Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Special_Saver2

Hi Folks,

Here is a further update:

- Britannia Home Saver interest rate down 0.5% to 3.5% from 31st January

- Abbey Super Fixed Rate Monthly Saver Issue 5 paying 7% and Fixed Rate Monthly Saver Issue 9 paying 5% will be withdrawn from the end of business tomorrow according to emoneyfacts. They will be replaced by Issue 6 paying 6.5% and Issue 10 paying 4.5% respectively from 1st February. I will update this on the first page of this thread on or after 1st February.

- Monmouthshire BS Christmas Saver and Saver Plus accounts will be withdrawn from the end of business tomorrow according to emoneyfacts. The interest rate will be 3.05% on the "Issue 1" Christmas Saver and Saver Plus accounts from 1st February on both of these accounts according to the Monmouthshire BS website which has already been updated in advance! This includes bonus interest of 3%.

From Monday, if you want to open these accounts then you can open Issue 2 Christmas Saver and Saver Plus accounts paying 2.85%. This includes 1% bonus interest. If 2.85% is competitive once all the interest rate cuts have filtered through then these accounts will be added to post 2 of this thread.

SS2

bristolleedsfan

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

Hi everybody,

First of all, here is a quick update:
- Chelsea BS Monthly Saver interest rate down 0.5% to 4.5% from 30th January 2009 according to emoneyfacts
-quote]



This isnt a conventional regular saver.

CHELSEA MONTHLY EXTRA (-0.50%): Year 1 - 4.50%

http://www.thechelsea.co.uk/savings/invest_intrates_current_current.html#CRSA

See Footnote 6

http://www.thechelsea.co.uk/savings/invest_intrates_current_current.html#Notes

Special_Saver2

Hi bristolleedsfan,

Nice to see you here. I see from steady__eddie's post that it was thanks to a post by you on another thread that we know that the Scottish BS Regular Saver does not have a minimum balance of £1,000. Scottish BS never did reply to the e-mail that I sent them before steady__eddie's post.

As for the Chelsea Monthly Extra, all the details are in post 6 of this thread. When I write the update posts for this thread, I usually only give lots of details for new accounts or accounts that do not feature on the first page of this thread. I hope that seems reasonable.

SS2

JYK

Oinions4u.
First Direct Regular Saver ISA at 7% is probably the best available but only for those holding or opening a current account with them requiring at least £1500pm to be paid in,

Special_Saver2

Hi folks,

I hope you all had a nice day today. I was one of the few people who went to work today. It is amazing what havoc a bit of unexpected snow can cause!

Anyway, here is a further update:

- Yorkshire BS Regular Saver Issue 2 interest rate down 0.5% to 3.75%

- Abbey Fixed Rate Monthly Saver now paying 4.5% (no longer 5%) for new applicants. Note that the Abbey website is still calling it issue 9. This may be one of Abbey's typographical errors or perhaps they are trying to stop people with an existing issue 9 account from opening another Monthly Saver. (You can hold one of each issue of their accounts, e.g. you can hold an issue 9 and an issue 8 account at the same time but you cannot have two issue 9 accounts at the same time.)

- Abbey Super Fixed Rate Monthly Issue 5 paying 7% now replaced with Issue 6 paying 6.5%. (This is one of those sorts of accounts where you have to take out an investment or insurance product at the same time, see post 6.)

- Yorkshire BS Internet Saver (feeder account section) interest rate down 0.5% to 3.25%

There are still some interest rates which have not changed yet. That is why, for example, the Yorkshire BS Internet Saver account remains above the Tesco Internet Saver account at the moment. This weekend I will do a further update. If all the interest rate changes have filtered through then I will re-order the variable interest rate accounts and add or remove any accounts depending on whether they are competitive compared to the best general savings accounts.

SS2

Special_Saver2

JYK wrote: »

Oinions4u.
First Direct Regular Saver ISA at 7% is probably the best available but only for those holding or opening a current account with them requiring at least £1500pm to be paid in,

Whilst having another look at the First Direct website for the exact details of the account above, I saw that the 8% non-ISA Regular Saver is still on their website. I removed it from the first page of this thread ages ago because people with First Direct accounts posted that this account was no longer available. When you click on "Apply" then you have to log in to an existing First Direct account if you want to apply for the regular saver.

Could anybody who has a First Direct 1st Account just confirm whether this regular saver account is currently available after you log in?

I thought I would just double check as an 8% fixed interest rate is pretty good at the moment and you get a £100 bonus for opening (and £100 bonus for closing!) a First Direct 1st Account if you have never had one before. On the other hand, you can get an 8% fixed interest regular saver with HSBC's branch network (see post 5) and only pay £500 into the linked current account rather than £1,500 per month with HSBC's First Direct arm.

Interestingly, I also see that simply having a savings account is no longer a way of getting out of First Direct's £10 per month charge for new account holders from today. From this page:

Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but it's free when you pay in at least £1,500 to your 1st Account each month, or maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,500 or hold a first direct mortgage (or a selected additional first direct product if your account was opened before 2 February 2009)

SS2

DeepSporran

Saver oxenryd reports here that a new 12 month 6% Abbey saver is available at selected Bradford and Bingley branches. Monthly deposit of £20 to £250 by standing order required. Rate reduces to 5.51% if one withdrawal made.

Link to 'Abbey at Bradford and Bingley' webpage here.

Exceller8

new 12 month 6% Abbey saver is available at selected Bradford and Bingley branches.

Can anyone please let us know if you can still open one of these if you have one with Abbey already? XLR8 :hello: Thanks

elbe

I'm with first direct, (have been for too many years to remember), anyway, in answer to your question, no we can't get the 8% regular saver.

Also as time's gone on I've now only got a few savings accounts with them and only one that has a about £3000. I've just pulled my cash isa and moved it to Halifax. I never pay wages into my cheque account because I'm self employed, paid in cash and work only a few hours a week. Since they introduced the £10 charge I've never had to pay it. Maybe I'm just lucky, hope it stays that way.

Special_Saver2

Hi MoneySavingExperts,

Here is a further update:

- Bradford & Bingley Fixed Rate Monthly Saver added to post 4 (thanks DeepSporran and oxenryd!)
- Abbey Fixed Rate Monthly Saver paying 4.5% is now referred to as Issue 10 on the Abbey website which means you should be able to open one in addition to an existing Issue 9 account judging from past experience from posts 420 and 438
- Tesco Internet Saver (feeder section) interest rate has dropped from 3.6% to 2.5%
- Have added a note to the Marsden BS Christmas Saver entry to make it clear that this rate never dropped following the January base rate cut
- Have removed the "updated" tags from all the variable rate account entries

Now that all the interest rate cuts have filtered through, it is time to adjust the entries on the first page of this thread.

I am going to take my threshold for entry on this list as an interest rate of 3.03% or better before the February Bank of England interest rate cut.

I use the third best general savings account on Martin's Savings page for this cut off. I am going to exclude the ING Direct account (as some people cannot get the bonus interest which is only available to new customers) and the Investec account (which is only available to people who can deposit £25,000 and give 90 days notice for a withdrawal). This means that the third best of the accounts that Martin is recommending is the AA Internet Saver account which is paying 3.03%.

This means that there are several variable rate regular savings accounts which now qualify for inclusion on the first page of this thread. This seems to be mainly due to the fact that there are several regular savings accounts which pay bonus interest of 3%.

I cannot read through all the terms and conditions of all these accounts right now but as soon as I have the chance I will add them to the first page of this thread. If you want to have a look now though, I include a list below.

Accounts to be added (paying at least 3.03% gross p.a.)

Accounts with no maturity date:
(I think these have no maturity date having had a quick look at the details but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I have not had a long time to look at the terms and conditions.)

Leeds BS RegularSaver - 3.25%
Mansfield BS Regular Savings - 3.25%
Beverley BS Monthly Saver - 3.1% (see post 503 for details)

Accounts with a high interest rate for 12 months:

Ipswich BS Target Saver 4 - 3.95%
Nottingham BS Regular Saver - 3.45%

All the best,
SS2


P.S. XLR8, I think you should be able to open a Bradford & Bingley Fixed Rate Saver (Issue BBI1) in addition to an existing Abbey Fixed Rate Saver as they are different issues - see posts 420 and 438 on this thread.