We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Multiple Accounts - when to consolidate?

Options
12357

Comments

  • badger09
    badger09 Posts: 11,575 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    EachPenny wrote: »
    I've dealt with the executor hassle issue by having detailed notes of all the accounts (and utilities etc) printed out and kept in an appropriately labeled file on an obvious place on my desk. A bit morbid perhaps, but I see it as no different to taking out a life insurance policy to make things easier for family if the worst happens. Added to which, there is enough money so the executors can hand everything over to professionals to sort out so they don't have to do anything else :)

    All my details are on spreadsheets on an encrypted password protected USB stick, with appropriate backup;)

    My husband is one of my executors but he'd be completely flummoxed by it. My son knows the master and spreadsheet passwords, but as he's in Hong Kong, he wouldn't be able to do anything with it immediately.

    EachPenny wrote: »
    Surely you aren't getting bored of making a little extra money here and there? ;)

    Hate to admit it on MSE, but yes:o
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    badger09 wrote: »
    Hate to admit it on MSE, but yes:o

    Hopefully this will be picked up by the mods so you can be banished from the site ;)

    There are days when I stop myself and think that doing a transfer today rather than tomorrow won't even earn a penny of extra interest. That is such a different world to the one I used to live in where my primary current account often had around £20k in it earning no interest, but I was so busy at work that my free time was too precious to spend shuffling money around.

    With that experience, my top tip to people is never get so busy earning money that you don't have time to keep an eye on where you are spending (or losing) it.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,521 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    It was much simpler, when banks paid no interest, but you could put all your spare money in one savings account with a good interest rate.


    It's hard to believe that at one time you could earn over 10%interest and the people in charge of calculating the impact of savings on benefits still seem to live in those times (or like to pretend that that's what they believe.)
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    teddysmum wrote: »
    It was much simpler, when banks paid no interest, but you could put all your spare money in one savings account with a good interest rate.

    I do remember when interest on current accounts first started, but with the banks I used the interest dwindled to 0.1% (Barclays) and then stopped altogether around 2008. The more recent high interest rates on current accounts seem to me to be more like bribes, along with the switching bonus, to get new current account customers. If it wasn't so easy to switch you have to wonder if the rates would be anywhere near as high as they are. Not complaining though :)
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • When I retired I took a useful lump sum and the task at hand was to find a home for it all. Three Santander 123 accounts took a large chunk and at that time at 3%. I've also put money in the usual suspects, HBOS, TSB, Tesco, Nationwide, etc, then of course there was the ISA, which now holds a considerable amount. Now I've reached that point where I can no longer sustain them all so will have to start closing some. Two of the three Santander accounts have gone, the money now in the Atom bank. The third will become a Santander 123 lite soon once it dips below £4000. I'm going to switch one of the HBOS accounts when it reduces to 2% next month, move it to the co-op to claim the £110 bonus. Once I have that then it'll be a switch to a fourth Tesco account. After that, who knows? There's a Nationwide branch in our local village so for pure convenience I guess that will be one of the last to go.

    I'm with Badger, it's not much fun now and the rewards are pitiful in all honesty, I find it very hard to get excited about a new Virgin saver that is going to make me £60 over a year. Anyway I don't need that money, I doubt I'll live long enough to spend what I've got and if I do, I guess some care home will soon run that down to nothing.

    I'm going to go and buy a coffee.
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'm going to switch one of the HBOS accounts when it reduces to 2% next month, move it to the co-op to claim the £110 bonus.

    I'm going to go and buy a coffee.

    Hope you enjoyed the coffee :)

    I wouldn't hang around too long on the Co-op switch - it is anyone's guess how long the £110 offer will still be around given their current difficulties. Also, my switch took nearly a month to complete, so you could probably get your application in now and still not have the BOS account closed until mid-June.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    If you want to squeeze a bit more on this add 0% purchase credit cards to the portfolio and stooze that money into savers.

    Use maturing accounts to pay off the CC.

    that way not only are you making your money work a bit harder for you you are free money to get a little extra.
  • Sea_Shell
    Sea_Shell Posts: 10,023 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I've got all the in/out Standing order stuff ticking along...it's just making sure that you still meet all the criteria for the various accounts.

    I wanted to cancel my gym membership...and I suddenly thought....oh I need that DD, right, where shall I get another one from!!!!

    We've filled our S&S ISA's this year, so there's a lot less cash sloshing around, what with that and on-going pension contributions, we shall be whittling away at the cash over the next few years. Then hopefully some of these accounts can go.

    We've not bothered with any Reg Savers paying 2% or less i.e. TSB once they've matured.
    How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.60% of current retirement "pot" (as at end May 2025)
  • Thanks for the advice EachPenny, I'll bear it in mind. Trouble is I've already been stung once this year, waited until two direct debits had paid out in a month with Santander before switching them, only to find they had to be "active" on the account at the time the interest was due so I lost £25.

    I think this is the whole point, you can fiddle and fart about to make a couple of quid here and there and then lose far more in an instant. I recently got a speeding ticket, my fault but there went the interest on one and a half Santander regular savers for the year. It's why I went for Atom, okay it's only 2% but no minimum amounts, Direct Debits or standing orders just a healthy dollop of cash dropping into my account each month.
  • PParka
    PParka Posts: 268 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Academoney Grad
    edited 14 May 2017 at 8:55PM
    Well I bit the bullet and decided to simplify our accounts.
    Between myself and my wife, we had 40 different accounts including current accounts, regular savers and 0% credit cards. We've reduced the number of accounts from 40 to a measly 21 !
    Once some of the regular savers and 0% cards come to an end, we should be left with fewer than 10 accounts.

    I've kept anything paying over 3%, but all the rest have gone.
    I even switched my Barclays current account that I had held for over 25 years.

    We decided that having so many accounts to earn an extra few £'s a month wasn't worth it anymore. Instead we've topped up our S&S ISA's which will hopefully gain more in the long term.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 244K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.