Best strategy for shuffling between Nationwide savings accounts?

itm2

I have £10k in a Nationwide Regular Saver, which pays 2.5% as long as I increase the balance by at least £500 every month. I also have about £9k in a Nationwide Loyalty Saver account, which pays 1.6% gross (with no strings). I want to work out the best way to maximise the interest from both accounts, using the current fund base of £19k which is currently spread between the two.

I figure that I should drip feed £500 per month from the Loyalty Saver to the Regular Saver account, but what should I do when the Loyalty Saver account is empty? Should I then transfer the whole balance from the Regular Saver account back to the Loyalty Saver and start the whole process again?

Is there anyone in a similar situation who has worked out the optimal way of shuffling funds between the accounts to maximise the overall interest?

jimjames

The Nationwide Flexdirect pays 5% so that may be worth looking at too.

I've just setup standing orders to and from my other bank account for them.

F1F93

jimjames wrote: »

The Nationwide Flexdirect pays 5% so that may be worth looking at too.

I've just setup standing orders to and from my other bank account for them.

First direct also do a regular saver at 6%. So what I'd do is:

Set up Nationwide FlexDirect and, when its available, the new TSB 5% account.
Look at another high interest current account for the rest (e.g Santander 123).
Dripfeed from the lowest interest account into the first direct.
I'd ditch both of those accounts tbh, as the interest rates of current accounts beat even your regular saver.

innovate

You can put a full £1,000 into the nationwide regular saver each month.

innovate

F1F93 wrote: »

I'd ditch both of those accounts tbh,

Don't ditch them, just run them down to a minimum holding whilst better offers are available elsewhere. They might come in useful at some stage, always good to have a fallback. I hold both of these accounts, alongside 123s and other good current accounts, as well as reg savers at HSBC, KRBS and a few others.

itm2

The premium rate current accounts aren't a good option for me as I'm retired and have less that £1k per month going into my Flex account at the moment. The £10/month charge for FlexPlus would also negate the benefit of the 5% interest rate.

Are there any good options that don't require me to set up a new fee-paying current account and put £1k per month into it?

innovate

itm2 wrote: »

The premium rate current accounts aren't a good option for me as I'm retired and have less that £1k per month going into my Flex account at the moment. The £10/month charge for FlexPlus would also negate the benefit of the 5% interest rate.

Are there any good options that don't require me to set up a new fee-paying current account and put £1k per month into it?

You do not have to deposit the £1k in one go. Think about it, it is easy enough to achieve if you want to participate.

You are also confusing FlexPlus and FlexDirect. FlexPlus cost £10/mth and pays 3% AER. FlexDirect costs nothing and pays 5% AER for 12 months on up to £2.5K provided £1K gets paid in each month.

You can't currently do any better than the FlexDirect for 5% AER. from March 30, there will also be the TSB Plus. search the forum for more on the latter.

itm2

innovate wrote: »

You do not have to deposit the £1k in one go. Think about it, it is easy enough to achieve if you want to participate.

You are also confusing FlexPlus and FlexDirect. FlexPlus cost £10/mth and pays 3% AER. FlexDirect costs nothing and pays 5% AER for 12 months on up to £2.5K provided £1K gets paid in each month.

You can't currently do any better than the FlexDirect for 5% AER. from March 30, there will also be the TSB Plus. search the forum for more on the latter.

Sorry yes I was indeed confusing it with FlexPlus. It seems that the 5% only applies to the first £2.5k in a FlexDirect account (zero interest on anything over £2.5k), so I'd need to find another option for the remaining £16.5k, and I'd also lose my free Flex European travel cover, which would be a shame

So perhaps I could set up a First Direct 1st Account, which would give me eligibility for their 6% regular saver, then drip feed £1k per month into it, via the Nationwide FlexDirect account, from my other savings accounts. Presumably First Direct wouldn't insist on me transferring my direct debits and standing orders to them??

innovate

You do not need to give up your FlexAccount with its travel insurance. Just keep it and add other accounts to you portfolio, such as FlexPlus and TSB Plus when it becomes available.

For the First Direct, you do not need to deposit £1K a month to escape the monthly account fee.Just having a normal savings account with them waives the fee. Tons and tons of posts on this already.

There are a few other things you should look at, such as the Halifax Reward for monthly fivers, and getting decent interest on the money you have should be no issue whatsoever.

Have a roam through the forum to soak up the fantastic ideas that are being bandied about here. Great past-time for retirees.

itm2

innovate wrote: »

You do not need to give up your FlexAccount with its travel insurance. Just keep it and add other accounts to you portfolio, such as FlexPlus and TSB Plus when it becomes available.

One potential issue is that the £750 that I need to put into my Flex account every month to qualify for the travel insurance CANNOT be an internal transfer. So presumably I'd need to ping-pong funds between Nationwide and another bank just to give the illusion that the income is hitting my account from an external source every month. Is that what people generally do to take advantage of these accounts?

bigadaj

itm2 wrote: »

One potential issue is that the £750 that I need to put into my Flex account every month to qualify for the travel insurance CANNOT be an internal transfer. So presumably I'd need to ping-pong funds between Nationwide and another bank just to give the illusion that the income is hitting my account from an external source every month. Is that what people generally do to take advantage of these accounts?

Yes, I've got standing orders set up. Your money just does a little circular trip once a month.