£70,000 for a property - short term strategy

room_101

Hi,

I've got approximately £70,000 (could increase soon to £90,000) sitting in regular savings accounts with interest rates averaging at just under 1%.

I'm planning to purchase a house within the next 1 - 2 years and intend to use this money to fund this purchase.

I'm looking for somewhere to place this money so that it will be scure and hopefully improve on the rate of return I'm curently getting on it.
Obviously risk is a concern at the minute given the closeness to which I would be requiring access to it. Part of my reason for doing this is to consolidate the funds into a single location as currently it is spread across a few providers.

I appreciate that I should have moved this earlier but that is now water under the bridge.

I have just opened a HL account for a LISA and was wondering if there was any option on there where I could place this money?
Alternatively is there is any other viable options for me to place this money to improve on the 1% interest rate I'm getting at the minute and keep it secure with relatively easy access? I would expect that a 1 month period on obtaining the money would be acceptable for my needs.

Thanks,

ermine

room_101 wrote: »

I've got approximately £70,000 (could increase soon to £90,000) sitting in regular savings accounts with interest rates averaging at just under 1%.
[...]
I'm looking for somewhere to place this money so that it will be scure and hopefully improve on the rate of return I'm curently getting on it.
Obviously risk is a concern at the minute given the closeness to which I would be requiring access to it. Part of my reason for doing this is to consolidate the funds into a single location as currently it is spread across a few providers.

Be aware of the FSCS limitation of the government assuring you of up to £85,000

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings

which is doubled for a joint account. So watch that consolidation, getting a sliver more of interest isn't worth the increased risk of losing some of your capital IMO. After all, we have two years of Brexit and Trump in charge of the big red button these days.

If you wanted to consolidate, NS&I income bonds are fully backed by the government so the FSCS limit doesn't apply, but the 0.75% interest rate isn't going to thrill you.

All depends how you value interest against the remote tail-risk of having some of your capital wiped out. It nearly happened to people in Icesave in the credit crunch

chockydavid1983

For a 1-2 year time period, on top of the LISA, just grab the best current and regular saver rates available. Links at top of the page.

room_101

Current rates are not great. I'm with Sainsburys at the minute, so I might just check what rate they have me on and if it sucks I'll ask to get switched onto the eSaver @ 1.05%.

Not great, but I can't see what else to do :think:

chockydavid1983

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts

Just avoid opening accounts 3-6 months before applying for a mortgage.