Stretching a little money a long way

FunLovinCriminal

Hi there
I am trying to make the little savings we have a long way.  Currently I have £2500 in a TSB Classic account.  I struggle with time, as we have young children, and I supplement my supermarket wages with Swagbucks, instagc, online earning etc.  I believe my TSB account earns 3% upto £1500? So the extra £1000 is just not doing anything?  The online earnings goes in to a savings account with Bank of Scotland, earning 0.20% annually.  I watched Martin's show a couple of weeks ago and he was was talking marquis? marcus? but I've not heard of them - can anyone offer some simple advice please?

jscol

Its Marcus. Its owned by Goldman Sachs. Its safe and reputable. It pays 1.35% interest. Its online only. I have a Marcus account and it's easy to use. 
A regular saver style account could offer you a slighty higher rate of interest but you would lose all the flexibility that comes with the Marcus account. 

ColdIron

If you have a TSB Classic account it won't be making any interest at all, it's the Classic Plus account that pays 3%. 0.20% is a dreadful rate so you should move all the money in that BoS account to something like Marcus (an easy to open and operate savings account paying 1.35% variable), move £1,000 doing nothing at TSB there as well and upgrade to Classic Plus if it is not already. Classic Plus requires that you pay in £500 per month and turn on paperless correspondence, both easily achieved

colsten

Assuming you have not had a Nationwide FlexDirect account yet: have a look whether switching your TSB account to FlexDirect, using the Nationwide Refer A Friend offer, would suit you. The interest on the TSB account is likely to stop in the near future, in any case, so you might as well move sooner, especially if it is for 5% + £100. Make sure you comply with the referral T&Cs.

Once you have done your first switch offer, you might feel ready for doing some others.

FunLovinCriminal

Apologies, its the Classic PLUS account I have with TSB Prior to thatI had the nationwide account, and benefitted from the promotional rate.  I also had a Santander 1,2,3 account, but changed to Natwest - but both got too messy to keep having to remember to move money between the three accounts.  My mortgage is with Virgin, I have just seen a savings account with 2% with them?  Thank you for all your advice

badger09

FunLovinCriminal said:

Apologies, its the Classic PLUS account I have with TSB Prior to thatI had the nationwide account, and benefitted from the promotional rate.  I also had a Santander 1,2,3 account, but changed to Natwest - but both got too messy to keep having to remember to move money between the three accounts.  My mortgage is with Virgin, I have just seen a savings account with 2% with them?  Thank you for all your advice

The 2 % account is a regular saver. Max you can pay in each month is £250 so it would take you 4 months to feed in your 'excess' £1k. However, its really easy to open & operate and after the 4 months you could pay in any spare savings you have - up to £250 per month. The other advantage is that, unlike some regular savers, you can take money out whenever you want, without any penalty. 2% is more than you're getting at the moment.

FunLovinCriminal

So I set up the 2% virgin account. Paid £250 to set it up. It says max payment of £250 ,PER CALENDAR MONTH. I paid it 23rd Feb. Is a calendar month meaning I cannot deposit again til 23rd march?

ColdIron

No, you can make the next payment on March 1st and the same for every subsequent month

FunLovinCriminal

Now that TSB has slashed their rate, would I be better moving all to Virgin Money?

xylophone

Have you ever had a Nationwide Flexdirect Account?
https://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/current-accounts/flexdirect/managing-your-account?cmpid=PPC_1_1_71700000047570365_nationwide+flexdirect&ds_rl=1235563&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIy5-l9taZ6AIVibbtCh3zEwZ5EAAYASABEgJIv_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#tab:Managingyouraccount
If not (see above) you could earn 5% for a year on up to £2500.
The £1000 a month is easily managed - you can do it in seconds there and back from your TSB or have your salary paid into it etc etc.

FunLovinCriminal

Sadly I have already had the Nationwide account.  Also did Natwest and Satander accounts. So looking for something that can earn me some cash. But thanks for the advice.