£70k, please help me spread across banks wisely

greengibbon

I've saved approx £70,000 which I intend to put as a deposit on my first property during 2015.

However in the meantime, I was looking for advice on how to maximise interest and benefits on this amount. I would need relatively easy access, as I will withdraw this for a deposit at some stage this year.

Currently I have £30k in a low interest ISA, which can be switched or withdrawn. The additional £40k is in my Santander 123 current account, which I'm aware is not gaining interest over £20k.

Of the current available bank account offers, how should I best spread this £70k to maximise interest?

Many thanks in advance, and best regards.

xylophone

If you can get a better rate on the ISA move it.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cash-isa-transfers

The extra £20,000 in the Santander could be spread between TSB Classic Plus, Club Lloyds, BOS (x3 if you wish) and a Nationwide Flexdirect.

The Lloyds will require 2 DDs.

Check the funding requirements - remember that the Nationwide requires external funding. The three BOS can be internally funded by setting up SOs from each to other for the same day.

enthusiasticsaver

If you have a partner you can have 2 Santander 123 accounts to get 3% gross on up to £40k. I joint and 1 sole one.

colsten

£50.5K max in sole current accounts at 3,4 and 5%. £130K max if 2 people max sole and joint accounts together.

Additional opportunity in Regular Savings accounts at 4 and 6% (and plenty more at lower %age)

greengibbon

xylophone wrote: »

If you can get a better rate on the ISA move it.

Looking at the current ISA offering, I think it makes more sense to pull all this money out of ISAs and put in current accounts. What do you think?

Eg, only 1.5% for easy access ISA, vs up to 5% on a current account. I would lose the tax savings of my historically gained ISAs, but I think this would be outweighed by the extra interest?

greengibbon

colsten wrote: »

£50.5K max in sole current accounts at 3,4 and 5%. £130K max if 2 people max sole and joint accounts together.

Additional opportunity in Regular Savings accounts at 4 and 6% (and plenty more at lower %age)

Hey, thanks for that - what order of accounts would you prioritise for?

I can get my partner to apply for a joint account with me where required.

YorkshireBoy

greengibbon wrote: »

what order of accounts would you prioritise for?

Serious question?...If absolute return is the aim, then start with the 5% ones...then the 4% ones...then the 3% ones.

YorkshireBoy

greengibbon wrote: »

I can get my partner to apply for a joint account with me where required.

Why don't you have a joint Santander account already? Sounds like you're just a few months away from a joint mortgage application? Then way, you wouldn't have £20K making zilch in Santander.

greengibbon

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Serious question?...If absolute return is the aim, then start with the 5% ones...then the 4% ones...then the 3% ones.

Excellent point.

jonesMUFCforever

One other thing to think about is how to get it back cheaply to your original account to pay the solicitor the deposit when required.
You cannot do a faster payment from a savings account so in that instance you would need to open a current account as well or pay a CHAPS or bank cheque fee.

Zanderman

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

One other thing to think about is how to get it back cheaply to your original account to pay the solicitor the deposit when required.
You cannot do a faster payment from a savings account so in that instance you would need to open a current account as well or pay a CHAPS or bank cheque fee.

The accounts which pay 5%, 4% and 3% are current accounts. So if the 70K is re-distributed amongst those there'd be no problem with faster payments. Savings accounts generally have rubbish rates at present so there's little incentive to put cash in those - those are best avoided for that reason alone!