Another "Am I doing this right" post

Crag30

Like Arcan I too have been reading all the advice on this site, but only saving £500 a month at present, and if all goes well I may be able to up that figure at a later date.

So, I have my wages paid into Natwest, and have done so since my wages were paid into a bank over 20 years ago, and I'm happy with that for the time being.

I have opened a TSB Classic Plus account and have £500 going into it via a Standing Order from Natwest. I also added £900 into the TSB from Natwest to get up to nearing the max, for when the next Standing Order goes in.
I then opened a TSB Monthly Saver, with £250 a month going in from the TSB Classic Plus via a Standing Order.

I am now planning to open a M&S Current Account and plan to set up a Standing Order for £250, also from the TSB Classic.
Then next month I will set up a M&S Monthly Saver to be fed from the M&S current account via Standing Order.

I would like to have all the Standing Orders on the same day, which would work in theory, but does it work practically?

Whilst the TSB and M&S Monthly Savers are filling up, it would give me chance then to read some more on the forum to where I go next, but was wondering how I'm doing so far before I go any further

masonic

If you are not planning to keep at least £250 in your M&S current account, then it is risky to have the SOs firing off on the same day because different banks may process payments differently when they fall on weekends.

badger09

I agree with masonic

I keep minimal balance on my M&S current account so fund by SO set for 6th, with Monthly Saver SO set for 9th

Likewise FD current account funded by SO set for 1st, and Regular Saver set for 4th.

polymaff

Crag30 wrote: »

but was wondering how I'm doing so far before I go any further

OK - but you might want to consider the diy option. I find that I can get through about 20 online transactions per hour - and reckon that the time taken to do all of the transfers in one go is well invested, as it eliminates all of the concerns you seem to have.

Crag30

masonic wrote: »

If you are not planning to keep at least £250 in your M&S current account, then it is risky to have the SOs firing off on the same day because different banks may process payments differently when they fall on weekends.

Thanks for the replies.
I was thinking along those lines, hence I was going to leave it a month before opening the M&S Monthly Saver. I could actually drop £250 in there now from the Natwest account, to get things up and running

How I wished I found these forums years ago. I've learnt a lot, but still so much more to learn

polymaff wrote: »

OK - but you might want to consider the diy option. I find that I can get through about 20 online transactions per hour - and reckon that the time taken to do all of the transfers in one go is well invested, as it eliminates all of the concerns you seem to have.

I would have prefered to do it all manually, but I have a Dad with Alzheimer's, and there are times when I have to give him all my attention, so thought if I could automate it all, it would save me missing making payments

YorkshireBoy

Crag30 wrote: »

...I was going to leave it a month before opening the M&S Monthly Saver. I could actually drop £250 in there now from the Natwest account, to get things up and running

I don't know what M&S do with the internal SOs to their monthly saver, ie if the date falls on a weekend do they wait until the next working day? If they do wait until the next working day a £250 overdraft facility on the current account might be a good safeguard.

Archi_Bald

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I don't know what M&S do with the internal SOs to their monthly saver, ie if the date falls on a weekend do they wait until the next working day?

Last time my M&S SO date fell on a weekend, they only processed it on the next working day. That's not to say that they will always do it like that in the future.

Archi_Bald

polymaff wrote: »

OK - but you might want to consider the diy option. I find that I can get through about 20 online transactions per hour - and reckon that the time taken to do all of the transfers in one go is well invested, as it eliminates all of the concerns you seem to have.

Certain transactions must be made by SO, e.g. deposits into some Regular Savings accounts.

Crag30

Thanks everybody. Sorry but I'm a novice at this.

So as long as I have a £250 float in the current account when the next deposit into there is due, I shouldn't find myself overdrawn ?

I've just applied for the current account and will get £250 into it direct from Natwest if accepted. And then I can set up a Standing Order into the M&S monthly saver for the end of the month when the money goes in the current account from TSB. Leaving still £250 in the M&S current account once the SO to the monthly saver has gone through.

Archi_Bald

Crag30 wrote: »

So as long as I have a £250 float in the current account when the next deposit into there is due, I shouldn't find myself overdrawn ?

correct but there is no need to have £250 linger in there all year round. Just make sure you have £250 in the account 3 or 4 calendar days before your SO is due.

kidmugsy

masonic wrote: »

If you are not planning to keep at least £250 in your M&S current account, then it is risky to have the SOs firing off on the same day because different banks may process payments differently when they fall on weekends.

The solution to that is dead easy: use weekly SOs that go out on a Wednesday. The last time I made this suggestion it served as a revealing IQ test, because some dimwits couldn't see the advantage.