Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Special_Saver2

Hi Folks,

I just completed an update for the first page of this thread. Here are the items that I have updated.

- Stafford Railway BS Regular Saver (Issue 1) interest rate increased to 5.15% gross p.a. variable from 1st October 2023 

- Melton BS Regular Saver (Issue 4) added paying 5.5% gross p.a. variable on up to £150 per month until 19th November 2025

- Tipton and Coseley BS Fixed Rate Regular Saver until 31.10.24 added paying 6.2% gross p.a. fixed on up to £250 per month until 31st October 2024, branch only, no withdrawals allowed until the account matures (although if you miss three payments then the account will be converted to an easy access account)

- Yorkshire BS Loyalty Regular eSaver 2023 (online) and Yorkshire BS Loyalty Regular Saver 2023 (branch based) added paying 7% gross p.a. variable on up to £250 per month for 1 year, only available to existing members of Yorkshire BS, Chelsea BS, and Norwich & Peterborough BS who have held an account for a year

- Nationwide BS Flex Regular Saver (Issue 2) added paying 8% gross p.a. variable on up to £250 per month for 1 year, online only, only available to Nationwide current account holders.

I will do the next update within the next 2 weeks.

SS2

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For those new to this thread, the first few posts are regularly updated and are on the first page
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6106986/regular-savings-accounts-the-best-currently-available-list/p1

Bigwheels1111

Nationwide is £200 a month. Not £250.

Ed-1

And YBS is £500, not £250

pecunianonolet

When does the lovely Monmouthshire BS credit payments in? Made a transfer in this morning from my nominated account at around 10:30 am and nothing has arrived yet. Have I screwed up  and funds will now only arrive on Monday? Wanted to transfer from the Easy Saver to the Reg Savers to have today as opening date 

dlevene

dlevene said:

Re. Mon BS. I received the form that also asked for a original or certified statement. I called them up, and when the rep saw that I'd paid one of the initial deposits by cheque, told me to note this on the form and that a statement wouldn't be required. The mandate ultimately went through fine without a statement. 

I do find it a slightly frustrating way of doing business but it did all get sorted out in the end. I think the advantage of the rather... quaint approach is that when you can get to the right rep they can do quite a lot. 

Nationwide, on the other hand... There's a problem with the current account switch in that their system didn't link it to my existing customer profile (I have my mortgage with them). They said they'd put it in the system, which would take 3-10 working days to resolve, and this is before we even get to the switch bonus or RS... 🤦🏽‍♂️

This is the joy of this particular hobby. But most hobbies don't *make* money

I should have also said - I did, very politely, tell MBS of my troubles, and they credited me with £25. I was reminded of this because Nationwide just called me (unprompted!) and offered me £75 as an apology for their issues!

So that's £100, on top of the switch bonus, on top of the interest from the rate tarting. Worth a bit off hassle in my opinion.

surreysaver

WillPS said:

ryaneberry said:

Altior said:

zagfles said:

Altior said:

I suspect some people are looking at it the wrong way. The '13th' payment is irrelevant. What is relevant is that if you used the workaround, you're effectively pulling forward the remaining payments after the first one, by almost a month. The overall 'effect' of that is similar to having a bonus payment at the beginning. 

The question for me would be is that risking the potential wrath of Nationwide. Almost certainly not, but the modest upside isn't worth the risk, even if it's a well worn tactic. 

Seriously? It's using the account the way it's designed to be used! NW have always done RS accounts like this, inc their "start to save" accounts. They are fully aware that nearly everyone will have 13 calendar months to increase their balance and that the second payment could be the day after the first if opened at the end of the month.

If they didn't like people doing this they'd have similar T&Cs to Santander where a "month" starts on the date the account is opened. 

There are some uber MSE ways of expoliting bank offers, such as using the NatWest "round up" facility to make hundreds of £1.01 debit card payments, that could well incur "wrath". But paying in £200 every calendar month to an account that allows £200 every calendar month? Nah...

I'm not sure if you read through what I wrote, that was the question for me. I also wrote, almost certainly it would not [be a problem]. I feel it is self evident that the account is not designed to be used that way, as it discusses the total interest over the period in the terms, and this would not include using the workaround of 13 payments.

People can do whatever they like, nudge any grey areas and potential loopholes they see fit. I do so myself, but the rather modest gain on this one doesn't justify any perceived risk to me of losing access to all of Nationwide's products and profit distribution.

To be clear, I have over £50K in stoozing funds, and about 20% is from Nationwide. So I am already funding this new account with their own capital  

£1.01 payments?! Those are rookie numbers, my council takes £0.01 payments for council tax... 500 payments in a couple months were made before I got bored

There's a good chance that this pursuit for a tiny bit more interest has cost your local council considerably more than the £5 you have paid them. Have a think about that next time there's a local service you wish was better.

If the council cannot manage payments to control those costs, then they're probably losing a hell of a lot more from other sources through a lack of competence 

pecunianonolet

dlevene said:

dlevene said:

Re. Mon BS. I received the form that also asked for a original or certified statement. I called them up, and when the rep saw that I'd paid one of the initial deposits by cheque, told me to note this on the form and that a statement wouldn't be required. The mandate ultimately went through fine without a statement. 

I do find it a slightly frustrating way of doing business but it did all get sorted out in the end. I think the advantage of the rather... quaint approach is that when you can get to the right rep they can do quite a lot. 

Nationwide, on the other hand... There's a problem with the current account switch in that their system didn't link it to my existing customer profile (I have my mortgage with them). They said they'd put it in the system, which would take 3-10 working days to resolve, and this is before we even get to the switch bonus or RS... 🤦🏽‍♂️

This is the joy of this particular hobby. But most hobbies don't *make* money

I should have also said - I did, very politely, tell MBS of my troubles, and they credited me with £25. I was reminded of this because Nationwide just called me (unprompted!) and offered me £75 as an apology for their issues!

So that's £100, on top of the switch bonus, on top of the interest from the rate tarting. Worth a bit off hassle in my opinion.

When I asked them via secure message about other ways of approval instead of sending a statement (I also cited the cost for post office certify cost) I got a reply that they verified it online and it was approved. No forms or statements to be returned via snailmail. 

t1redmonkey

pecunianonolet said:

When does the lovely Monmouthshire BS credit payments in? Made a transfer in this morning from my nominated account at around 10:30 am and nothing has arrived yet. Have I screwed up  and funds will now only arrive on Monday? Wanted to transfer from the Easy Saver to the Reg Savers to have today as opening date 

Can take a while to update if you're checking online.  I deposited to one account with them on Monday around 11am, but didn't see it on my online account until Wednesday.  However it did correctly show the deposit date as Monday.

r6mile

I got the letter from MonBS asking me for an original or certified copy of my bank statement, to send back in the included pre-paid envelope. Except there was no pre paid envelope! I also got a secure message from them telling that it was not possible to withdraw from these accounts as funds must be held until maturity - which is not true for these accounts (I double checked the T&Cs).

I think I’ve given up with them and am going to ring them on Monday to ask if I can just close my accounts and have them send me a cheque with my funds; it’s not worth it really for the small sums involved. Lesson learned for the future - not to be attracted to these micro Building Societies just because they might have the top rate. For comparison, my recent experiences with both Coventry and Skipton have been extremely efficient so clearly it doesn’t have to be this way.

PloughmansLunch

I queried the MonBS letter with a missing nominated account form, and their customer services said just to send a PDF statement via secure message rather than post a hard copy.