Current account

Janjo

I would like to change my current account to an interest account. I have no direct debits, money is paid in regularly. Is there an account out there?

unimaginative_user_name

TSB doesn't have any dd requirements and will pay you 5% on balances up to £2000. You have to go paperless though and pay in £500 a month. You can also get 5% cashback on up to £100 of contactless payments and they have a 5% regular saver that you can pay £250 into every month for a year if you find that a £2000 balance is not enough for you.

Tesco have a current account which only pays 3% on balances up to £3000 and has no minimum monthly payment or dd requirement. They also have a savings account that can take direct debits so you could use this to set up a couple of direct debits and open a Club Lloyds which pays 4% on balances between £4000 and £5000. You need to pay in £1500 a month or else there is a £5 a month fee. Again, like the TSB, there is a monthly saver account which you can open if you have a Club Lloyds which pays 4%. You can pay in up to £400 a month into this.

These are just three examples. It all depends on how much of your current account balance is surplus to your living expenses. Personally I have chosen to leave my HSBC as my main current account as it has given my husband and me access to 6% regular savers and there was an ISA product last year that paid a £10 bonus each month for an initial deposit of £300. That doesn't stop me having other current accounts which are effectively savings accounts. I just prefer it this way as I'm afraid I would end up dipping into the funds in the account that were meant to be accruing interest. That's a personal discipline thing. Other people are much better than me at sticking to a budget!

There's a full list of high interest current accounts under the banking and saving tab on the main website and numerous threads on the forum if you want more information.