Advice wanted to get the best out of my money

Mikeyjones100

Hello!

I have been saving up to pay off my student overdraft off and this Friday 26th is the big day!!!

I am looking to switch banks as I am currently with Lloyds Bank and do not believe it is the bank for me.

Doing a bit of research and based on my pay of £240 a week I have narrowed it down to Halifax or First Direct. Not just because the £100 switching fee (which is nice) but because of the other incentives such as Halifax reward account has a £5 p/m reward and First Direct will give you a savings account with a 6% interest rate.

However I am still undecided an open to any suggestions (even to other accounts)

I have also just opened a Virgin Money NISA account in preparation to continue saving.

Thanks in advance,

An eager wanna-be Money Saving Expert!
:money:

YorkshireBoy

Mikeyjones100 wrote: »

Doing a bit of research and based on my pay of £240 a week I have narrowed it down to Halifax or First Direct. Not just because the £100 switching fee (which is nice) but because of the other incentives such as Halifax reward account has a £5 p/m reward and First Direct will give you a savings account with a 6% interest rate.

Why not open both, and get both benefits? Simply open another Lloyds account and switch one to each of the above.

I have also just opened a Virgin Money NISA account in preparation to continue saving.

Why!? Bearing in mind you'll be getting 6% at FD (on up to £300 a month...a large proportion of your £1K income), what rate is the NISA paying?

Mikeyjones100

I didn't think that I would be able to do both? I also have a Barclays account that I do not use.

I was under the impression that you have to have so many direct debits for the switch to work and get the bonus/rewards out of them?

I went for the Virgin money as it was recommend on the site.

If you know of any better ones to go for i'm all ears!

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

Mikeyjones100 wrote: »

I was under the impression that you have to have so many direct debits for the switch to work and get the bonus/rewards out of them?

Neither require DDs for the £100 switching incentives. Halifax requires 2 DDs to pay out (plus other criteria) to receive the £5 monthly Reward. You can pay your income into either, and then transfer funds to the other. Do bear in mind that Halifax requires a £750 monthly credit, and FD requires a £1K monthly credit (until you get the £100...then you can have the £10 per month fee waived by opening a savings account with them).


Both accounts discussed at length on this board...search out the finer detail both here and on their respective websites.

If you know of any better ones to go for i'm all ears!

Going on your income you don't want a NISA at all...at the moment. Save in current accounts and/or the FD regular saver, and review the situation next March.

If the above sounds too complicated, maybe you should look at TSB Plus current accounts? A straight 5% AER interest, but no switching incentives.

Mikeyjones100

Ok, right. I think I get it. They don't make it out like that (but why would they I suppose!)

I didn't realize that FD wavered the fee if you opened the savings account.

So if I where to switch my Lloyds to FD and Barclays to Halifax pay my salary into FD transfer over £750 (which I can then put any savings into my FD savings account) to Halifax and any DD's with Halifax too, I will get a decent savings % with FD and £5 p/m with Halifax.

YorkshireBoy

That's pretty much it, yes.

Mikeyjones100

One last question, does the £1000 have to be in the form of salary or can i make up the difference with anything I have left over from savings. I know it sounds like an odd question but I really want to be making the most of my money and don't mind spending the time an making it grow

Thanks

PeacefulWaters

Mikeyjones100 wrote: »

One last question, does the £1000 have to be in the form of salary or can i make up the difference with anything I have left over from savings. I know it sounds like an odd question but I really want to be making the most of my money and don't mind spending the time an making it grow

Thanks

You can bounce the funding requirement around multiple accounts by Faster Payment each month. It can be the same money travelling round.