who DOESNT switch banks or have several accounts?

takman

Rich1976 wrote: »

I don't play the system either. I have a joint account with my other half for our bills which we have held with Nationwide for 5 years and gives us free travel insurance which we like. We also have our own accounts. Mine is with First Direct as I like the service and their regular saver which I pay 250 each month into and their Isa which I pay 200 into.

I'm not interested in constantly moving money between various current accounts for a short term gain. Surely there's more to life than being that obsessed as some people on here clearly are?

I take a great interest in our personal finances but rather than short term quick wins I'm more keen on saving money by being on the best mortgage, utility, getting the best holiday deal and maybe more importantly reviewing our Isa and Pensions to make sure they are performing well which will hopefully allow us to retire by the time we get to 60.

All of this to me is far more essential and beneficial that constantly changing banks or recycling money between them.

Almost all deals for high interest accounts last for a year just like your FD regular saver. So just like people do a comparison search for insurance each year to get the best price we also find new banks each year to get the highest interest and bonus payments.
You say that you review your ISA but ISA interest rates are so poor that you should be putting this into current accounts or investments.

The moving money between banks can all be done by standing order so it takes little effort.

If you want to retire on your savings then I'm surprised that you don't want to maximise the interest you are getting. It's not about being obsessed, just think the next time your sitting infront of the TV for an hour or two is that really more important than getting thousands of pounds extra a year by sitting at your computer for a couple of hours a month!.

roddydogs

Yes, but if everybody did it, those offers wouldn't be there in the first place

enthusiasticsaver

Everyone has different priorities and motivations. I do fill up high interest current accounts as much as possible and I have switched current accounts for switching bonuses but I don't like to make my finances any more complicated than they are. I aim to keep a percentage of my savings in stocks and shares ISAs but don't keep switching for better returns. Why would I do any different with my easily accessible funds. I am not seriously rich but we have enough to live on, a good savings buffer, a mortgage free home and retirement plans in place. I don't see why my finances should need to occupy my time any more than they do by constantly researching new accounts, switching bonuses etc when the chances are the banks will move the goalposts again a year or so. So long as my savings are keeping track with inflation there is a point when I say enough. There are other things to do,

Rosemary7391

bigadaj wrote: »

That's all well and good but how much playing of a system do people do, for good or bad?

By that I mean how people auto renew insurance and get ripped off, have large sums languishing in bank accounts paying nothing, have investments with firms that still charge them an arm and a leg cause they've not checked or changed for years?

The big issue for me is at least having a second current account, not unknown for IT systems to crash and we've had enough threads about account suspensions and closures, without a back up account you could be pretty screwed!

I think there's a difference between genuinely switching your custom elsewhere or having a back up account, and opening accounts with pretend custom so you can switch that pretend custom elsewhere to get new customer bonuses. The latter is what I refer to as playing the system. Just because it isn't explicitly disallowed doesn't mean I think I should do it.

enthusiasticsaver

takman wrote: »

Almost all deals for high interest accounts last for a year just like your FD regular saver. So just like people do a comparison search for insurance each year to get the best price we also find new banks each year to get the highest interest and bonus payments.
You say that you review your ISA but ISA interest rates are so poor that you should be putting this into current accounts or investments.

The moving money between banks can all be done by standing order so it takes little effort.

If you want to retire on your savings then I'm surprised that you don't want to maximise the interest you are getting. It's not about being obsessed, just think the next time your sitting infront of the TV for an hour or two is that really more important than getting thousands of pounds extra a year by sitting at your computer for a couple of hours a month!.

To a certain extent yes doing regular savings accounts is a good way of maximising interest and I have 4 this year, my absolute maximum I will keep track of. Bear in mind some of us do other stuff rather than sit in front of a TV. A day on the beach with my granddaughter or coffee in town with a friend or an afternoon in my garden with a good book, bike rides and spa days are my leisure activities of choice. My computer time is limited to rainy days with no plans

bigadaj

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

I think there's a difference between genuinely switching your custom elsewhere or having a back up account, and opening accounts with pretend custom so you can switch that pretend custom elsewhere to get new customer bonuses. The latter is what I refer to as playing the system. Just because it isn't explicitly disallowed doesn't mean I think I should do it.

Up to you, it's a free country. Everyone has a different moral compass, getting a bit more money out of a bank doesn't break my moral code but you may be different.

It's not really playing the system at all. If the world hadn't collapsed financially a few years ago, largely instigated by the banks and other financial institutions, we would presumably have interest rates at historic levels. Savings accounts would then be higher, and there would be no need to play the system as current accounts had few incentives and savings accounts paid higher rates.

Ten years ago this wouldn't have been an issue, the only decision would have been whether locking savings away for a higher rate was worthwhile or not.

takman

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

To a certain extent yes doing regular savings accounts is a good way of maximising interest and I have 4 this year, my absolute maximum I will keep track of. Bear in mind some of us do other stuff rather than sit in front of a TV. A day on the beach with my granddaughter or coffee in town with a friend or an afternoon in my garden with a good book, bike rides and spa days are my leisure activities of choice. My computer time is limited to rainy days with no plans

That's why I usually do all my finances late at night when I have nothing more important to do. But I do also enjoy doing it and it's like a game where the goal is to get as much return on my money as possible.

EssexExile

takman wrote: »

But I do also enjoy doing it

There you go, the reason some do & some don't, some enjoy it, some don't.

Over62

If you're not interested in making money for free, why are you on this thread?

Keep_pedalling

Over62 wrote: »

If you're not interested in making money for free, why are you on this thread?

If you read the thread title all should be explained.

I am also one of those who don't go chasing HI current accounts or switch to gain signing on fees. I like to keep my finances simple, all equities held in a single wrapper, one joint current account with a hardly used back-up account. A couple of saving accounts hold our emergency funds, which are now our only cash holdings.

Makes tax returns very simple, and will make life nice and easy for our executors when the time comes.