The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

cwep2

southone said:

One pound should give you about 3P interest a year LOL

Pro tip, if you get monthly interest, *some banks* will round it up to the nearest p per month. £1 is going to get rounded down to zero interest each month and you might get zero interest for the year. If you leave say £3 in there, at the Marcus rate of 2.5% APR (=2.47% monthly) the interest for February is 0.568p so you might earn 1p each month = 12p per year, which works out at a whopping 4% APR.

Some banks will give you 1p every other month with this strategy because they don't round interest each month, they obviously keep your accrued interest somewhere in their systems to greater precision than 1p.

To work out the amount you need, you need the monthly rate (for Marcus this is 2.47%) and in UK interest is calculated as Actual/365, so #days in month will be at least 28, so to get over the 0.5p threshold each month you need to make sure:

Deposit amount x 28 / 365 x monthly rate > 0.5p

So technically you need £2.64 in there to just scrape by. Most months £2.47 would be enough, but you gotta extract the most out of it! I always felt I was winning by doing this, even though they weren't paying a market leading rate I was able to get one out of them by this hack, even if it only gained a few pence a year.

A practical application where this might be more relevant is for those people who use the 'Zopa Ladder' you might be best off if you leave £2.50-3 in each ladder account rather than just £1.

Disclaimer - I haven't tried this with Marcus, I tend to leave a bit more than this in there, so I don't know their specific policy but there are several savings account that definitely *do* work this way, eg Post Office, and in my experience it's at least half of the ones I've randomly found out. You need to work out the amount needed and leave it in there for about 3 months to be sure and frankly I haven't been bothered to exhaustively test each one.

BestSeagull

fourmarks said:

BestSeagull said:

fourmarks said:

If you're talking about Marcus, no, you'll still get your interest the month after you withdraw the bulk of your funds although there won't be any to speak of from the first full month of only having a balance of £1.

No, not specifically Marcus, any savings account where the interest is due at the end of the year.

With you now. Yes, in that case it makes more sense to close the account because otherwise the interest you've accrued is just sitting there in the ether somewhere not earning anymore.

The Cynergy online easy access account is a great example of this.   You can see how much interest you have earned already but it won't be paid until the anniversary or until closure. Closing the old account also spreads the interest a bit, keeping that lot in this tax year.
 

RedImp_2

So interest rate up 0.5% to 4%.

Let’s see who reacts if any 

ColdIron

This one will on the 16th

https://www.skipton.co.uk/savings/easy-access/base-rate-tracker

chris_the_bee

Kent Reliance
Quote:
"In light of the recent Bank of England Base Rate increase, we’re reviewing our variable savings accounts and will be in touch if the interest rate on an account you hold with us is changing."

RG2015

ColdIron said:

This one will on the 16th

https://www.skipton.co.uk/savings/easy-access/base-rate-tracker

0.90% below base rate sounds poor, but 3.10% EA is currently top drawer.

Or may be top drawer in 2 weeks time. 

SJMALBA

YBS seem keen to raise their savings rates...


Sorry, did I say keen? I meant decidedly unenthusiastic...? 🙄

ircE

Happy BR rise day folks...

soulsaver said:

Bucks BS 2.90% see trail (03/12).

Barclays Blue Rewards c/w 5.00% 'Rainy Day Saver' to £5k(30/09) .Rainy Day Saver | Barclays  

First Direct  Bonus SVR 2.6% to £25K & no w/d in month or 0.65% (01/12) Bonus Savings Account | first direct

HSBC 3% on upto £10k (20/10)no w/d in month or 0.65% Online Savings Account | Bonus Savings Account - HSBC UK thnx @Descrabled

Bucks BS @ 2.9% seems to have been withdrawn. Triple Access Saver @ 2.85% still available.

Barclays @ 5% you've stuck to AER for other rates so perhaps worth saying this account is 5.12% AER?

First Direct @ 2.6% no bonus rate has risen to 0.9%. Ditto HSBC @ 3%.

Is Santander @ 4% worth a mention? £3pm fee but can be more than recouped through cashback or by switching.

soulsaver

SJMALBA said:

YBS seem keen to raise their savings rates...


Sorry, did I say keen? I meant decidedly unenthusiastic...? 🙄

YBS? Paying me 3.5% on FSCS protected max. If it was available it'd be ToTP topspot. Still, be nice if it went to 4.0%

SJMALBA

soulsaver said:

SJMALBA said:

YBS seem keen to raise their savings rates...


Sorry, did I say keen? I meant decidedly unenthusiastic...? 🙄

YBS? Paying me 3.5% on FSCS protected max. If it was available it'd be ToTP topspot. Still, be nice if it went to 4.0%

'If' being the operative word... 
4% sounds good to me, though - I'm in!