Nationwide FlexDirect coming to an end....

scottishgirl87

So my 5% interest rate with my Nationwide FlexDirect account comes to an end next month and I'm a bit stumped as to where to move my money I have around £3500 in the account, however, I might need to access this money from February onwards so locking it in an ISA won't really work for me. I like the ease of the FlexDirect as I have no direct debits setup on it and simply transfer £1000 in and straight back out again every month from my "main" bank account which is a BOS Vantage account.

Can anyone suggest where I should move my money to?

Hazzanet

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts?_ga=1.56827117.659503632.1398317524#lloyds

grumbler

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

... I have around £3500 in the account, however, I might need to access this money from February onwards so locking it in an ISA won't really work for me.

Why - if the annual limit is £15K?
That said, you are unlikely to get a good interest on any ISA now.

Can anyone suggest where I should move my money to?

Switch the account for £100-£150 switching bonus.
Yorkshire / Clydesdale
Coop
Halifax
FD

For the money and the interest see
Lloyd Club
TSB Classic Plus

• Best Bank Accounts

Archi_Bald

grumbler wrote: »

Lloyd Club

A Club Lloyds is not a good choice if the total is £3,500 as it pays a mere 2% on that amount. A combination of TSB Plus and Tesco current account would make more sense for this sort of money.

OP, why do you have £3,500 in the FlexDirect when it doesn't pay interest on anything above £2,500?

scottishgirl87

Archi_Bald wrote: »

A Club Lloyds is not a good choice if the total is £3,500 as it pays a mere 2% on that amount. A combination of TSB Plus and Tesco current account would make more sense for this sort of money.

OP, why do you have £3,500 in the FlexDirect when it doesn't pay interest on anything above £2,500?

I didn't expect to have more than £2500 in it originally but ended up with a bit of money a couple of months ago.

There doesn't seem to be any decent option as I would prefer not to have to setup direct debits.

colsten

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

I didn't expect to have more than £2500 in it originally but ended up with a bit of money a couple of months ago.

You could very easily get 5% AER on that extra money

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

There doesn't seem to be any decent option as I would prefer not to have to setup direct debits.

You are accepting 0% interest on 35% of your money right now - how is that decent? Neither the TSB Plus nor the Tesco that Archi Bald mentioned require DDs, and they pay 3-5 times more interest than you get now for your extra £1,000.

Aside from that, small DDs are incredibly easy to set up - use Tesco Savings or Paypal and it all stays in the family....but that's just a by-the-by as there are plenty of options for you that do not require any DDs.

colsten

Suggested action list:

1. open TSB Plus now
   
   
2. Transfer some £2,400 into it from the FlexDirect as soon as you have online access to it (leaving some space for monthly interest)
   
   
3. open a Tesco current account
   
   
4. when you have online access to the Tesco account, transfer (FP) £750 from your TSB Plus to your Tesco current, to avoid monthly charge. FP the same amount straight back. Do this once a month, either by FP or by SO
   
   
5. once the FlexDirect has reached it's first birthday
   
   
   1. transfer all but a tenner of your remaining balance to your Tesco current account. Don't forget to stop your £1,000 going into the FlexDirect each month.
      
      
   2. use the FlexDirect and its remaining balance as your donor account to start collecting switch bonuses, as suggested by grumbler
   
   
6. a year after your FlexDirect has been switched, check whether Nationwide are still offering 5% on new FlexDirects.....you might be able to make use of it again.

System

Colsten's suggestions are good.

Another option is Clydesdale Bank with 2% up to 3k and £150 switching bonus - using the FlexDirect as a donor account.

The £150 would make up a good chunk of the difference between the 5% interest plus being upfront - should the OP use the funds early next year then the % equivalent is even higher.

Failing that, I would tend to stick to a new TSB plus account and topping up the existing BOS one; rather than opening a new Tesco one as 3% on the 1.5k won't be a massive amount.