Banks and ISAs and Peer-to-Peer Lending

bigadaj

fridae wrote: »

Thanks to everybody who has contributed, even the unhelpful remarks of 'thrugelmir' (are you a banker?)

As regards Santander's 123 scheme and Nationwide's FlexPlus. I don't go with the idea of paying a bank anything, even with the 'cashback' deals. Why cashback anyhow, why not just reduce prices? Obviously an American import, designed just like credit (debt) cards to keep people spending.

But I've gone off on a tangent there. Thanks again for taking the time to help.

Principles will get you nowhere, particularly with banks, you either accept their offerings on the basis they are profitable or useful to you or decline them.

Any business is open to operate a business model as they wish, whether you want to transact on that basis is up to you but many on here do as they believe it is worthwhile and profitable. Of course the fact that anyone is profitably transacting with a bank means that to remain in business they are making that money from someone else, whether that be by account fees, credit cards, mortgages or even investment banking but that's the way the world works.

agent69

jimjames wrote: »

Maybe you need to read what was actually written

I'm just a normal single guy trying to get the best out of his savings, and from what I've read today I'm not a lot further forward.

jimjames - Can I suggest that you practice what you preach. Single man with 6 x TSB accounts, how does that work?

the tracker - you say that you are getting 3.7% on about £80k, but the £28k example you give only works out at 3.3% and £21k of the £28k is at 3% (so doesn't beat the 123 account)

archi bald - I don't see any firm figures.

I'm familiar with regular savers but if my spare cash is immediately available, having to wait 12 months to get fully invested is not ideal (and being fully un-invested in month 13 just puts you back to square one).

So back to the original issue. If I've got £20k in a 123 account can I move it somewhere else next week to achieve a significantly better return. I've already got £5k in Lloyds, so I guess the answer is that I might be able to get better for about £5k at TSB and Nationwide, but I'm struggling with the other £15k.

darkidoe

agent69 wrote: »

I'm just a normal single guy trying to get the best out of his savings, and from what I've read today I'm not a lot further forward.

I'm familiar with regular savers but if my spare cash is immediately available, having to wait 12 months to get fully invested is not ideal (and being fully un-invested in month 13 just puts you back to square one).

So back to the original issue. If I've got £20k in a 123 account can I move it somewhere else next week to achieve a significantly better return. I've already got £5k in Lloyds, so I guess the answer is that I might be able to get better for about £5k at TSB and Nationwide, but I'm struggling with the other £15k.

3x BOS Vantage (£5000 each) at 3%. No account charge. Santander's account fee will be £5 monthly from Janunary costing you £60/ year in interest. Then start feeding regular savers (6,5,4%) as mentioned above from the BOS Vantage accounts. If you start using the all the mainstream regular savers, you would be saving £1950 each month at a rate of 4%++, again more than the 3% from the Santander.

Is it significantly better? I would say so, saving the £60 and earning 1-2% more on a portion of the savings.

Is it worth the trouble? Well, that's for everyone to decide for themselves but most MSErs are eagle eyed, hard working squirrels looking for the best possible place and way to hide their stash, no effort spared!

jimjames

£6k at tesco, true 3% unlike the 123 with fees. 5% with tsb and nationwide.
I've got £10k at 5% but that's because I took out accounts when you could do 2 TSB accounts.

AlanP_2

agent69 wrote: »

I'm familiar with regular savers but if my spare cash is immediately available, having to wait 12 months to get fully invested is not ideal (and being fully un-invested in month 13 just puts you back to square one).

Not trying to be condescending to you but to make it clear to others who may read this thread.

Don't ignore the fact that amount NOT in the RS account(s) would be earning interest at say 3% so the return would be:

(12 * monthly deposit) * AER / 12 * 6.5 plus (12 x monthly deposit) x AER / 12 * 5.5

So start with £6k in a 3% account(s) and move it across to a 5% RS @ £500 pm over 12 months you get

(12 * 500) * 5% / 12 * 6.5 = £162.50

(12 * 500) * 3% / 12 * 5.5 = £82.50

Overall = £245 = 4.08%

agent69

darkidoe wrote: »

3x BOS Vantage (£5000 each) at 3%. No account charge. Santander's account fee will be £5 monthly from Janunary costing you £60/ year in interest. Then start feeding regular savers (6,5,4%) as mentioned above from the BOS Vantage accounts. If you start using the all the mainstream regular savers, you would be saving £1950 each month at a rate of 4%++, again more than the 3% from the Santander.

Is it significantly better? I would say so, saving the £60 and earning 1-2% more on a portion of the savings.

Is it worth the trouble? Well, that's for everyone to decide for themselves but most MSErs are eagle eyed, hard working squirrels looking for the best possible place and way to hide their stash, no effort spared!

I pay enough bills via the 123 to more than cover the fee with cashback, and being able to put £20k in one place is convenient to say the least.

However, I need somewhere else to put future funds so have opened a Lloyds monthly saver at 4%. The alternative is to put it all into AC's QAA where you can earn 3.75% on £50k.