Maximise savings in 4 months

edp33

Posted in current accounts forum but it is savings related so hope Some savers can share experience here

I am a 40% tax payer and my wife works just 8 hours a week on min payment so is under the basic tax threshold

We have a £3k credit card bill on 0% interest until September 2014 and have £3k saved in the coop current account usually I would clear debts before savings but as I am on 0% I would like to maximise savings before paying it off in September

I have a coop account for my income and bills, wife has a Barclays account for her bills and a hsbc joint account for leftovers after bills shopping etc


Hence is the following the best way of saving until then

Switch from wife's Barclays current account to halifax in wife's name only and transfer £750 a month from my account to halifax to meet criteria.
Profit: £100 for switching and £5 a month, may to August=£20
Total =£120

Open first direct account in my name, transfer direct debits from existing hsbc joint account or coop current account
Requires £1000 transfer a month
Profit =£100 for switching and £100 if leave in 6 months

Open santander 123 account transfer coop current account direct debits
Cashback on mortgage, broadband etc
£2 a month but expect to get at least £15 cashback a month

Total until sept = £120+£100+£13 = £233

Income after tax is £3725 so meets criteria for transfers of each amount to the accounts

This beats cash isas etc in interest before then, do you see any issues or better approaches?

jimjames

Sounds like a good plan.

Only thing I'd add which will give you a bit bigger return is to put £3000 in the best paying current account which will give you another 5%. Nationwide is 5% up to £2500 so you may not want the hassle of another account beyond that for the last £500.

edp33

Thanks, over 3 months using Nationwide amounts to an extra £9 by my calculation