What is the Highest Interest Rate / Cashback / Rewards You Can Get?

enthusiasticsaver

adindas wrote: »

About a year ago I tried to open BoS Classic Account, got declined. I did an appeal still got declined. I did request any O/D facility.

I already have a few bank accounts with TSB and Lloyds, some with an overdraft facility. I do not have a bad credit history. This is confirmed by the ability to Re-mortgage, get good deal for 0% BT deal and/or purchase credit card.

I am trying to reapply again this year to get access for 3% Interest as a stoozing pot. But I will try to find out how I could improve my chance to get accepted this time.

Any though, suggestion will be very much appreciated ......

Thanks

I am not sure what is going on with BOS applications. I got offered one BOS classic just after Christmas and filled it with £5k and applied for a further one the following week which was declined. I have many accounts and there is nothing adverse on my file. Someone on this forum said try applying by phone instead as the online application scoring is declining a lot of applications.

gardenlil

Hi, new poster here. I am reading with interest all the posts about maximising interest and think I will need to open a few! Don't know if its a stupid question or not but any tips/dos and donts on opening several accounts with same bank (e.g. BoS or Tesco)? Can I literally just fill in two application forms one after another and send in or do I need to space them or anything?
Thanks

planteria

i use Amex, but in fairness my version of the Cashback card pays up to 1.5%, which is no longer available.
the HHonors card rewards equate to 1.8%, apparently.. but that obviously depends upon you wanting to use Hilton Hotels.

steveyt_2

Eco_Miser wrote: »

NO! The Santander 123 is the worst account (of those listed) for saving. You need £3000 to earn the highest rate, which is only 3% (5% available at TSB and Nationwide), and then there's the £60 pa fee. Open a Nationwide FlexDirect current account, and Nationwide Flexclusive Regular Saver account. Pay £1000 to the current account, return £200 to your Halifax account, move £500 by SO to the regular saver, leaving £300. Repeat for a year, additionally moving the excess to say a TSB account once there is £2500 in the FlexDirect. Review your options prior to the FlexDirect rate dropping. You get 5% on all these savings.

Martin Lewis says in his show the other week that if you have £20,000 to save then this is still the account for you if you do not want multiple accounts to open up.... CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG HERE PLEASE as i do have a lump sum of £20k to save but do not want to juggle up my direct debits and pay fees on multiple accounts

Sam_J12

steveyt wrote: »

Martin Lewis says in his show the other week that if you have £20,000 to save then this is still the account for you if you do not want multiple accounts to open up.... CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG HERE PLEASE as i do have a lump sum of £20k to save but do not want to juggle up my direct debits and pay fees on multiple accounts

If all you want is one account and you have £20k then Santander123 is a fine choice, especially if you can generate a decent amount of cashback too. You could make significantly more on the £20k with the other accounts listed though - a dedicated person with £10k could probably generate a similar return to your £20k using various current accounts and regular savings.

steveyt_2

appreciate that Sam J12......need to get the pen and paper out to start working on the "robbing Peter to Pay Paul" bit.

I just get confused as to if the fees are not hampering your saving rates etc and yes there's plenty of interest to be had but you also need to be on the the ball with your direct debits and make sure you transfer money out of certain accounts as soon as they go over a certain amount otherwise you get 0%.

Would you advise putting all of £20k in the Santander to create a "blank canvas" so to speak and then start moving the money around ?

I have a TSB Gold account now(£13 per month) that i will also be moving to the Nationwide Flex as the 'perks' are better and its cheaper

YorkshireBoy

steveyt wrote: »

...you also need to be on the the ball...and make sure you transfer money out of certain accounts as soon as they go over a certain amount otherwise you get 0%.

You may have misunderstood the T&Cs. You don't lose your interest on the max interest earning balance...it's just that you don't earn any interest on the (presumably small) amount over the max interest earning balance, eg...

£5K in Club Lloyds gets you c£20 gross interest per month.

£5,500 in the same account gets you the same c£20 interest.

Even if you'd £40K in the account you'd still get the same c£20 gross each month.

steveyt_2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You may have misunderstood the T&Cs. You don't lose your interest on the max interest earning balance...it's just that you don't earn any interest on the (presumably small) amount over the max interest earning balance, eg...

£5K in Club Lloyds gets you c£20 gross interest per month.

£5,500 in the same account gets you the same c£20 interest.

Even if you'd £40K in the account you'd still get the same c£20 gross each month.

Thats what I said but perhaps was not clear enough.....if you have too much in an account (i.e over the qualifying amounts the interest is paid on) then you need to get it out as soon as possible or your not earning any extra on your savings for the extra money thats in that account.

This is where moving your money around is the key to maximise your savings but when most accounts need different amounts paid in per month to qualify (plus they have fees and Direct Debits to be done to qualify too) then its hard to keep track on it unless you do it regularly and I may not get the time :-(

Thanks for your help as this is easy if you know what your doing lol

YorkshireBoy

steveyt wrote: »

if you have too much in an account (i.e over the qualifying amounts the interest is paid on) then you need to get it out as soon as possible or your not earning any extra on your savings for the extra money thats in that account.

It's not the end of the world though! For example, for having £50 in a 5% account not earning interest, and where the alternative is to sweep it out to a 3% account, the 'loss' is only £0.004 per day!...around 12p for the month, less any tax!

Even if you 'accidentally' left £500 in there the figures are 4p and £1.22 respectively.

Like I said, it's not the end of the world.

eskbanker

steveyt wrote: »

do not want to juggle up my direct debits and pay fees on multiple accounts

steveyt wrote: »

I just get confused as to if the fees are not hampering your saving rates etc

steveyt wrote: »

This is where moving your money around is the key to maximise your savings but when most accounts need different amounts paid in per month to qualify (plus they have fees and Direct Debits to be done to qualify too) then its hard to keep track on it unless you do it regularly and I may not get the time

Not sure if I'm missing what you're referring to here, but assuming it's not overdraft charges and the like and that you're talking about the mainstream interest-paying accounts that this thread is about (rather than packaged accounts, etc), then they don't charge fees, except for the Santander 123.