Regular Saver Thread **New and Restarted**

schiff

Provided Santander keep up the 1.5% I doubt if I would ever leave them. They have been my main current account since the Alliance & Leicester days, my £5 a month charge is always covered by cash-back (OK I know that could be a simple extra elsewhere), I shovel thousands back and forth to and from betting exchanges and bookies which they have never questioned and it's a long time since I've had to do the verification procedure when I make my many debit card payments. There is a branch not that far away and using the nearby Post Office for cash deposits and withdrawals is very convenient.

I like them

polymaff

schiff wrote: »

... my £5 a month charge is always covered by cash-back ...

:(:(:(:(

YorkshireBoy

schiff wrote: »

Provided Santander keep up the 1.5% I doubt if I would ever leave them.

Not sure how many "thousands" you're talking about, but I have a £10K overdraft facility on my Lite. Would such a facility sway you to downgrade? If not, what will it take to persuade you to re-think?...1% same as Tesco?

You do surprise me though by using your "main" account for the matched betting activities.

schiff

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Not sure how many "thousands" you're talking about, but I have a £10K overdraft facility on my Lite. Would such a facility sway you to downgrade? If not, what will it take to persuade you to re-think?...1% same as Tesco?

You do surprise me though by using your "main" account for the matched betting activities.

No.

I won't know until the 'what will it take' happens. Then I'll decide.

I've closed my two Tesco accounts because of the cut.

As I said - provided 1.5% stays, I stay.

It's never caused me problems. I know many banks raise an eyebrow and say no or question it - but Santander never has.

I think I have every account available to me that earns me more than 2%, I've tended not to bother with RS's on 2% as they are 1.6% after tax. My investments (all in ISAs) dwarf my cash money and I don't want any more. For the moment anyway.

Zero_Sum

schiff wrote: »

Provided Santander keep up the 1.5% I doubt if I would ever leave them. They have been my main current account since the Alliance & Leicester days, my £5 a month charge is always covered by cash-back (OK I know that could be a simple extra elsewhere), I shovel thousands back and forth to and from betting exchanges and bookies which they have never questioned and it's a long time since I've had to do the verification procedure when I make my many debit card payments. There is a branch not that far away and using the nearby Post Office for cash deposits and withdrawals is very convenient.

I like them

You dont need to leave. Just downgrade to Lite, then move most of your cash into Marcus. Because after the fee, you're not earning anywhere near 1.5%

schiff

Zero_Sum wrote: »

You dont need to leave. Just downgrade to Lite, then move most of your cash into Marcus. Because after the fee, you're not earning anywhere near 1.5%

I'm fighting a losing battle here! I've said before that the fee is covered by cash-back and if you look at the whole picture we're talking about £48 pa and I honestly can't be bothered. And what if Marcus or one of the others don't like money going to bookies, especially at the point where the last minute failure of a deposit could cost me over £48 in one fell swoop?

Nope

colsten

schiff wrote: »

I'm fighting a losing battle here! I've said before that the fee is covered by cash-back and if you look at the whole picture we're talking about £48 pa and I honestly can't be bothered. And what if Marcus or one of the others don't like money going to bookies, especially at the point where the last minute failure of a deposit could cost me over £48 in one fell swoop?

Nope

People probably don't appreciate the extra effort, and time delays, you would have if you kept funds for your MB in an account that pays net 1.5%. Many will also not appreciate that a £48 'investment' is well worth it to the serious Matched Better. :cool:

Zero_Sum

schiff wrote: »

I'm fighting a losing battle here! I've said before that the fee is covered by cash-back and if you look at the whole picture we're talking about £48 pa and I honestly can't be bothered. And what if Marcus or one of the others don't like money going to bookies, especially at the point where the last minute failure of a deposit could cost me over £48 in one fell swoop?

Nope

I chose Marcus as its instant access to transfer to your santander account.
The fee isnt covered by the cashback as you get the same cashback for £48 less. If you're happy then crack on but stop thinking you're getting a 1.5% return, cos youre not.

schiff

This may be a very simplistic way of looking at it, though I do look at it this way, but I'm credited every month with more than £5 in cash-back. To me that means that I get 1.5% (well, 1.2% after tax) on my full balance in the 1/2/3 account.

The suggestion seems to be that I open a Marcus account paying exactly the same rate of interest and if at 12.30 on a Saturday I need to 'invest' £1200 I transfer that amount from Marcus to Santander to pass on to shall we say Betfair. If necessary repeat at 14.10 and again at 19.30 for an evening football match. And then if there's money to be withdrawn from Betfair say, I withdraw it back to Santander and make sure, when it arrives, that it immediately goes back to Marcus as the Lite pays no interest. I'm sorry but avoiding that palaver is well worth £4 a month to me.

I've got other current accounts, mostly with a £10 balance to get the benefits eg the 5% RS, including Bank of Scotland also at 1.5% and I'm running up to 20 regular savers most of the time. I've got this sloshing about spare money that I need to have access to on an instant basis and I feel fully MSE to be getting 1.5% on it all the time it is sloshing about! I could open more RSs at 2% or even 1.75% but I don't consider it worth it, the simplicity of getting 1.5% without any 'work' involved wins me over.

The whole of this 'discussion' hinges on saving £4 a month but surely it needs a bit of balance. I'm as money saving as the next man but I still consider whether things are really worth it. In any event my investment in the Smithson IT IPO last October is currently showing a profit, on paper at least, enough to pay £4 a month for the next 100 years! There's my balance.

Does nobody understand?

schiff

Just had my statement for last month - 95 transactions. This is as much 'my' current account to which I'm loyal as those who are targeted by MSE who have stayed loyal to XYZ bank all their life and are getting 0.05% pa on their £20,000 etc 'savings'.