Regular Saver Thread **New and Restarted**

JamesRobinson48

Is it just me, or hasn't the world of RS become a dull, unappealing place lately. Two building societies (Nottingham and Holmesdale) quietly withdrew their flagship RS accounts a couple of weeks ago, and neither has launched a replacement Issue yet. Since before Xmas I don't think anyone other than Virgin Money has brought out anything paying higher than 2.00% (disregarding the restricted Leeds BS Issues). I fear some savings companies might be losing interest in RS as a means of attracting/retaining retail customers? If so, I'll have to pile some more into NS&I's 3 year bond @ 2.20%, while that lasts.

[Deleted User]

JamesRobinson48 wrote: »

Is it just me, or hasn't the world of RS become a dull, unappealing place lately. Two building societies (Nottingham and Holmesdale) quietly withdrew their flagship RS accounts a couple of weeks ago, and neither has launched a replacement Issue yet. Since before Xmas I don't think anyone other than Virgin Money has brought out anything paying higher than 2.00% (disregarding the restricted Leeds BS Issues). I fear some savings companies might be losing interest in RS as a means of attracting/retaining retail customers? If so, I'll have to pile some more into NS&I's 3 year bond @ 2.20%, while that lasts.

I wonder if Ford Money will come up with anything in May to replace the maturing 4% RS's taken out over a day or so in May 2017.

veryintrigued

Deleted_User wrote: »

I wonder if Ford Money will come up with anything in May to replace the maturing 4% RS's taken out over a day or so in May 2017.

I hope so if only for some of the entertaining posts when people went crackers.

solartom

re dull RS market i hope that this is a calm spell before it gets a bit more exciting i have my next gap in November so time to see if anything stirs in the market still hoping for TSB to move their RS rate up and maybe Virgin as well
mind you if they keep paying double interest at maturity not that much of a chance
as said above will be interesting to see if Ford do anything they will be paying out an substantial amount in maturing RS's they might need/want a lot of refunding and go big again
i do remember reading pages and pages regarding the Ford RS launch

cosh25

I've just opened Fords instant ISA and put the £250 in for Aprils final payment (the ISA version of reg saver) as it falls within the new tax year. I can see them upping their fixed ISA rate terms in a hope people will just push their funds into them. Doubt they will launch anything similar after the last time. I only managed to get the Reg Saver ISA and missed out on the normal one. I will keep the funds with Ford for a month or so to see if they launch another one and just do internal transfers.

AirlieBird

JamesRobinson48 wrote: »

Is it just me, or hasn't the world of RS become a dull, unappealing place lately.

I fear some savings companies might be losing interest in RS as a means of attracting/retaining retail customers?

I don't think it's about losing interest in the RS product. The savings market generally is a bit deflated at the minute. Most of the best buy easy access savings accounts have been withdrawn lately, with only ICICI coming in with a new offer. Usually we can rely on the challenger banks to come in and push the market up, but the only new account from the usual suspects is from Paragon and that is at a relatively low 1.21%, although they have recently increased the rate on what they offer with their their notice account by launching a new issue. The competition at the minute appears to be in the ISA market. Even Virgin Money who haven't competed at the top of the unconditional easy access products tables for a few years are now doing so with their flexible ISA.

It's difficult to see where new RS would come from. Most institutions that have any history with RS have well established ones available. Ford Money did hint at further RS later in the year when they closed the one on offer but as we know none came along. I'd like to see Atom launch a RS as they expand their product offering. If their fixed rates are anything to go by, it could be quite competitive.

karlie88

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm quite happy the RS market has slowed down somewhat.

Over the past 3-4 years I've been opening a fair number of them and I'm glad that I have - but it's got to a level now that means I need to put in more time per month to manage them. Despite my best efforts of spreadsheets and saving PDF documents etc., I must admit I do get a headache from them. (A pleasant headache).

Since BoS, Lloyds, NW etc. have lowered/restricted the interest rates on their current accounts, I've been shifting more money across from them to regular savers. I've even helped some family members out by imparting some of my regular saver knowledge.

There's still plenty of choice out there for people: HSBC, NW, FD, Santander, TSB, Lloyds, BoS, Leeds BS, VM etc. all offer highly competitive rates. And VM's offering of one regular saver per issue is very generous of them IMO (unlike Leeds BS). Add to that some providers offering decent regular savings once in a blue moon or ones that are restricted to local/branch only - e.g. Ford Money, Chorley BS, Principality BS, Nottingham BS, Kent Reliance, Saffron...so there's still a strong market out there.

My only other suggestion, to those who want more competitive regular savers, would be to try and open branch only ones (if they haven't done so already). If I'm travelling down/up the country and visiting another city, then I look to see if there are any local Building Societies (offering competitive regular savers) along my route and make an appointment. Yes, I may pay an extra few quid in fuel for the 10-20 mile detour but at least I'm then a member - even more worthwhile if the other half is with me or another family member.

The big bonus of these local/branch only regular savers is that they have historically released highly competitive rates over a number of years (Saffron and Kent Reliance being two that come to mind). So once you're in, you're part of the club and can open new regular savers by post. :cool:

Add to that an almost certain rise of 0.25-0.5% in the BoE base rate at some point this year, then I think we will see some improvement in the regular saver market. It may seem 'dull' now, but there are ways to brighten things up and there is most definitely a nice big light at the end of the tunnel.

JamesRobinson48 wrote: »

I fear some savings companies might be losing interest in RS

mhoc

It is quite labour intensive whatever systems you have in place- not just the couple of hours at the start of each month just checking all of the standing orders have gone through and updating excel charts and calendars with reminders
Also making sure the money is in the right place at the right time of the month and making sure there is enough!
But also the other admin jobs like reading rules and conditions when a new one comes out or if you are renewing a RS that has matured.
And each RS producing maybe just £30 to £60 a year in interest.
In theory we could just open one of these new 5 year ISAs earning 2% and make life easy for ourselves.

ColdIron

mhoc wrote: »

In theory we could just open one of these new 5 year ISAs earning 2% and make life easy for ourselves.

The obvious problem with this is that they are fixed term accounts and don't allow additional contributions

schiff

karlie88 wrote: »

Add to that some providers offering decent regular savings once in a blue moon or ones that are restricted to local/branch only - e.g. Ford Money, Chorley BS, Principality BS, Nottingham BS, Kent Reliance, Saffron...so there's still a strong market out there.

Saffron have an excellent system for rolling over a matured RS into a new one and FPing the net balance, and all by post. Kent Reliance don't. I opened mine on a visit to London a year ago, I'm getting my funds by BACS but, though they have had all my ID and seen me face to face, they won't open a new RS without a visit to a branch. I was told that account in particular is aimed at local people, unlike their other accounts that can be opened online!