Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

SnowMan

apt wrote: »

First Direct has launched a 5% Regular Saver linked to its current account. Deposit £25-£300 per month. One year term. http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/regular-saver-overview.shtml

Good spot. I'll be opening one.

One thing to bear in mind is that you can't change the payment date. If you open it today (27th) all subsequent payments go on the 27th of each month and you can't change that. So open the account on the same day that you want money to go out subsequently, I'm guessing it will be around for at least a month so there is no rush.

And must have FD current account for the full 12 months (so there is a tie in going on) although that probably won't worry most who happily bank with FD.

Lady_K

What is the best date of the month to open and put money in each month with these regular savings accounts to make the most of the interest? can't get my head around it at the moment

jimbow25

Lady_K wrote: »

What is the best date of the month to open and put money in each month with these regular savings accounts to make the most of the interest? can't get my head around it at the moment

Month 1 - near the end of the month
Months 2-12 - the first of the month
You should also be able to get a month 13 deposit in, before the anniversary, unless the T&Cs specifically say you can't (in most cases you can).

So if you make your first deposit on 25th September and then change the standing order to the first of each month from 1st October you will have 2 payments in there for almost the whole 12 months.

I wouldn't recommend making the first payment too near the end of the month in case it didn't clear until the next month. I usually aim to open accounts so I can make the first deposit 5-7 days before the month. The absolute maximum difference timing it "right" will make to your interest is probably under £10 over a year though so I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.

financial_illiterate

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

- Earlier this week, I moved the NatWest and RBS regular savers from post 4 to post 5 as they require the customer to open a current or savings account and keep this open throughout the 12 month period
SS2

Fair enough, but so does the Halifax one; it didn't for you, as you already have other accounts with Halifax, but I would have had to open an ordinary savings account in order to specify where I wanted my money to go after 12 months; this put me off.

Because I already bank with Natwest, I wasn't required to open another account in order to open the regular saver.

Basically, both accounts are the same in the respect of having to have another account; whether they belong in post 4 or post 5 is down to your own individual circumstances!

rb10

financial_illiterate wrote: »

Fair enough, but so does the Halifax one; it didn't for you, as you already have other accounts with Halifax, but I would have had to open an ordinary savings account in order to specify where I wanted my money to go after 12 months; this put me off.

The Halifax one only requires you to put £1 into a savings account, so surely hardly counts. If you don't have one already, it's only an extra box to tick on the application form.

financial_illiterate

rb10 wrote: »

The Halifax one only requires you to put £1 into a savings account, so surely hardly counts. If you don't have one already, it's only an extra box to tick on the application form.

Fair enough; didn't realise that. I can't see anything in the Natwest t&c's that'd makes me think you'd have to put any more than £1 in one of their savings account either though?

Still, as an existing customer I didn't need to fill in an application form, let alone tick an extra box!!

flyingscotno1

I don't think you have to put any money in the other savings account with HBOS, mine sits empty and unclickable with 'Nominated Account' beside the details and has done for a number of months since day 1.

Special_Saver2

Hi Folks,

apt wrote: »

First Direct has launched a 5% Regular Saver linked to its current account. Deposit £25-£300 per month. One year term. http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/regular-saver-overview.shtml

Thanks for posting that here. I am having some trouble with my internet connection right now but I shall try and put the details into post 5 later.

financial_illiterate wrote: »

Fair enough, but so does the Halifax one; it didn't for you, as you already have other accounts with Halifax, but I would have had to open an ordinary savings account in order to specify where I wanted my money to go after 12 months; this put me off.

Because I already bank with Natwest, I wasn't required to open another account in order to open the regular saver.

Basically, both accounts are the same in the respect of having to have another account; whether they belong in post 4 or post 5 is down to your own individual circumstances!

Funnily enough, I thought about moving the Halifax account into post 5 too last week but I left it in post 4 for the reasons mentioned in the posts above - opening the nominated account is just an extra box to tick on the application form and you do not need to fund the nominated account. I will make that clearer in my description for the Halifax account in post 4.

I think it is valuable to separate out the accounts into posts 4 and 5. The accounts in post 5 are more hassle, require a credit check (if you are opening a current account) or require you to leave money in a sub-standard savings account. If you happen to have the right sort of account with that institution already then this is not a problem.

I do wonder though whether the NatWest / RBS accounts are more suited to post 4. Is it easy open a separate savings account with a nominal amount of money (e.g. £1) to meet the terms and conditions? If so, then I would be happy to move this account into post 4 with an explanatory note.

As a matter of interest, has anybody been able to open a regular savings account with both NatWest and RBS?

SS2

steveteach

Hi I have a NatWest Regular saver and am awaiting the account number for a savings account with RBS (needed to open Regular Saver). RBS have been slow in opening the savings account as it is a week since I sent the forms and opening cheque back. Once that is open I intend to open a RBS Regular Saver. I will write my sucess/failure when I have tried to open the account.

financial_illiterate

Special_Saver2 wrote: »

Hi Folks,

I do wonder though whether the NatWest / RBS accounts are more suited to post 4. Is it easy open a separate savings account with a nominal amount of money (e.g. £1) to meet the terms and conditions? If so, then I would be happy to move this account into post 4 with an explanatory note.

I couldn't tell you, I've been an existing customer for longer than I care to remember so opening an account from scratch hasn't been necessary for quite a while.

As long as you're willing to take the relevant id and go to a branch (which is a requirement for the regular saver anyway), I can't see it being any more difficult than anywhere else.