New saver advice!

jimjames

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

You’re right and I can see how it’s do-able, i’m Just not sure it’s the right answer for me!

I think i’m sorted on my £500 a month, i’ll put £250 in the HSBC 5% saver and open a virgin 3% saver for the other.

Any tips on where to put the £1800 ish that’s sitting around earning nothing at the moment? ISAs look rubbish.

Alternatively switch your current account to TSB and you'll get 5% on all your money up to £1500

ian1246

Might also be worth switching your Natwest account yo a Natwest rewards account & pay all your bills through there. 2% cashback on council tax, water, electricity/gas, mobile phone, internet & TV packages is nothing to sneeze at :-)

Red-Squirrel_2

greenglide wrote: »

The TSB Classic Plus account would pay 5% on £1,500 of this which would seem ideal.


Not sure why you keep ignoring this?

I'm not ignoring it, I have stated several times that I don't want two 'main' current accounts. I know some people are happy to set up complex transferring systems to meet the requirements but I like to keep my salary and DDs to one main current account.

I will have a look at the requirements to see if there's a way to make it work for me.

Red-Squirrel_2

ian1246 wrote: »

Might also be worth switching your Natwest account yo a Natwest rewards account & pay all your bills through there. 2% cashback on council tax, water, electricity/gas, mobile phone, internet & TV packages is nothing to sneeze at :-)

Thanks, maybe one to look at in 12 months when its switching time again.

Tammer

I know I always say it, but you may wish to google "TSB service issues" before deciding to do business with them....

YorkshireBoy

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I'm not ignoring it, I have stated several times that I don't want two 'main' current accounts. I know some people are happy to set up complex transferring systems to meet the requirements but I like to keep my salary and DDs to one main current account.

In your case the TSB account would be used as a savings account. You'd put your £1,500 in there and once a month log in and transfer £506 to your 'main' account. You'd then immediately send £500 back to TSB. You could even automate this, as I and many others do.

Let's compare using the TSB account with the best traditional savings account at the moment, Marcus at 1.5% AER (or even Tesco at 1.45% AER):

With both accounts you need to make an application.
With both accounts you need to set up online banking
With TSB you need to set up paperless (a couple of ticks in boxes during the application). Marcus is paperless by default.
With TSB you need to log in at least once per year. With Marcus you ought to log in frequently.

So, lots of common ground there. But what's the differentiator if you'd to choose one over the other?...yes, one pays around 3 times the interest the other one does.

Now if you go for Marcus over TSB you're probably on the wrong website.

YorkshireBoy

Tammer wrote: »

I know I always say it, but you may wish to google "TSB service issues" before deciding to do business with them....

As a main current account you have a point. But as a savings account it wouldn't (and doesn't) bother me.

Red-Squirrel_2

Tammer wrote: »

I know I always say it, but you may wish to google "TSB service issues" before deciding to do business with them....

That's a good point, I have heard bad things!

Looking at the T&Cs, the interest isn't dependent on doing a switch as some are, so I'm wondering if I can meet the requirements by transferring the same £500 out to my spare NatWest account and then back in again 24 hours later? Do banks accept this or are they funny about it?

That would be an acceptable level of admin for me as it would still leave me with one 'main' current account for salary and bills.

(I might actually close the NatWest account and use monzo or starling instead for the transfer in order to be a new customer for future switch offers, although I have my mortgage with NatWest, will have to check if that excludes me.)

Red-Squirrel_2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

In your case the TSB account would be used as a savings account. You'd put your £1,500 in there and once a month log in and transfer £506 to your 'main' account. You'd then immediately send £500 back to TSB. You could even automate this, as I and many others do.

Let's compare using the TSB account with the best traditional savings account at the moment, Marcus at 1.5% AER (or even Tesco at 1.45% AER):

With both accounts you need to make an application.
With both accounts you need to set up online banking
With TSB you need to set up paperless (a couple of ticks in boxes during the application). Marcus is paperless by default.
With TSB you need to log in at least once per year. With Marcus you ought to log in frequently.

So, lots of common ground there. But what's the differentiator if you'd to choose one over the other?...yes, one pays around 3 times the interest the other one does.

Now if you go for Marcus over TSB you're probably on the wrong website.

Looks like we've cross posted!

I think this is the way forward then, if TSB are ok with the £500 I pay in being the same £500 I just took out!

YorkshireBoy

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Looking at the T&Cs, the interest isn't dependent on doing a switch as some are, so I'm wondering if I can meet the requirements by transferring the same £500 out to my spare NatWest account and then back in again 24 hours later? Do banks accept this or are they funny about it?

That would be an acceptable level of admin for me as it would still leave me with one 'main' current account for salary and bills.

It seems I've answered your question before you asked it. See above. We have several TSB Plus accounts and I can tell you they are fully automated, including both funding and interest extraction. Just log in once per month (in our case the 4th) to check all is OK.