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I structure my life so I do not have to have any dealings with the banks over the weekend, but that’s me.

worriednoob

EthicsGradient said:

worriednoob said:

Apologies, I'm not sure if it's the right place to post on here, so it's incorrect, I'm more than happy for mods to move this post.  So just to be clear, this question is not for me.  It's for one of my best friends and their partner.  They are not very tech savvy, so they've asked me to help them. 

So my friend used to work in a full-time job earning good salary.  However around 2 months ago, due to work accident/injury, he quit his full-time job and has gone to a zero-hours contract where he only earns around £5-6k per annum + disability benefits .  But he has also built around £45k in savings due to his previous job salary.  His wife on the other hand is in full-time work and earns around £23k per annum and has saved around £10k.  Other than what's already mentioned, They have no other financial income sources.

What he wants to know is if he were to put the £45k money in savings account, what are the tax implications?  i.e. how much interest would he be allowed to accrue before he would be hit with tax?

Furthermore, does being married mean that any savings built by both himself and his wife would be counted as one or does each individual have their own allowances? i.e, can his wife build a seperate pot of savings because she is allowed her own amount of interest?  If so, how do we calculate how much such allowances are?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give.

I suspect this could depend on what the disability benefits are, and how they're taxed - you may find answers from people familiar with the system in the Benefits & tax credits — MoneySavingExpert Forum . I would guess that the combined amount of benefits and £6k is still less than his wife's salary, in which case it's probably a good idea to have the £45k in his name even if the benefits are taxable. When it's know how much, if any, of his benefits are taxable, we could look at if any of the savings might attract tax - which could be avoided anyway by putting them in a cash ISA.

Thanks for your quick reply EthicsGradient.  He gets PIP (middle-rate) and his wife gets Carers Allowance.  Other than that, they have no other benefits.  I was under the assumption that savings don't affect pip or carers allowance?

ChewyyBacca

@ForumUser7 & others

What are the banks & building societies that are know for Loyalty accounts? 
I have a lot of accts open with minimum amt stuck int hem, and I want to consolidate this

1.  Family BS Online Saver (5) acct. Minimum amt = 100 rate 3.55% not very attractive atm
can I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?
Does Family BS come out with Loyalty accounts?

2. Same with Newbury 3.55% from 1 june, min =50
an I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?

3. I have emptied Zopa Primary & Booster accounts to zero. 
Is there a min like £1 or £0.01 to be kept there?

4. Should I close Coventry Limited Access Saver (Online) (8) at 3.3%?

allegro120

ChewyyBacca said:

@ForumUser7 & others

What are the banks & building societies that are know for Loyalty accounts? 
I have a lot of accts open with minimum amt stuck int hem, and I want to consolidate this

1.  Family BS Online Saver (5) acct. Minimum amt = 100 rate 3.55% not very attractive atm
can I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?
Does Family BS come out with Loyalty accounts?

2. Same with Newbury 3.55% from 1 june, min =50
an I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?

3. I have emptied Zopa Primary & Booster accounts to zero. 
Is there a min like £1 or £0.01 to be kept there?

4. Should I close Coventry Limited Access Saver (Online) (8) at 3.3%?

2. I would open a 0 balance account first and close welcome to newbury a day after, just in case.
3. You can keep all your Zopa pots at 0.  There is no minimum balance requirement.
4. I would keep £1 in CoventryLAS, unless you have another Coventry account, Coventry have a history of offering loyalty products.

Bridlington1

ChewyyBacca said:

@ForumUser7 & others

What are the banks & building societies that are know for Loyalty accounts? 
I have a lot of accts open with minimum amt stuck int hem, and I want to consolidate this

1.  Family BS Online Saver (5) acct. Minimum amt = 100 rate 3.55% not very attractive atm
can I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?
Does Family BS come out with Loyalty accounts?

2. Same with Newbury 3.55% from 1 june, min =50
an I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?

3. I have emptied Zopa Primary & Booster accounts to zero. 
Is there a min like £1 or £0.01 to be kept there?

4. Should I close Coventry Limited Access Saver (Online) (8) at 3.3%?

You can reduce Welcome to Newbury down to £1 so leave that one open. As already mentioned Zopa can be reduced to nil. I currently have a Coventry limited access account with 1p in it, the rest have £1 as I don't want to lose an available withdrawal on them.

The way I see it there's little harm in having lots of accounts with near nil balance if they're all with different providers so I'd just reduce everything to the minimum balances and leave them.

Bridlington1

Bridlington1 said:

ChewyyBacca said:

@ForumUser7 & others

What are the banks & building societies that are know for Loyalty accounts? 
I have a lot of accts open with minimum amt stuck int hem, and I want to consolidate this

1.  Family BS Online Saver (5) acct. Minimum amt = 100 rate 3.55% not very attractive atm
can I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?
Does Family BS come out with Loyalty accounts?

2. Same with Newbury 3.55% from 1 june, min =50
an I close this acct & open any zero balance saver acct, just to have a history of relationship?

3. I have emptied Zopa Primary & Booster accounts to zero. 
Is there a min like £1 or £0.01 to be kept there?

4. Should I close Coventry Limited Access Saver (Online) (8) at 3.3%?

You can reduce Welcome to Newbury down to £1 so leave that one open. As already mentioned Zopa can be reduced to nil. I currently have a Coventry limited access account with 1p in it, the rest have £1 as I don't want to lose an available withdrawal on them.

The way I see it there's little harm in having lots of accounts with near nil balance if they're all with different providers so I'd just reduce everything to the minimum balances and leave them.

Also I forgot to add the following others have been known to offer loyalty/existing member products:
Mansfield BS
Bath BS
Darlington BS
Leek BS
Market Harborough BS
YBS
Cambridge BS
Saffron BS

EthicsGradient

worriednoob said:

EthicsGradient said:

worriednoob said:

Apologies, I'm not sure if it's the right place to post on here, so it's incorrect, I'm more than happy for mods to move this post.  So just to be clear, this question is not for me.  It's for one of my best friends and their partner.  They are not very tech savvy, so they've asked me to help them. 

So my friend used to work in a full-time job earning good salary.  However around 2 months ago, due to work accident/injury, he quit his full-time job and has gone to a zero-hours contract where he only earns around £5-6k per annum + disability benefits .  But he has also built around £45k in savings due to his previous job salary.  His wife on the other hand is in full-time work and earns around £23k per annum and has saved around £10k.  Other than what's already mentioned, They have no other financial income sources.

What he wants to know is if he were to put the £45k money in savings account, what are the tax implications?  i.e. how much interest would he be allowed to accrue before he would be hit with tax?

Furthermore, does being married mean that any savings built by both himself and his wife would be counted as one or does each individual have their own allowances? i.e, can his wife build a seperate pot of savings because she is allowed her own amount of interest?  If so, how do we calculate how much such allowances are?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give.

I suspect this could depend on what the disability benefits are, and how they're taxed - you may find answers from people familiar with the system in the Benefits & tax credits — MoneySavingExpert Forum . I would guess that the combined amount of benefits and £6k is still less than his wife's salary, in which case it's probably a good idea to have the £45k in his name even if the benefits are taxable. When it's know how much, if any, of his benefits are taxable, we could look at if any of the savings might attract tax - which could be avoided anyway by putting them in a cash ISA.

Thanks for your quick reply EthicsGradient.  He gets PIP (middle-rate) and his wife gets Carers Allowance.  Other than that, they have no other benefits.  I was under the assumption that savings don't affect pip or carers allowance?

I was thinking more of whether the benefit payments are used in calculating their income and then their income tax, rather than whether savings affect the benefits they get. 

Income Tax: introduction: Tax-free and taxable state benefits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) says his wife's Carer's Allowance is taxable, while PIP is not. In which case, he can receive a load of interest (at least £6k before he uses the remainder of his Personal Allowance, and then he can get another £6k at 0% from the starting rate of 0% on savings for low earners, and the Personal Savings Allowance) before he has to start worrying about paying tax on it - and £45k will only £2,700, even if interest rates went up to 6%. His wife, however, can only get the basic rate taxpayer's £1000 in interest before she'd have to start paying tax on it, so they should make sure the £45k is only in his name. They can also use the Marriage Allowance to transfer £1,260 of his Personal Allowance to her - which will save £252 on her tax bill.

housebuyer143

worriednoob said:

EthicsGradient said:

worriednoob said:

Apologies, I'm not sure if it's the right place to post on here, so it's incorrect, I'm more than happy for mods to move this post.  So just to be clear, this question is not for me.  It's for one of my best friends and their partner.  They are not very tech savvy, so they've asked me to help them. 

So my friend used to work in a full-time job earning good salary.  However around 2 months ago, due to work accident/injury, he quit his full-time job and has gone to a zero-hours contract where he only earns around £5-6k per annum + disability benefits .  But he has also built around £45k in savings due to his previous job salary.  His wife on the other hand is in full-time work and earns around £23k per annum and has saved around £10k.  Other than what's already mentioned, They have no other financial income sources.

What he wants to know is if he were to put the £45k money in savings account, what are the tax implications?  i.e. how much interest would he be allowed to accrue before he would be hit with tax?

Furthermore, does being married mean that any savings built by both himself and his wife would be counted as one or does each individual have their own allowances? i.e, can his wife build a seperate pot of savings because she is allowed her own amount of interest?  If so, how do we calculate how much such allowances are?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give.

I suspect this could depend on what the disability benefits are, and how they're taxed - you may find answers from people familiar with the system in the Benefits & tax credits — MoneySavingExpert Forum . I would guess that the combined amount of benefits and £6k is still less than his wife's salary, in which case it's probably a good idea to have the £45k in his name even if the benefits are taxable. When it's know how much, if any, of his benefits are taxable, we could look at if any of the savings might attract tax - which could be avoided anyway by putting them in a cash ISA.

Thanks for your quick reply EthicsGradient.  He gets PIP (middle-rate) and his wife gets Carers Allowance.  Other than that, they have no other benefits.  I was under the assumption that savings don't affect pip or carers allowance?

You can't get carers allowance if you work full time? It's max £140 week or something and if you earn more then you lose it? 

worriednoob

EthicsGradient said:

worriednoob said:

EthicsGradient said:

worriednoob said:

Apologies, I'm not sure if it's the right place to post on here, so it's incorrect, I'm more than happy for mods to move this post.  So just to be clear, this question is not for me.  It's for one of my best friends and their partner.  They are not very tech savvy, so they've asked me to help them. 

So my friend used to work in a full-time job earning good salary.  However around 2 months ago, due to work accident/injury, he quit his full-time job and has gone to a zero-hours contract where he only earns around £5-6k per annum + disability benefits .  But he has also built around £45k in savings due to his previous job salary.  His wife on the other hand is in full-time work and earns around £23k per annum and has saved around £10k.  Other than what's already mentioned, They have no other financial income sources.

What he wants to know is if he were to put the £45k money in savings account, what are the tax implications?  i.e. how much interest would he be allowed to accrue before he would be hit with tax?

Furthermore, does being married mean that any savings built by both himself and his wife would be counted as one or does each individual have their own allowances? i.e, can his wife build a seperate pot of savings because she is allowed her own amount of interest?  If so, how do we calculate how much such allowances are?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give.

I suspect this could depend on what the disability benefits are, and how they're taxed - you may find answers from people familiar with the system in the Benefits & tax credits — MoneySavingExpert Forum . I would guess that the combined amount of benefits and £6k is still less than his wife's salary, in which case it's probably a good idea to have the £45k in his name even if the benefits are taxable. When it's know how much, if any, of his benefits are taxable, we could look at if any of the savings might attract tax - which could be avoided anyway by putting them in a cash ISA.

Thanks for your quick reply EthicsGradient.  He gets PIP (middle-rate) and his wife gets Carers Allowance.  Other than that, they have no other benefits.  I was under the assumption that savings don't affect pip or carers allowance?

I was thinking more of whether the benefit payments are used in calculating their income and then their income tax, rather than whether savings affect the benefits they get. 

Income Tax: introduction: Tax-free and taxable state benefits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) says his wife's Carer's Allowance is taxable, while PIP is not. In which case, he can receive a load of interest (at least £6k before he uses the remainder of his Personal Allowance, and then he can get another £6k at 0% from the starting rate of 0% on savings for low earners, and the Personal Savings Allowance) before he has to start worrying about paying tax on it - and £45k will only £2,700, even if interest rates went up to 6%. His wife, however, can only get the basic rate taxpayer's £1000 in interest before she'd have to start paying tax on it, so they should make sure the £45k is only in his name. They can also use the Marriage Allowance to transfer £1,260 of his Personal Allowance to her - which will save £252 on her tax bill.

Thanks so much for breaking this down for me.  Yes that totally makes sense, although I've checked a few sites and they say that the carer's savings amounts don't affect entitlement to carers allowance.

Bridlington1

West Brom are launching a double access account at 3.85% on balances of £1+ according to moneyfacts