Natwest Savings Builder

PeacefulWaters

ColdIron wrote: »

Yes you're right, apologies

We pay interest on the above tiers on a stepped basis, which means you'll earn a different rate on each portion of your balance within the tiers

Which, in itself, is a rare complexity in a savings account.

Alonso14

I have no direct debits, and so this account is interesting. When it says your balance has to increase by 100 a month, is this only comparing consecutive months?

Eg. can you start with 8,800, add 100 a month for 12 months, withdraw the 1200 of additional deposits at the end of the year, sacrifice 1 month of interest, and start adding 100 a month again (and earning interest going forwards)?

EachPenny

Yes, that's the way it appears to work Alonso14, you qualify for the bonus interest rate if the balance on your account is £100(+) more at the end of the month than the start. I opened mine last Autumn with the basic £5000 @1.5% and have topped it up with £100 per month, with the intention of doing something similar to you when the additional £100's earning only 1% become a sizeable amount which would do better elsewhere.

At that point (unless there is something more attractive elsewhere) at the start of a month I will withdraw all the funds (not just the 'X' times £100) and earn interest on the whole balance elsewhere, before paying the original £5000 back into the account at the start of the following month. Natwest won't be having the benefit of my £5000 for a month paying me negligible interest.

However, I only opened the account because reductions in rates elsewhere meant I had money earning 1% or less - so the 1.5% rate was attractive. The picture has changed slightly since then, there are more regular savings accounts available (e.g. Virgin Money @2.25%) so when the time comes I might not need to recycle the money in the Natwest Savings Builder.

Before going with this account for your £8800 plus, (and remember only the first £5000 gets 1.5%) you should really have another look at other options. Not having direct debits is not a barrier to opening current accounts paying much better rates of interest - there are ways of creating all the DD's you need... just seach this forum and you'll see what I mean And some accounts like the Nationwide FlexDirect (£2500@5% in first year) don't need any direct debits, only a monthly pay in of £1000 - which with savings of £8800 plus can easily be arranged, again some searching on this forum will explain

Ibl0010

I was in Nat west the other day and was told about this builder account.
Is it better than Isa ?

Is the return any good?

How does it work?

Would I have access to my savings any time?

eskbanker

Ibl0010 wrote: »

I was in Nat west the other day and was told about this builder account.
Is it better than Isa ?

Is the return any good?

How does it work?

Would I have access to my savings any time?

The first two questions are subjective and depend on what you're comparing with, so read the main savings articles linked above and decide for yourself.

The last two questions are answered in the NatWest product info document linked from post #1, augmented by the posts in the rest of the thread.