Regular savers

Archi_Bald

robotrobo wrote: »

can you open regular savers without opening a current account ?, if so can you name a few please,

Some you can. The good ones are included in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/6932895#Comment_6932895 plus there are a whole lot of Building Society ones that pay next to no interest.

veryintrigued

16 - including 4 individual ones with one institution.
17 - if you include an ISA Regular Saver

Eco_Miser

ChesterDog wrote: »

These days, "good enough" has taken over from ruthless efficiency.

It has for me too, but I still have 2 RSs, since I already have the qualifying current accounts.

planteria

Cash Regular Savers: 3: HSBC, TSB and Lloyds. might open M&S too.

bobobski

Question: do you open regular savers only when you can max them out every month, or when you're saving (say) £25 per month over the max of all your existing regular savers?

HappyMJ

bobobski wrote: »

Question: do you open regular savers only when you can max them out every month, or when you're saving (say) £25 per month over the max of all your existing regular savers?

I don't think it worth the effort if you are only putting £25 a month into one. You can get 5% interest in a current account (TSB) with little effort and 6% in a regular savings account (HSBC, First direct and M&S) with a bit more effort so it's really only 1% more interest. On £25 that's only an extra 2 pennies a month if the £25 is held for one year.

I only ever put the maximum amount into the regular savings accounts. I use my existing savings that are earning 3% to make the payments so for every £1,000 that is held in a regular savings account at 6% I am getting an extra £2.50 per month than I would have got had the £1,000 been left in the Santander. I've maxed out all the 4% and 5% accounts.

bobobski

Thanks, that's helpful. I guess my best next move is waiting until pay rises are announced around April, rather than opening an additional RS now and putting in less than the max.

The £25 wasn't explained: I could probably put £100 in, but chose to use £25 as it's usually the min amount per month and there may be months I can put in more than, but also months I can't put as much as, £100.

I currently have FD 6% RS and TSB 5% current account. I will open the TSB RS and the Nationwide FlexDirect current account in Feb when my FD RS matures and re-open that one too. Then wait until pay rise time before opening the Nationwide RS.

For anyone who remembers my dilemma re HTB ISA, I've decided against it. There's just no point in my town.

bravotango

colsten wrote: »

Even credit searches for any pre-requisite current account will not make any substantial difference to your financial standing, particularly if you do not request any overdraft facility. If you aren't looking for a loan or mortgage in the next 6-12 months, current account searches will have no adverse impact on anything at all.

For me, yes, I'm looking (if I can find somewhere) to apply for a mortgage in about 6-9 months (:)), thus I don't want to "rock the boat" with any unnecessary credit searches.

HappyMJ

bravotango wrote: »

For me, yes, I'm looking (if I can find somewhere) to apply for a mortgage in about 6-9 months (:)), thus I don't want to "rock the boat" with any unnecessary credit searches.

Opening current accounts only has a very short term affect on your credit...and it's so small I really wouldn't worry about it. I open new current accounts very regularly (2 per month - a donor account and the account offering the switching bonus) and I have several pages of them showing on my credit report and I still get loans and credit cards approved. I have outstanding balances on credit cards at 0% on purchases so I can use the cash that I would have spent on purchases to put into a regular saver account instead and earn money for nothing. If someone were to look at my main current account it just looks like I'm living off nothing and saving every penny which isn't really true.

Other potential creditors can't see the soft searches which is the identity checks to open an account without an overdraft. They can only see the hard searches which is the application for overdraft credit being approved. Simple solution is don't apply for overdrafts when opening accounts.

bravotango

HappyMJ wrote: »

Opening current accounts only has a very short term affect on your credit...and it's so small I really wouldn't worry about it. I open new current accounts very regularly (2 per month - a donor account and the account offering the switching bonus) and I have several pages of them showing on my credit report and I still get loans and credit cards approved. I have outstanding balances on credit cards at 0% on purchases so I can use the cash that I would have spent on purchases to put into a regular saver account instead and earn money for nothing. If someone were to look at my main current account it just looks like I'm living off nothing and saving every penny which isn't really true.

Other potential creditors can't see the soft searches which is the identity checks to open an account without an overdraft. They can only see the hard searches which is the application for overdraft credit being approved. Simple solution is don't apply for overdrafts when opening accounts.

Thanks for this.

Maybe I don't open enough current bank accounts, but whenever I have, it has always automatically given me an overdraft facility despite me never requesting one (luckily I've never had to use an overdraft ).

So are you saying that when I apply for a new current account (online or in branch or on the telephone) I have the option of not taking up an overdraft facility; at point of opening, and that will mean they only perform a soft search?

:beer: