however be really careful. Your ISA is currently tax free and you would lose the tax free status if you moved the money to the 123 account. If you want to retain the ISA tax free status but get a better rate of interest then you need to apply for the new ISA account telling them that you want to TRANSFER the Nat West ISA. The new ISA will then arrange the transfer thereby keeping your tax free status.
You can search for a new top paying cash ISA, for instance Post Office is 1.8% (but this includes a bonus for 18 months) and they accept transfers. Not all banks accept transfers. Hope this helps.

xmillyx

Hi Blackdog, thanks for getting back to me! I currently don't meet the tax threshold (I'm a final year student). However next year I will be earning above the theshold (hopefully!!!) Does this make a difference?

evenasus

xmillyx wrote: »

How do people with multiple accounts with different banks cope??

I use Quicken. I couldn't manage without it.

As for all the passwords etc. I use KeePass portable, on a usb stick, which is a very secure free programme. http://keepass.info/download.html

Glen_Clark

Microsoft excel spreadsheet

Blackdog

xmillyx wrote: »

Hi Blackdog, thanks for getting back to me! I currently don't meet the tax threshold (I'm a final year student). However next year I will be earning above the theshold (hopefully!!!) Does this make a difference?

Good luck with your studies and hopefully you will be earning loads soon. As you already have the tax free protection I would try and preserve it if you can so when your circumstances change you are not losing 20% of your interest to HMRC. Of course if you were just looking for somewhere to park the money for a short period and a taxable account was paying much higher interest then you may be better off moving it to a non ISA account. None of us know exactly what is going to happen in the future that is why if it were me I would try and retain the tax free status. Of course you need to do your own research and make a decision on what will be best for you.

M0ney

I started using Gnucash the other day because I want to be like big brother with my finances but I don't think it's very good or user friendly. Anyway, just took a quick look at Quicken, looks OK I think I will give it a go.

Hominu

I use Moneydance 2010, all my bank accounts and investments in a single application. It's nice to see my net worth at a glance, as well as exactly should be in each account.

M0ney

I think the whole thing about having the ISA is over-rated, my ISA pays me 1%, OK it's not the best I could get 2.5% maybe 3% at a push but I have a regular saver with First Direct and they're paying me 8% gross when the account matures that's still over 6% after tax and they're letting me open another in January once the year has ended with the first one and the interest rate on it will be 6% gross again well over 4% after tax. So what's the point in an ISA? Especially for someone with ~£5k which is less than the annual deposit limit.

Old_Slaphead

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Microsoft excel spreadsheet

Ditto

Kept on memory stick with another as backup.

Also seperate passwood files on sticks (with password to password file stored in my head)

Blackdog

M0ney wrote: »

I think the whole thing about having the ISA is over-rated, my ISA pays me 1%, OK it's not the best I could get 2.5% maybe 3% at a push but I have a regular saver with First Direct and they're paying me 8% gross when the account matures that's still over 6% after tax and they're letting me open another in January once the year has ended with the first one and the interest rate on it will be 6% gross again well over 4% after tax. So what's the point in an ISA? Especially for someone with ~£5k which is less than the annual deposit limit.

Good point especially if you know you are going to spend the money in the short term.