Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

soulsaver

Speculator said:

schiff said:

I've got four regular savers maturing the first week of March:
Saffron Walden 5.25%
Lloyds Monthly 5.25%
Bank of Scotland 5.50%
Club Lloyds 6.25%
I feel that we're at something of a critical juncture so it will be interesting to see which way they jump, especially the Club Lloyds.

Renewed and reopened my Club Monthly yesterday. Was due to mature 6th March but didn't want to wait in case Lloyds launch a new issue with a lower rate.

Same applies to the monthly saver. It's 'only' 5.25% but it's fixed.
I just renewed/closed/reopened it..

Why not wait? Well I have a bit of cash flow shortfall at end of the next couple months to feed my RSs, while  waiting for a 95 day notice ac.* to free up funds mid April.

While searching my spread sheet for odds & sods to bridge, had this bright idea that loses next to nowt - and frees up £2k+ into a 5.20% EA (Santander/Beehive, both NLA) ITMT.  -  0.05% less on c£2k for c.1 month is near enough nowt.

The 5.25%, whilst not that good now, is instant access if needed, and reopening it fixes the rate for another year.

Plus, as @Speculator says, Lloyds may replace it lower if I wait... and 5.25% may look a lot better in a few months.  

ETA *RCI 5.60% but reducing to 4.90% near end April..

Bridlington1

Not top regular savers by any strech of the imagination but may be of interest to those who have them sat with minimum balances:
Darlington BS Regular Monthly Saver will reduce from 4.6% to 4.2% from 4/3/24. Source: Letter
Green RS and Special Occasion Saver (both NLA) will also reduce from 4.6% to 4.2% on 4/3/24

proudgecko

hi, struggling to make a decision and would welcome other's thoughts

I am going to to switch to Club Lloyds - to get switch bonus & access to regular saver
For the donor account my options are either a) to open a new donor account to switch or b) switch my Barclays - I only have Barclays to get the Rainy Day saver but that hasn’t been competitive for a while now

I can’t decide if I think the Rainy Day saver will become competitive again, so worth keeping Barclays or just ditch it - anyone got any thoughts

Also, if I open Club Lloyds current account and the Club Lloyds regular saver, can I close the current account later without affecting the regular saver, or am I tied to the current account for the year

pecunianonolet

proudgecko said:

hi, struggling to make a decision and would welcome other's thoughts

I am going to to switch to Club Lloyds - to get switch bonus & access to regular saver
For the donor account my options are either a) to open a new donor account to switch or b) switch my Barclays - I only have Barclays to get the Rainy Day saver but that hasn’t been competitive for a while now

I can’t decide if I think the Rainy Day saver will become competitive again, so worth keeping Barclays or just ditch it - anyone got any thoughts

Also, if I open Club Lloyds current account and the Club Lloyds regular saver, can I close the current account later without affecting the regular saver, or am I tied to the current account for the year

Would open a donor account with Metro Bank, Monzo and the likes where you don't get a hard search. Barclays could be of interest in the future e.g. Rainy Day Saver or any other cashback/reward offers they launch or in case of any credit card deals should that be of interest to you.  

Middle_of_the_Road

proudgecko said:

Also, if I open Club Lloyds current account and the Club Lloyds regular saver, can I close the current account later without affecting the regular saver, or am I tied to the current account for the year

You need a current account to get access to the regular saver, if you close it the you will loose access.

allegro120

proudgecko said:

hi, struggling to make a decision and would welcome other's thoughts

I am going to to switch to Club Lloyds - to get switch bonus & access to regular saver
For the donor account my options are either a) to open a new donor account to switch or b) switch my Barclays - I only have Barclays to get the Rainy Day saver but that hasn’t been competitive for a while now

I can’t decide if I think the Rainy Day saver will become competitive again, so worth keeping Barclays or just ditch it - anyone got any thoughts

Also, if I open Club Lloyds current account and the Club Lloyds regular saver, can I close the current account later without affecting the regular saver, or am I tied to the current account for the year

I keep my Barclays Rainy Day, it could soon become competitive again. I also keep my current account and blue rewards membership, don't see much point in closing accounts unless they require large minimum operating balances (some savings accounts do).

As for the donor account for switching, I would open a new current account.

Nick_C

I wouldn't close Barclays.  The RDS is now "only" paying 5pc, but it has always been 5pc.  I expect the RDS will become a top paying account once more when rates fall.

Club Lloyds is an easy account to maintain, as you don't need any Direct Debits.  Just pay in £2k a month (which you can move straight out again should you choose).

The free Disney Plus streaming service is worth having for free (although I wouldn't pay for it). 

As well as the CLMS, you can open the Lloyds Monthly Saver paying 5.25pc.  Both of the Lloyds regular savers give you instant access to your money if you need it. 

Bridlington1

proudgecko said:

hi, struggling to make a decision and would welcome other's thoughts

I am going to to switch to Club Lloyds - to get switch bonus & access to regular saver
For the donor account my options are either a) to open a new donor account to switch or b) switch my Barclays - I only have Barclays to get the Rainy Day saver but that hasn’t been competitive for a while now

I can’t decide if I think the Rainy Day saver will become competitive again, so worth keeping Barclays or just ditch it - anyone got any thoughts

Also, if I open Club Lloyds current account and the Club Lloyds regular saver, can I close the current account later without affecting the regular saver, or am I tied to the current account for the year

A different take on the above comments, I'd say it's not all that clear cut either way.

On the one hand as others have mentioned there's a good chance the rainy day saver will become competitive in the near future as rates fall and you could potentially benefit from other Barclays products in the future if they're launched, meaning keeping the Barclays account would save time later and be a good option

On the other hand Barclays recently offered a £175 switching offer, which was restricted to those who did not have a Barclays current account when the offer began. By keeping your Barclays account you could potentially end up depriving yourself of a future switching offer should Barclays do something similar again. 

If Barclays relaunched their £175 offer but with a different cut off date, the £175 would be equivalent to around 8 months worth of interest on the rainy day saver (assuming you don't pay tax on savings interest and they don't change the rate on their rainy day saver and you keep the full £5k in there) and this is before you take into account that if the money isn't in Barclays, it will most likely be in another savings account earning interest. In this case the switching incentive would likely earn you much more than the extra interest you would gain on the rainy day saver.

Therefore the trade off so far as I can see is would the extra interest gained in the rainy day saver as rates fall and the possibility of benefiting from any competitive Barclays products (if they are launched in the near future) be worth more than the possibility of being able to get a switching offer from them in the future? A lot of this would depend on how much you think EA rates will fall and how likely you think it is that Barclays will launch another switching offer with similar terms as well as your own tax situation.

Of course there's always the chance that the Barclays switching offer will not return anytime soon or they could launch one that allows existing customers to benefit or excludes previous customers. In the absence of a crystal ball I couldn't honestly tell you which scenario is the most likely to play out though.

Special_Saver2

Hi Folks,

I have just updated the first page of this thread.

- Chorley BS Regular Saver (31.01.25) updated to the current issue (maturing on 31st January 2025)

- Furness BS Christmas Regular Saver (Issue 1) removed from the list as no longer available

- Nationwide BS Flex Regular Saver (Issue 3) added to the list on page 1 paying 6.5% gross p.a. variable on up to £200 per month for 12 months for Nationwide current account holders; you can only be named on one Flex Regular Saver product at any time (of any Issue) so you cannot open this if you still have an issue 2 account.

- Darlington BS Regular Monthly Saver removed from the list as the interest rate is about to fall below the minimum used for inclusion on page 1

I will do the next update in 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

Bridlington1

@Special_Saver2
Issue 48 of the Leeds BS Regular Saver as been replaced by Issue 49 at the same rate. The only difference in terms is the new maturity date of 1/2/26. Apologies, I think I forgot to mention this at the time.

EDIT:
West Brom BS Fixed Rate Regular Saver (Issue 7) is also no longer branch only, it can now be opened online by existing customers and those who live in one of their branch postcode areas (B, DY, WV, WS and SY)