MSE News: Rates are pants - 10 tricks to boost your savings interest

colsten

Herbalus wrote: »

Having said that on MSE's consumer focus, they always neglect to say that topcashback/quidco give ~£100+ on broadband etc deals on top of their featured offer. But then MSE don't get (presumably) lucrative referrals there.

Quidco and TCB are effectively direct competitors to MSE / Moneysupermarket, so you wouldn't expect that they would promote their offers. It's is not Quidco/TCB who offer the referral deals, it's the banks and retailers.

enthusiasticsaver

The best way of getting the best interest is to keep checking regularly the rate you are getting as banks chop and change constantly.


I have been slated many times on MSE for opting for a simpler life and only having 2 Santander 123 accounts with £20k in one paying gross in my name as I earn less than £15k and the other in joint names with my husband which is our main current account and usually holds between £16-£21k over the month. The rest of our money is in fixed rate cash isas (still better for my OH as he is a HR taxpayer), index linked national savings certificates (not sure it is worth keeping those any more in these days of deflation) and stocks and shares.


I have read some threads recently about people who have been asked to close down current accounts by their banks (LLoyds in particular) so I wonder if the gravy train of opening multiple current accounts and constant switching of money between them to fulfil pay in conditions is coming to a close. I fully accept people feel it is worthwhile to do that but I still wonder how much it damages ones credit record to have so many accounts around.

colsten

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I fully accept people feel it is worthwhile to do that but I still wonder how much it damages ones credit record to have so many accounts around.

I have many, many more current accounts than you do, and I can assure you and everyone else that holding them does not adversely impact your credit worthiness (as long as you don't have defaults on them, obviously). I regularly get guaranteed credit card and loan offers, and I have at times even taken up the odd credit card offer.

Applying for current accounts might temporarily slightly decrease your credit worthiness as this shows as a search.

It is also worth remembering that credit worthiness is completely irrelevant if you are not looking for credit.

TheTracker

I replaced two credit cards recently with different banks (RIP CapitalOne cashback). Despite having something like 20 open accounts and many more than that opened and closed in the last two years I was approved for them instantly online with 10k limits. And that as a "self employed" person. So no problem at all and a myth IMO that the number of current accounts matters. Oh I also remortgaged in a single call.

droopsnoot

Herbalus wrote: »

I told a chap exactly how simple it is to average above 4% on £50k+, and he still said it was too much effort.

Is that using joint accounts, or is it possible to get that as an individual? Point me to the post if you'd rather do that than write it out again, I did have a quick search on your posts but couldn't see it (unless it was in real life rather than on here of course). I'm struggling to motivate myself to do this and it's largely because of the relatively small amounts I can get the rates on.

moneyfoolish

colsten wrote: »

Applying for current accounts might temporarily slightly decrease your credit worthiness as this shows as a search.

I have literally dozens of searches against me every year because I use 3 comparison sites multiple times for house and car insurance for myself and 2 daughters. Every time I compare, it seems as though each company does a search. However, I have never ever been refused a bank account or a credit card as I have never had a debt in my life other than my mortgage before it was paid off.

YorkshireBoy

moneyfoolish wrote: »

I have literally dozens of searches against me every year because I use 3 comparison sites multiple times for house and car insurance for myself and 2 daughters. Every time I compare, it seems as though each company does a search. However, I have never ever been refused a bank account or a credit card as I have never had a debt in my life other than my mortgage before it was paid off.

Have you ever heard the term 'unrecorded enquiry'? Or 'ID enquiry'? Or 'soft search'? Because that's what all those searches are. As they're not seen by anyone but yourself, the CRA, and the organisation making the search, it's understandable that they have had zero impact.

moneyfoolish

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Have you ever heard the term 'unrecorded enquiry'? Or 'ID enquiry'? Or 'soft search'? Because that's what all those searches are. As they're not seen by anyone but yourself, the CRA, and the organisation making the search, it's understandable that they have had zero impact.

Obviously, I haven't!

Eco_Miser

moneyfoolish wrote: »

I have never had a debt in my life other than my mortgage before it was paid off.

Never had a gas or electric account NOT on a prepay meter? Never had a contract or landline phone? Never had a credit card?