MSE Poll: How much is in your current account TODAY?

dougthejag

I keep a small amount in my main current account and top it up every week from other accounts. I use a different account to pay direct debits. I treat it partly to restrict those with access to my bank details to limit the possibility of being scammed.

ginger_chocolate

I'm a bit baffled as to why so many people keep so much money in their main current account too. If you have £15000 knocking around why wouldn't you invest it, pay off your mortgage, stick it in a decent ISA or even just blow the lot on a nice new car/holiday?

Is there some advantage to keeping that much in a current account that I'm missing? Or is this just people who've just been paid that have very large salaries and equally large monthly expenses?!

geoffW

ginger_chocolate wrote: »

I'm a bit baffled as to why so many people keep so much money in their main current account too. If you have £15000 knocking around why wouldn't you invest it, pay off your mortgage, stick it in a decent ISA or even just blow the lot on a nice new car/holiday?

Is there some advantage to keeping that much in a current account that I'm missing? Or is this just people who've just been paid that have very large salaries and equally large monthly expenses?!

You will find that most people with £15000+ in their current account will be with Santander 123 which pays 1.5% up to £20000, however if you ask the same question after May many will have moved their savings somewhere else as interest rates are changing then.

shzl400

I think the expectation is that most people would have the majority of their salary in their accounts, assuming they get paid on the traditional payday on the last day of the month. Mine's at a low ebb at this time of the month, as my payday is the 15th.

Gavin83

I only have as much money in my current account as I need to live that month. Any excess is stuck in a savings account or elsewhere. So my current account balance is never very high. It's normally at its highest as soon as a I get paid but within a day I've entered everything into my financial spreadsheet and moved the majority of it elsewhere.

Dineen33

ginger_chocolate wrote: »

I'm a bit baffled as to why so many people keep so much money in their main current account too. If you have £15000 knocking around why wouldn't you invest it, pay off your mortgage, stick it in a decent ISA or even just blow the lot on a nice new car/holiday?

Is there some advantage to keeping that much in a current account that I'm missing? Or is this just people who've just been paid that have very large salaries and equally large monthly expenses?!

I'm not messing around for what interest they pay nowadays, 1% on £10k is £2 a week. I'm not wasting time for the equivalent of half a lager.

XRAT

Although the Santander 123 account is a current account, I use it as a savings account.., so I didn't include it.
Like most money savers my current account contains sufficient to pay my wife's monthly expenditure, except today is payday. Yay!

Takmon

Dineen33 wrote: »

I'm not messing around for what interest they pay nowadays, 1% on £10k is £2 a week. I'm not wasting time for the equivalent of half a lager.

You can easily get more than 1% using regular savers and other accounts. But if the money is long term savings then you will get far far more by investing it.

NaughtiusMaximus

shzl400 said:

I think the expectation is that most people would have the majority of their salary in their accounts, assuming they get paid on the traditional payday on the last day of the month. Mine's at a low ebb at this time of the month, as my payday is the 15th.

Not in my case, for most of the month I only have around £100 in my current account.

All my direct debits go out the day after payday, I pay off credit cards in full within a few days of payday, then transfer most of the surplus to my savings account. All card purchases are made on credit card in order to earn cashback.

Dineen33

Takmon said:

Dineen33 wrote: »

I'm not messing around for what interest they pay nowadays, 1% on £10k is £2 a week. I'm not wasting time for the equivalent of half a lager.

You can easily get more than 1% using regular savers and other accounts. But if the money is long term savings then you will get far far more by investing it.

Yes, I hold shares, unit trusts, premium bonds, NI index linked certs, and (thanks to this site) some at 1.8% through HL. theres a regular saver @ 5% and £1500 in TSB (frankly the admin for under £4 a month is a PITA), but I'm only talking about £10k which will probably halve in the next 12 months anyway.