Regular Saver Thread **New and Restarted**

Nick_C

schiff wrote: »

Never thought of it like that before! I have regular savers paying 2.5% and under that I could fill today out of my 1.5% current account (Santander)!

The 1.5% Santander account is not worth paying for. You are paying £5 a month. You can downgrade to 123 Lite for a £1 monthly fee, and still get cash back on your direct debits. Move your savings to Marcus or similar.

polymaff

Eco_Miser wrote: »

However, if the blended rate of a Regular Saver and a feeder account beats the best available rate from a 'lump sum' account, whether fixed term or instant access, the RS & feeder is the optimal approach for the lump sum.

- but it isn't the optimal use of a Regular Saver.

surreysaver

surreysaver wrote: »

I wonder if its worth keeping accounts open with each provider when Regular Savers expire, just in case they offer accounts in the future that require you to have held accounts with them for a minimum period?

Steve_xx wrote: »

It absolutely is!

So, I wonder if its worth producing a list of organisations that it might me worth holding a minimum amount with in the hope they might provide a regular saver to existing account holders in the future? For example, my Leeds Regular Saver matures at the end of the month, and I've opened an account with them to keep £100 in.
Which other banks/building societies might it be worth holding accounts with? Obviously you'd preferably want them paying interest of at least 1%, otherwise you'd end up having hundreds of pounds stashed away not earning much, which would negate the effect of the occasional regular saver that the strategy might produce!

badger09

schiff wrote: »

Are you not funding it by SO? Direct Debits take time to come into effect.

Only a few days. Most of us aren't using the Ecology RS for the interest;)

JamesRobinson48 wrote: »

My RSA opening experience with the Ecology BS was a rather slow set up process on their part as the first DD happened a day or two late. But otherwise all has been fine.

Mine too, though the regular DD always takes longer to appear in Ecology account than others I use for the same purpose.

Fingerbobs

Nick_C wrote: »

The 1.5% Santander account is not worth paying for. You are paying £5 a month. You can downgrade to 123 Lite for a £1 monthly fee, and still get cash back on your direct debits. Move your savings to Marcus or similar.

I don't completely agree with this. I use my Santander 123 account to drip-feed all my regular savers, without any manual intervention, with the money earning 1.5% up until it's transferred out to each RS via a SO. Each time a RS matures, I simply dump the proceeds into Santander and the cycle continues. I don't see how that could be achieved using a savings account such as Marcus.

YorkshireBoy

Fingerbobs wrote: »

I don't completely agree with this. I use my Santander 123 account to drip-feed all my regular savers, without any manual intervention, with the money earning 1.5% up until it's transferred out to each RS via a SO. Each time a RS matures, I simply dump the proceeds into Santander and the cycle continues. I don't see how that could be achieved using a savings account such as Marcus.

I downgraded to Lite a good while ago and moved the balance to Marcus. As new regular savers are started I've gradually moved the source account to Club Lloyds, which is topped up from Marcus (or Tesco 1.45% where I keep a float). The result is I'm £48/yr better off. Was worth it to me, as I downgraded just before around 6 regular savers matured last October.

teakitkeat

with the HSBC regular saver, is it advisable to set up a new standing order for the 1st of the month?
or stick with the one set up at account opening?

polymaff

teakitkeat wrote: »

with the HSBC regular saver, is it advisable to set up a new standing order for the 1st of the month?
or stick with the one set up at account opening?

Don't. In my experience they accept the new date for the SO, but only compute interest from the original date..:(

Nick_C

Fingerbobs wrote: »

I don't completely agree with this. I use my Santander 123 account to drip-feed all my regular savers, without any manual intervention, with the money earning 1.5% up until it's transferred out to each RS via a SO. Each time a RS matures, I simply dump the proceeds into Santander and the cycle continues. I don't see how that could be achieved using a savings account such as Marcus.

But you are not getting a return of 1.5%

You are getting 1.5% interest on a maximum of £20k, but you are paying £48 a year in fees (assuming you get cash back on direct debits), so your return is only 1.26%

As Yorkshire Boy says, you could get 1.5% on up to £5000 with Club Lloyds - and six free cinema tickets a year.

Worth noting as well that Tesco Savings Accounts allow you to set up multiple future payments to the same payee, so a bit more work than a standing order but not much more.

YorkshireBoy

Nick_C wrote: »

Worth noting as well that Tesco Savings Accounts allow you to set up multiple future payments to the same payee, so a bit more work than a standing order but not much more.

Exactly my approach. A sum is transferred to Tesco on payday. Then in one session payments are scheduled for throughout the following month to top up both Santander and Club Lloyds. Any shortfall comes from Marcus. The only variable is interest on Club Lloyds but I don't mind a pound either side of £5K.