A mix of current and quick access savings accounts - is there anything better for my situation?

Cmdr_Bond

Currently I have 5k sat in a Club Lloyds account and 20k in a Santander big standard savings account earning 0.1‰

I also have a second standard Lloyds bank account, and a Lloyds online saver, as well as a basic Santander bank account.

I'm looking to maximise the interest on these savings, but there are some restrictions.

The main 1 being that the money must ALWAYS be instantly accessible!

It's highly unlikely the will be any regular withdrawals, and probably unlikely there would be any irregular withdrawals, BUT, it HAS to be instantly accessible.

That also means it needs to be able to be managed online. Branch, phone or post are bonuses, but online is a must.

I dislike micromanaging, and while ditch and switch may get better returns, if the difference is marginal, I probably wouldn't bother. This probably applied mostly to regular saver accounts.

So, with the above in mind, my thoughts were as follows.

Maintain my Club Lloyds account.

With 1% on the 1st 4k and 2% on the next 1k, that's 1.2% on 5k = £60/year

Open a TSB Classic Plus and put 1.5k in there, at 3% that's £45/year.

Open a Nationwide FlexDirect and put 2.5k in there. At 5% for the 1st year that's £125, then at 1% thereafter that's £25/year.

I've looked at upgrading the 2nd Lloyds account to Club Lloyds, and the potential of opening up to 3 Bank of Scotland Vantage accounts, but it's farming out the direct debits that's putting me off of this.

Lastly, going back to Nationwide, open a Triple Access 1 year saver - that's 1.1% for 1 year. It then drops to the regular Triple Access Saver which is 0.75%/year and put the remainder in there.

I can maintain the TSB and Nationwide minimum throughout (£500 & £1000 per month respectively).

The beauty with all of these is they're instant access (although the Triple Access does penalise by dropping the interest to 0.1% if you make more than 3 withdrawals in a year), they're all online, but they all have a branch backup of I really need to speak to someone.

So - with the above in mind - and my restrictions - can I do better?

chockydavid1983

Not much else you can do really - if you want it all to be instantly accessible, that rules out regular savers, fixed rate savers and any kind of investments...

Mnd

TSB will pay 3% on £1500 a month. No direct debit requirements, just pay £500 I think, in once a month, which you can transfer straight back so that makes sense.

You could do the Lloyd regular saver as you can access that instantly

Linton

As said above. Perhaps you should focus on establishing a more solid financial base so you can invest for the long term rather than worry about a few £10s in interest. To get decent returns you must think long term.

YorkshireBoy

Marcus (currently at 1.35%) would be better than Lloyds and the other savings accounts you mention.

Have you read the savings article on the main site?

If you haven't had them before, both TSB and Nationwide pay a switching incentive. This will more or less double your return in year 1...in effect, 6% and 10% respectively.

Cmdr_Bond

Mnd wrote: »

TSB will pay 3% on £1500 a month. No direct debit requirements, just pay £500 I think, in once a month, which you can transfer straight back so that makes sense.

You could do the Lloyd regular saver as you can access that instantly

I mentioned the TSB in the OP.

Regular savers bother me because of the bed to ditch and switch to maintain higher interest rates.

Linton wrote: »

As said above. Perhaps you should focus on establishing a more solid financial base so you can invest for the long term rather than worry about a few £10s in interest. To get decent returns you must think long term.

Totally get that, and I'm secure enough that I could lock this away, but SWMBO will not be moved on this and it ALL has to be accessible!

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Marcus (currently at 1.35%) would be better than Lloyds and the other savings accounts you mention.

Have you read the savings article on the main site?

If you haven't had them before, both TSB and Nationwide pay a switching incentive. This will more or less double your return in year 1...in effect, 6% and 10% respectively.

I'll go and look. If Marcus is instantly accessible, that does seem a good option.

As for the switching - yes, but I don't want to move my DDs, despite the bonus for doing so.

Spiggle

Hi,

Replying using your parameters. I had similar 'must be cash and must be immediately accessible' rules for many years.:o

Why do you have £20k in a Santander savings a/c @ 0.1%? Surely you could open a Santander 123 current account (1.45% on balances up to £20k but monthly £5 fee) or the Santander Lite current a/c (you'd have to look up the details on that yourself) and earn one heck of a lot more than that paltry savings int rate.

I have Marcus and it will shortly drop to 1.35% interest (wasn't quick enough renewing!!!:o) but no monthly fee and it is instant transfer BUT it needs to pay out to a verified linked current account. It was a simple process to establish my Sant123 as the verified linked account. AFAIK any current account can be that linked account btw.

I also have TSB and have had NWBS but will likely close that shortly as there is no extra benefit to me i.e. the 12 month period is up and no reg saver available now.

None of the other accounts I hold would meet your criteria but thought this may help in some way.

Good luck,
Spigs

YorkshireBoy

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

As for the switching - yes, but I don't want to move my DDs, despite the bonus for doing so.

You'd move some other accounts opened specifically for the job, or switch some otherwise dormant ones. You'd need some DDs, but they are very easy to come by.

It seems you don't want to do a lot of work for the returns, but by not doing the switches you'd (between you) be missing out on an extra £625. That's a lot of money to most people.

xylophone

20k in a Santander big standard savings account earning 0.1‰

Why not the 123?

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/123-current-account

Cmdr_Bond

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You'd move some other accounts opened specifically for the job, or switch some otherwise dormant ones. You'd need some DDs, but they are very easy to come by.

It seems you don't want to do a lot of work for the returns, but by not doing the switches you'd (between you) be missing out on an extra £625. That's a lot of money to most people.

Put like that, it does sound more worthwhile

xylophone wrote: »

Why not the 123?

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/123-current-account

2 reasons...

1, I wasn't aware of the interest on the balance - it's not listed here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/#interest

2. I've always been distrustful of paid for current accounts as I have, up until now, never been able to make use of the benefits. I only upgraded to Club Lloyds because I met the requirements to waive the fee.

The difference between Marcus and the 123 is interesting.

On 20k, the 123 pays £30/year more interest, but costs £60/year to operate.

The question is, can I make £30 or more back in the cashback options?

I'll have to check my direct debits first - because if so, it's more flexible than Marcus...

But I could still use Marcus for anything above 20k.

Cmdr_Bond

Well, it looks like the Santander 123 could well be an option!

Cashback on bills alone exceeds the monthly fee if I switch all the ones that are eligible.