The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

janusdesign

Thumbs_Up said:

Patr100 said:

Well that's the point. It's a notice account, hence the higher rate.

Looks like Zopa are going to be competitive so holding 85k long term in the 95 days notice account means I have to cancel as soon as I open it, so then I can skim off the interest money.

Would have been easier for both parties if just the interest was transferred automatically to the easy access pot.

as you can supposedly have 20 different pots in the Smart Saver, is there any merit in you splitting the 85k over multiple pots and just closing one at a time ? e.g put 10k in 8 x 95-day pots.... close one immediately (or near as)... that gives you access to 10k+ in 3 months time... close another one next month and so on.. reinvesting each time as each pot gets paid out... that should eventually start to give you a monthly income of interest and, unless i'm missing something, should result in the same amount of interest being received over the year.

in a situation where you needed access to the whole amount in 3 months, then you could just close all of the pots.

Patr100

changearound1 said:

Patr100 said:

Thumbs_Up said:

Re Zopa, if you have your money in the booster account  Say 85K for 95 day notice the monthly interest is held in the account and you can’t access it until 95 days have passed. Shame they can’t pay the interest to the access account.

Well that's the point. It's a notice account, hence the higher rate.

I believe Patr100 was suggesting that just the interest be paid into the access account with the balance staying in the notice booster pot.

It would be nice if they gave us the choice where we wanted our interest paid then everybody's happy.

No, I never suggested that but I think you're referring to ThumpsUp.
Personally though I would prefer the interest to be accessible for income and looking at my latest balance I now realise the interest is going to take me over the 85k protection limit (aside from exceptions to that which don't apply to me). I need evidence that interest over the 85k is also protected. For example, over a year,  85k @ 1.8% is about  £127 a month which is not to be squeezed at.
As for cancelling the notice I see it as a perpetual month to wait (in my case) unless cancelled, as 95 days is a bit long given the expected rate rises and possibility of moving it to another account.

Thumbs_Up

janusdesign said:

as you can supposedly have 20 different pots in the Smart Saver, is there any merit in you splitting the 85k over multiple pots and just closing one at a time ? e.g put 10k in 8 x 95-day pots.... close one immediately (or near as)... that gives you access to 10k+ in 3 months time... close another one next month and so on.. reinvesting each time as each pot gets paid out... that should eventually start to give you a monthly income of interest and, unless i'm missing something, should result in the same amount of interest being received over the year.

in a situation where you needed access to the whole amount in 3 months, then you could just close all of the pots.

I think I see where you are going, I am trying this jiggery-pokery but on a bigger scale the end game is a monthly interest income stream. I’m thinking of buying a house next year (depending what the housing market is doing), so I really don’t want to lock my money in 2 year fixes or so. All max out -

Zopa lock in for 3 months.

Shawbrook lock in for 6 months.

Atom lock in 12 months.

I am fluid with Marcus and Tandem, waiting to see what they do.  As night follows day interest saving rates will increase further this year and maybe next, so for me on a personal note interesting (no pun) times ahead.

Except Shawbrook all the above are on variable rates.

Malchester

janusdesign said:

Thumbs_Up said:

Patr100 said:

Well that's the point. It's a notice account, hence the higher rate.

Looks like Zopa are going to be competitive so holding 85k long term in the 95 days notice account means I have to cancel as soon as I open it, so then I can skim off the interest money.

Would have been easier for both parties if just the interest was transferred automatically to the easy access pot.

as you can supposedly have 20 different pots in the Smart Saver, is there any merit in you splitting the 85k over multiple pots and just closing one at a time ? e.g put 10k in 8 x 95-day pots.... close one immediately (or near as)... that gives you access to 10k+ in 3 months time... close another one next month and so on.. reinvesting each time as each pot gets paid out... that should eventually start to give you a monthly income of interest and, unless i'm missing something, should result in the same amount of interest being received over the year.

in a situation where you needed access to the whole amount in 3 months, then you could just close all of the pots.

Thanks. That is a really good idea. I might start that when my 95 day notice ends - renew 1/3 for 95 days, then a new 95 day pot with the 2nd 1/3 a month later and the final 1/3 another month later

Rollinghome

Patr100 said:

changearound1 said:

Patr100 said:

Thumbs_Up said:

Re Zopa, if you have your money in the booster account  Say 85K for 95 day notice the monthly interest is held in the account and you can’t access it until 95 days have passed. Shame they can’t pay the interest to the access account.

Well that's the point. It's a notice account, hence the higher rate.

I believe Patr100 was suggesting that just the interest be paid into the access account with the balance staying in the notice booster pot.

It would be nice if they gave us the choice where we wanted our interest paid then everybody's happy.

Personally though I would prefer the interest to be accessible for income and looking at my latest balance I now realise the interest is going to take me over the 85k protection limit

Every penny counts, but it might be worth calculating the exact cost of keeping just a smideon less in the 95 day, if you're concerned about the FSCS limit.  It doesn't seem a vast sum:

Looks to me like £85k x 1.60% = £1360 pa = £354 for 95 day.  If you kept £354 in the instant account for access whenever you wanted it, so just £84646 in the 95 day a/c, and withdrew that amount each month from the 95 day a/c you'd then earn 1.40% i.e. just 0.20% pa  less on that £354.  Which I think equals £0.70 less a year, or 17.5p per quarter. 

Best to do your own sums, but it's not going to make a vast difference to the deposit on a house.

SJMALBA

Coventry Building Society has confirmed their rate rises effective 1st July, including:-

Easy Access (Online) (4) - 1.35%

Four Access Saver* - 1.5%

https://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/content/dam/cbs/member/pdfs/savings/rate-change-notice.pdf

(*historic account, not available to new applicants)

phillw

Patr100 said:
I need evidence that interest over the 85k is also protected.

It won't be, if they have already paid the interest then it's just included in your balance. If they haven't paid the interest and go bust, then you won't get it.

Either withdraw the money to get below 85k every time interest is added or accept it as a risk, that you might lose it if they go under.

Expotter

Does anyone know if Zopa request to upload a photo ID (like Chase do) to open their saver account?

soulsaver

Expotter said:

Does anyone know if Zopa request to upload a photo ID (like Chase do) to open their saver account?

Not if they can ID you electronically. Not sure of their process if they can't.

janusdesign

it looks like Sainsburys Bank are offering a Defined Access Saver account offering 1.4% for £1k upto £500k - three withdrawals per year, with interest dropping to 0.8% if you withdraw 4 or more times.