Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Bridlington1

fun4everyone said:

friolento said:

If you have the requisite current account at each of the banks, you can have digital savers at both, too

Ty, I will do doing just that then.

Bridlington1 said:

First of all most regular savers go by calendar month you'll earn the most interest if you open and fund them on the last day of the month as you can make your second deposit the next day (1st).

Co-op are quite slow with account openings so I would apply now to secure the account. The term of the Co-op regular saver doesn't start until you make your first deposit so applying now and funding on 31/3/24 would probably be your best bet there.

You can hold both the NatWest and RBS regular savers simultaneously. I have both and have had them for over 2 years now.

Spor on about Co-op being slow. I actually have the current account fully open and ready to go now. It was indeed as you say, slow - but its ready. Very good point about the last day of the month followed by the next one, your banking genius is appreciated Bridlington. I will be attempting to do what you describe.

The Co-op savings account is also slow to set up (mine took nearly a week if my memory serves me well) but you get 30 days to fund it and the term starts when you first fund it so I'd apply for it now if I were you.

Whilst you're at it a lot of building societies offer exclusive regular savers (and other account types) specifically for existing members and/or those who have banked with them continuously for however long (often a year). It would probably be worth opening some building society accounts with £1 so you can become eligible for their ``loyalty" products later on. 

fun4everyone

ColdIron said:

fun4everyone said:

subjecttocontract said:

If you are opening a few regular savers you might want to priorities those paying a fixed interest as rates generally are expected to fall soon. E.g. Halifax, BoS, TSB, FD, West Brom etc.....

Halifax I was waiting until the 1st?

Worst time to open it, do it towards the end of March

Yes, this I now understand and will be aiming for the end of month opening. 

My understanding of this from above posts is its because of allowing payments per calender month.  So open and first payment end of March, next payment 1st April.  I will have to check carefully which regular savers dont use the calender month rule.

fun4everyone

Bridlington1 said:

The Co-op savings account is also slow to set up (mine took nearly a week if my memory serves me well) but you get 30 days to fund it and the term starts when you first fund it so I'd apply for it now if I were you.

Whilst you're at it a lot of building societies offer exclusive regular savers (and other account types) specifically for existing members and/or those who have banked with them continuously for however long (often a year). It would probably be worth opening some building society accounts with £1 so you can become eligible for their ``loyalty" products later on. 

Interesting.  I do have a lot of old building society accounts already, a couple I am already using for their reg savers.  A good tip thanks.

Wheres_My_Cashback

fun4everyone said:

subjecttocontract said:

If you are opening a few regular savers you might want to priorities those paying a fixed interest as rates generally are expected to fall soon. E.g. Halifax, BoS, TSB, FD, West Brom etc.....

Thanks yeah.  Have most of these open already.  FD only got approved for the current account today.  No details or online banking yet, that one will have to wait.  Halifax I was waiting until the 1st?

The vast majority are PCM, apart from HSBC/FD/SAN/COV*

Halifax open/fund 28/3 latest

Coop/Monmouthshire, it doesn't matter when you open as the clock doesn't start until the first funding date which should be late in the month to maximise.

ColdIron

fun4everyone said:

ColdIron said:

fun4everyone said:

subjecttocontract said:

If you are opening a few regular savers you might want to priorities those paying a fixed interest as rates generally are expected to fall soon. E.g. Halifax, BoS, TSB, FD, West Brom etc.....

Halifax I was waiting until the 1st?

Worst time to open it, do it towards the end of March

Yes, this I now understand and will be aiming for the end of month opening. 

My understanding of this from above posts is its because of allowing payments per calender month.  So open and first payment end of March, next payment 1st April

That's right, so your first month (ish) you have £500 earning interest instead of £250, £750 in the second instead of £500 etc. In essence you have an extra £250 earning 5.50% for a year. And you can make a 13th payment

fun4everyone

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

The vast majority are PCM, apart from HSBC/FD/SAN/COV*

Halifax open/fund 28/3 latest

Coop/Monmouthshire, it doesn't matter when you open as the clock doesn't start until the first funding date which should be late in the month to maximise.

ty, ill just go open coop now.

allegro120

ColdIron said:

fun4everyone said:

subjecttocontract said:

If you are opening a few regular savers you might want to priorities those paying a fixed interest as rates generally are expected to fall soon. E.g. Halifax, BoS, TSB, FD, West Brom etc.....

Halifax I was waiting until the 1st?

Worst time to open it, do it towards the end of March

I tend to open them as soon as they are launched.  One of the reasons is that some of them don't stay on the shelves for very long (best example is 7% MonBS turned NLA in one or two days after launch). What is the benefit of waiting until the end of month? If another out of the blue 7% RS became available today what will I gain by keeping £250 (or whatever the allowance might be) in 5.2% EA for an extra 10 days?

jameseonline

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

fun4everyone said:

subjecttocontract said:

If you are opening a few regular savers you might want to priorities those paying a fixed interest as rates generally are expected to fall soon. E.g. Halifax, BoS, TSB, FD, West Brom etc.....

Thanks yeah.  Have most of these open already.  FD only got approved for the current account today.  No details or online banking yet, that one will have to wait.  Halifax I was waiting until the 1st?

The vast majority are PCM, apart from HSBC/FD/SAN/COV*

Halifax open/fund 28/3 latest

Coop/Monmouthshire, it doesn't matter when you open as the clock doesn't start until the first funding date which should be late in the month to maximise.

HSBC & Santander & Coventry (standard regular) only at 5% though so really not worth having,

Also HSBC & Coventry have restrictions/penalties should you wish to get the money early etc.

Where as First Direct is 7% & Coventry Loyalty is 6.75%.

Minimum rate for me is 5.25% for accounts, but that's only because I've exhausted other current options & aim to close in future because I want better accounts, eg Club Lloyds, TSB, Santander Edge Saver, Skipton (opened a rubbish savings account for £1 so hopefully next year I'll get a decent regular etc)

PowerSavingMode

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

The vast majority are PCM, apart from HSBC/FD/SAN/COV*

I've always just put in the funds for Santander and Coventry (and HSBC when it was open (recently matured and closed)) near the beginning of the month regardless of when I opened the accounts — I've never had anything returned, but does that mean I have been wasting 'lost interest' — i.e., if I opened the HSBC originally on the 28th of the month, but have been paying in the monthly top-ups (SO was always the 28th, say) around the 1st of the month, would I not have been paid the interest each month for those 27 days prior to the 28th?

saverbynature

I have a Halifax Regular Saver which matured on Friday and the total value including interest has been transferred to an Instant Saver account they set up for that purpose. Halifax aren't automatically closing Regular Saver accounts on maturity now as they used to but one of their customer service team told me I can't start paying in for the next 12 months until 1st April as I already paid into the saver that's just matured on March 1st. Has anyone attempted to transfer the first payment for a new Halifax Regular Saver in the same month as the last payment for the previous one matured and was it accepted? Or if it isn't acceptable can you get round it by closing the original account and then applying for a new one? 

The reason I'm doubting what I was told is that the same agent also told me that as funds from maturing savers aren't processed until the next working day after maturity my funds wouldn't be transferred to the everyday/instant saver account until Monday as Saturday and Sunday are not considered working days by Halifax. But Halifax sent me an online message in the early hours of this morning with a statement showing the transfer took place on Friday!