First direct reduction in interest rates including regular saver

Poor_Leno

andi2 wrote: »

Arrghhh - my First Direct regular saver matures tomorrow

Your maturing account will still pay you 5% interest, its only when you open a new one that the rate will drop.

andi2 wrote: »

Smile and be happy

rich_jtg

The new rate seems to be the equivalent of putting £3600 in a 1.49% account for a year. Not sure it's worth the hassle.

ctdctd

rich_jtg wrote: »

The new rate seems to be the equivalent of putting £3600 in a 1.49% account for a year. Not sure it's worth the hassle.

Only if you don't understand how RS's work - what about the interest the £3600 will be earning when it isn't in the RS?

YorkshireBoy

ctdctd wrote: »

Only if you don't understand how RS's work - what about the interest the £3600 will be earning when it isn't in the RS?

It'll be around £25 over the year...50p/wk. Maybe they don't consider it worthwhile. I suppose it all depends on how much work you're prepared to put in for 2.17% AER...bearing mind it's very little if you automate.

binaryuniverse

rich_jtg wrote: »

The new rate seems to be the equivalent of putting £3600 in a 1.49% account for a year. Not sure it's worth the hassle.

Now work out the total interest if you were to have £3600 in a 1.49% paying account and drip feed it in the RS, over a year.






(It's £78).

abz88

You can open a Saffron online easy access savings account first and then open the Regular Saver via post (the previous 3.5% RS of theres let you do it online if you had another account but not sure that is still the case)

Eco_Miser

Rich2808 wrote: »

And the Virgin account is also branch only isn't it - albeit they have far more branches since their Clydesdale link up.

Yes, and not yet. The merger needs High Court approval, which should happen later this month, and then they need to migrate the Virgin systems to Clydesdale, and rebrand the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank branches to Virgin, if that's what they're going to do.

20SmthngSver

Rich2808 wrote: »

The Saffron account is branch only for new customers - so is only open to all if you live in Essex/East Herts/South Cambridgeshire.

And the Virgin account is also branch only isn't it - albeit they have far more branches since their Clydesdale link up.

Not true. The regions you're referring to are wrong. First, the 3% regular saver is open to anyone. Second, I think you're confusing it with the 170th Birthday account, which is post code specific, but only to Essex, Herts as a whole (AL is included, which is St Alban's, as is in West Hertfordshire) and Cambridgeshire. IG also covers Norfolk and Suffolk. Basically, you can open this account in a county where they have a branch.