17.5k, need a decent Interest rate

kiis102 · 21 May 2015 at 5:33PM

Hey guys,

I've got 17,500 in my Barclays current account at present that I'm wanting to put into an account that pays a good Interest rate.

I've had a look around and seen most ISA's are only offering 2% or below. I'm looking at Santander with their 3% (2.4% after tax) which seems my best bet.

I don't really want to leave Barclays as I've been with them for about 10% and have all sorts of stuff linked to my account. I don't have 2 direct debits going out a month at present (only virgin media). My wages of about 800 come into my Barclays account and would rather not hassle work to change where it's paid.

Can I just open a Santander account, transfer the 17.5k into it then pay £500 every month from my Barclays account into it? then take it back out?. I'm not sure how to get round the 2 direct debits as most of our bills are quarterly except the VM one I mentioned.

Ideally I don't want to put them into shares or anything where I may lose the cash.

YorkshireBoy · 21 May 2015 at 5:39PM

If you read the account T&Cs you'll see the requirement is to have 2 DDs set up, not paid out each month.

You'll also see the account simply requires a credit of £500 each month, ie there's no mention of mandating your salary to the account.

kiis102 · 21 May 2015 at 10:12PM

How do I set up 2 DD's without money going out? surely the point of a DD is to have money taken out every month?

YorkshireBoy · 21 May 2015 at 10:33PM

kiis102 wrote: »

surely the point of a DD is to have money taken out every month?

Is it? I have monthly DDs. Others have quarterly DDs. I even have a yearly DD for professional fees. One can even have 'on demand' DDs such as those you pull yourself to your savings account, stockbroker, etc.

But fundamentally, you've already got some bills that are paid quarterly*. Just use one of those.

* If you don't currently pay these by DD, change to DD.