300k short term?

kiely27

We are about to sell our house. We will then have 300k cash to buy a new house. Where would you suggest keeping it? Would easy access savings accounts be the only real option, obviously split in to 85k limits.

kidmugsy

If splitting is too much faff bung it all into a suitable account at ns&i.

But two joint accounts would cover £300k as long as you have no other cash with banks on the same banking licence.

If the gap might be long - say a year or more - you could consider £50k each into premium bonds. If the gap is short you can use the temporary exemption from the £85k limit for house buyers/sellers.

Linton

NS&I is the simple answer as it is guaranteed directly by the government for any amount of money. The interest is a rather better than bank deposit accounts.

Iain_For

We used NS&I in a similar position putting 100k into premium bonds so as to get some of the interest tax free and the rest in a Direct Saver. As it was, the money was there for 10 months and we won just under £1400 so above average luck on our part!

thrifty_pete

I looked into this and it is fairly generous at six months up to £1 million!
https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/questions-and-answers/qas-about-temporary-high-balances/

eskbanker

thrifty_pete wrote: »

I looked into this and it is fairly generous at six months up to £1 million!
https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/questions-and-answers/qas-about-temporary-high-balances/

....and, since OP refers to 'we', it's effectively £2m, as it's £1m per depositor, although that's somewhat moot in this case when they're talking about £300K!

PRAISETHESUN

As everyone has alluded to, you have 6 months of protection for your high balance before you need to worry about the faff of splitting into £85k chunks to get the FSCS protection.
https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/questions-and-answers/qas-about-temporary-high-balances/

If you need the money in a hurry (you say to buy a new house, which I assume is in the short term but OP doesn't explicitly say) keep it in easy access account - most savings accounts allow for £1-2 million. Otherwise I'd suggest getting independent financial advice, probably with an aim to invest it in a balanced fund somewhere for a 5-10 year timeline.

SmashedAvacado

50k each in premium bonds = 100k
balance in NS&I bond account = instant access and paying 1%

would be what i would do

kiely27

That's interesting, thank you.

Yes, the idea would be that we will start looking to buy as soon as we move so it will probably only be for a short period.

SG27

Im using NS&I for the same purpose. I would recommend them. Easy to get monwy out. No need for lots of different transactions to split the money up, (if for more than 6 months)

The rate on the direct saver is 0.95% not the best but good value for the ease and safety.