Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Biggles

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

We've been asked to sticky this thread

About a dozen times over a period of five years or so, I think.

Still, better late than never.
;-)

SnowMan

Just want to say a big thank you to Special Saver for this brilliant thread which I can't believe is into its seventh year and still going strong :T:beer:

And many thanks to Andrea for making it a sticky; the thread is sparkling brightly there at the top :beer::T

(I think your suggestion special saver about the sub 2.5% accounts is sensible, personally I wouldn't look at a regular saver below that level unless there was some particular special feature to it)

Special_Saver2

Hi Everybody,

First of all, thanks for all the votes of support for this thread. I cannot believe it has been going this long. This is actually the second incarnation of this thread. I had to start a new thread and get the moderators to close off the first thread as the information had grown too big to be accommodated by the number of posts of the first page of the original thread (there is a character limit per post).

Secondly, apologies that this update is a little late. I did hint at the end of last weekend's post that it might have to be a bit late.

It looks like your efforts have converted this post into a sticky. Wow! As I have said before, this thread is a bit of a team effort with contributions from lots of different people, so thanks to everybody who has provided information for this thread.

Right, let us get on with the business of updating...

I am going to only include regular savers paying 2.5% or better in general, and will include accounts paying 2% or better that have particularly favourable terms and conditions (e.g. no maturity date, or allow payment of 500 pounds or more per month, or have unlimited withdrawals without penalty).

I have removed the Dudley BS Easy Saver Account and replaced it with the One Year Regular Saver, as mentioned above, paying 3% on up to 500 pounds per month for 12 months.

I have added the following accounts:

- Cumberland BS First Home Saver (Issue 2) paying 2.5% on up to 1,500 pounds per month with 90 days' notice or loss of interest if you have never had a mortgage before and have one of their current accounts
- Monmouthshire BS Saver Plus (Issue 2) paying 2.35% on up to 1,000 pounds per month with no maturity date for locals and existing customers
- Darlington BS Junior High Days & Holidays Bonus Saver (children only) paying 2.25% on up to 150 pounds per month up to 15,000 pounds (i.e. at least 8 years' worth of payments)
- Leek United BS Regular Savings paying 2.25% on up to 500 pounds per month with no maturity date, I cannot see anything that says it is restricted to locals and it can be opened by post
- Vernon BS Regular Saver Reward paying 2.15% on up to 500 pounds per month with no maturity date, only available to locals

As you might have guessed, I am out of the UK at the moment and cannot easily generate a pound sterling symbol! (I know there are tricks to do it but it is easier just to type "pounds"!)

I will do another update the weekend of 8th-9th February.

SS2

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For those new to this thread, the first few posts are constantly updated and are here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...d.php?t=608697

PBC

Suppose I have two savings accounts.

Acc 1 calculates the interest daily.
Acc 2 calculates the interest monthly.

What's to stop me moving a wad of money into Acc 2 the day before interest is calculated then moving it back to Acc 1 the day after, then repeating the process month by month?

badger09

PBC wrote: »

Suppose I have two savings accounts.

Acc 1 calculates the interest daily.
Acc 2 calculates the interest monthly.

What's to stop me moving a wad of money into Acc 2 the day before interest is calculated then moving it back to Acc 1 the day after, then repeating the process month by month?

To achieve what?

You will only earn interest on that 'wad' for the time it is in account 2.
in other words, it doesn't matter which account it is in -assuming both have the same rate

PBC

OK, I probably am confused about how interest works. Let me explain my thinking, please let me know if its wrong.

Acc 1 has an AER of 1% and calculates interest daily.
Acc 2 has an AER of 2% and calculates interest monthly.

Say I have £1000. For every day it sits in Acc 1, it earns interest (1% divided by 365).

If I leave it there for 29 days, it earns roughly 79p interest.

Then, if I take it out, put it in Acc 2 for the day that the monthly interest is calculated, it will earn a rate of 2% divided by 12. - £1.67.

So, as I understand it:

Leave it permanently in Acc 1 - earn just over 80p per month.
Leave it permanently in Acc 2 - earn £1.67 per month.

Have it in Acc 1 (29 days) and Acc (1 day) each month - earn over £2.40.

Am I totally barking up the wrong tree?

badger09

PBC wrote: »

OK, I probably am confused about how interest works. Let me explain my thinking, please let me know if its wrong.

Acc 1 has an AER of 1% and calculates interest daily.
Acc 2 has an AER of 2% and calculates interest monthly.

Say I have £1000. For every day it sits in Acc 1, it earns interest (1% divided by 365).

If I leave it there for 29 days, it earns roughly 79p interest.

Then, if I take it out, put it in Acc 2 for the day that the monthly interest is calculated, it will earn a rate of 2% divided by 12. - £1.67.

So, as I understand it:

Leave it permanently in Acc 1 - earn just over 80p per month.
Leave it permanently in Acc 2 - earn £1.67 per month.

Have it in Acc 1 (29 days) and Acc (1 day) each month - earn over £2.40.

Am I totally barking up the wrong tree?

Afraid so:p

Ask yourself this - why would a bank or building society pay you a whole month's interest when they only have your money for a day?

Answer - they won't!

Interest is calculated daily, whether it is credited daily (unlikely), monthly, annually etc

aleph_0

PBC wrote: »

OK, I probably am confused about how interest works. Let me explain my thinking, please let me know if its wrong.

It's wrong.

Interest may be *paid* annually/monthly, but it is still *calculated* on a daily basis. So, instead of £1.67, your interest for Account 2 would be 5p.

PBC

Thanks guys, it certainly seemed to good to be true!

What confuses me is this line in the T & Cs:

Interest is calculated monthly and paid to the account once a year on 31 October.

What does calculated mean in this instance?

The interest interest each month varies depending on how much is paid into the account.

Does this mean that the interest rate for that month is determined once a month, and then retrospectively applied to each daily balance that month?

ColdIron

That sounds like the Nationwide 2.5% Regular Saver. That account is a little different in that the interest rate depends on how much you deposit in a month. E.g. if you deposit £500-£1000 one month you'll get 2.5%, next month if you only pay in £200 - £499 it will only get 1.85%.

Because of this they need to apply the rate on a month by month basis but you can be sure it will be calculated daily for each month in question

Unless of course you've found a flaw in their plan but I don't think so because I seem to recall my first month was a partial month and I got proportionately less interest