Best Current Account interest rates for balance in excess of 100k?

anime_td

Hi,

As per the subject line, can anyone help please?

Neither myself nor my other half are savvy in these matters and after doing a bit of research, I must admit to feeling a bit baffled so I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone can help.

He's saving for a house and if the right house comes along he wants to have the ability to move instantly, access his money without the need of notice, hence the reason he's looking for a current account.

His present account isn't offering much of a return on his balance, indeed he's paying £8 per month for the privilege of banking with them, so he's looking to make the switch so that he can benefit from a competitive interest rate elsewhere.

Santander's 123 account looked interesting but the blurb says up to 20k.
What's the best way forward for someone in his circumstances please? Current account, or would he be better off going another route?
To further add, he's an IT contractor. So an account that doesn't penalise him for (potentially) not depositing every month would be useful, but just to add, he usually goes contract to contract and doesn't often find himself in between work but a safety net would likely be useful as a 'just in case'

Edited to add; we don't share finances yet so any solutions would need to take this into account. This is solely for him.
Further, if a savings account is the most sensible way forward then are there any out there that offer decent returns with instant access?
If this were you, how would you arrange things?

Tl;dr

Can anyone recommend the best solution/account for someone with an 130k balance, that wants to save for a house, that deposits earnings regularly, where he can see a return on his money whilst it sits quietly in the bank, please?

Thank you, in advance, for any advice offered

frazell

Santander 123 for you = 3% interest on 20k
Santander 123 for other half = 3% interest on 20k
Santander 123 joint account = 3% interest on 20k


That's 60k earning 3%, albeit you need 2 direct debits on each account and cycle money through each month.


The other 40k is harder as you will need multiple accounts with other banks but doable.

anime_td

frazell wrote: »

Santander 123 for you = 3% interest on 20k
Santander 123 for other half = 3% interest on 20k
Santander 123 joint account = 3% interest on 20k


That's 60k earning 3%, albeit you need 2 direct debits on each account and cycle money through each month.


The other 40k is harder as you will need multiple accounts with other banks but doable.

Hey!
Thanks for your reply. Just to say, we don't share finances so the joint account get out won't be viable.

LXdaddy

Take a look at http://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/ also look at
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5374614 and other threads in the Savings & Investments board.


If joint accounts are out for you then he can't have quite so much earning interest in current accounts. The first link suggests you can get £48K earning between 3% and 5%. It doesn't show the latest offering from Nation wide which will give you 5% on some more.


If you add in the regular savings accounts (but check T&C to make sure you can withdraw before the 12 months) then more can be earning its keep.


The other main home would be NS&I which will give something like 1.35%

[Deleted User]

anime_td wrote: »

Hi,

As per the subject line, can anyone help please?

Neither myself nor my other half are savvy in these matters and after doing a bit of research, I must admit to feeling a bit baffled so I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone can help.

He's saving for a house and if the right house comes along he wants to have the ability to move instantly, access his money without the need of notice, hence the reason he's looking for a current account.

His present account isn't offering much of a return on his balance, indeed he's paying £8 per month for the privilege of banking with them, so he's looking to make the switch so that he can benefit from a competitive interest rate elsewhere.

Santander's 123 account looked interesting but the blurb says up to 20k.
What's the best way forward for someone in his circumstances please? Current account, or would he be better off going another route?
To further add, he's an IT contractor. So an account that doesn't penalise him for (potentially) not depositing every month would be useful, but just to add, he usually goes contract to contract and doesn't often find himself in between work but a safety net would likely be useful as a 'just in case'

Edited to add; we don't share finances yet so any solutions would need to take this into account. This is solely for him.
Further, if a savings account is the most sensible way forward then are there any out there that offer decent returns with instant access?
If this were you, how would you arrange things?

Tl;dr

Can anyone recommend the best solution/account for someone with an 130k balance, that wants to save for a house, that deposits earnings regularly, where he can see a return on his money whilst it sits quietly in the bank, please?

Thank you, in advance, for any advice offered

I ve got 170k circulating around various accounts, of course the Santander 123 is the best but all the rest I ve been steadily losing to inflation since the big crunch.Savers are paying for the cheap mortgages. My advice is stop saving and get buying, savings are hopeless. We ve all been kicked in the kenackers by the Bank of England and I can t see any early end to it..

frazell

anime_td wrote: »

.....we don't share finances so the joint account get out won't be viable.

If you are each opening up 123 accounts for one party to "look after" the others £20k in savings, then I'm not sure what the issue is with opening up a joint account for the sole purpose of 3% interest? Same thing in my eyes.


Anyway, as posted by other members, its doable but need a good spreadsheet and a fair bit of patience to set up.

jimjames

anime_td wrote: »

Can anyone recommend the best solution/account for someone with an 130k balance, that wants to save for a house, that deposits earnings regularly, where he can see a return on his money whilst it sits quietly in the bank, please?

In your post you repeatedly refer to "an account" not plural.

If that is really what he wants then he will get a much lower rate than opening multiple accounts that have the best interest rates but obviously with less hassle.

realaledrinker

Also risking capital by depositing more than £75K with any one institution (FSCS)

anime_td

jimjames wrote: »

In your post you repeatedly refer to "an account" not plural.

If that is really what he wants then he will get a much lower rate than opening multiple accounts that have the best interest rates but obviously with less hassle.

Tbh it's less a case of "wants" and more a case of cluelessness.

Certainly from the responses made it's now clear that multiple accounts is the most viable solution. This wasn't an option he'd initially considered because, yes, he'd hoped for something where he could do a bulk deposit, then forget about it.



Thanks to all, for the help

xylophone

because, yes, he'd hoped for something where he could do a bulk deposit, then forget about it.

He could "bulk deposit" into NS&I and then forget about it - the monthly income from NS&I income bonds could be paid into a Tesco current account which he could also forget about for a couple of years or so assuming no change in interest rates....

bigfreddiel

frazell wrote: »

Santander 123 for you = 3% interest on 20k
Santander 123 for other half = 3% interest on 20k
Santander 123 joint account = 3% interest on 20k


That's 60k earning 3%, albeit you need 2 direct debits on each account and cycle money through each month.


The other 40k is harder as you will need multiple accounts with other banks but doable.

Remember the money cycled through each account must come from another bank, Tesco would be good as it pays 3% as well.

And you can both have two accounts taking care of another £12k

Cheers fj