Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Fingerbobs

RG2015 said:

Gers said:

My First Direct RS matured yesterday - monies in savings account this morning and moved out to another bank.  New RS account opened and funded in five minutes. Very impressive given that the process used to be much longer.

My interest is £135.58.

Exactly the same for me and my new regular saver account is showing in the app.

This is the first time in several years that my new £300 standing order will be the same date as the previous one.

Weirdly, I've just done exactly the same, but I got a message saying my new account would be opened in 3 working days. Applied via the App. 

AmityNeon

I assume First Direct utilises the same underlying systems to calculate interest as HSBC. When my HSBC Regular Saver matured, interest was £0.62 less than expected.

Long story short:

1. Payment windows are based on calendar months.
2. The maximum monthly balance (i.e. the balance on which full interest is paid) is defined by account month (not calendar month). On balances above the maximum monthly balance (possible when a payment is made earlier in the month as per #1), the standard rate of interest is paid.
3. The crux: Displaced Annual Period (my own term)
   The 'account month' does not simply start each month on the same day of the month the account was opened. In my case, my first 'account month' contained 28 days, with subsequent months containing 31, 30, 31 days etc. matching an account year that starts in February; however, my account was not opened in February, so the day of the month the monthly maximum balance increased was constantly shifting each month, due to this 'displaced' annual period being superimposed onto my account.

The full story involved HSBC complaint handlers failing to understand their own systems, repeatedly providing incorrect information regarding precisely how the interest figure was calculated, attempting to dismiss me with an even lower figure calculated by 'senior' staff, followed by an escalation to the FOS that resulted in me receiving compensation worth far more than the total interest earned on the regular saver (plus a spreadsheet I was able to analyse to ascertain the above points—I doubt anyone in an official capacity would have bothered to explain it even if they could).

jameseonline

schiff said:

While we're talking about pennies may ask a simple question.
If I deposit funds into an interest bearing account at midday say, and draw it out at ten minutes past midnight, do I get one day's interest?
TYIA

I've also been wondering that🤔🙄😏🤣😂😁😌

AmityNeon

jameseonline said:

schiff said:

While we're talking about pennies may ask a simple question.
If I deposit funds into an interest bearing account at midday say, and draw it out at ten minutes past midnight, do I get one day's interest?
TYIA

I've also been wondering that🤔🙄😏🤣😂😁😌

In most cases, yes. The most common exception would be providers that don't pay interest on deposits received on non-working days.

RG2015

Fingerbobs said:

RG2015 said:

Gers said:

My First Direct RS matured yesterday - monies in savings account this morning and moved out to another bank.  New RS account opened and funded in five minutes. Very impressive given that the process used to be much longer.

My interest is £135.58.

Exactly the same for me and my new regular saver account is showing in the app.

This is the first time in several years that my new £300 standing order will be the same date as the previous one.

Weirdly, I've just done exactly the same, but I got a message saying my new account would be opened in 3 working days. Applied via the App. 

I got the same message but thought it said within 3 working days.

Nevertheless, it appeared in the app about an hour after I opened it. (I had checked twice within that first hour and it had not appeared.)

allegro120

Bridlington1 said:

WillPS said:

No standing order is actually needed at all I find - ours are all funded manually from a non-Natwest Group source on the first of every month.

Though it's worth noting that deposits into the NatWest group regular savers don't start earning interest until the next working day if funds are received on a non-working day. 

I fund mine on the first working day of the month rather than the first of every month for this reason. I still make my deposits manually though.

Next month will be one of those, 1st June falls on Saturday so it will be 3rd June for some RS deposits. In my collection this affects Bos, Halifax, Lloyds, Co-op, Hanley, Mansfield, Natwest, RBS, Saffron and Tipton.

allegro120

dealyboy said:

Gers said:

My First Direct RS matured yesterday - monies in savings account this morning and moved out to another bank.  New RS account opened and funded in five minutes. Very impressive given that the process used to be much longer.

My interest is £135.58.

I don't think the process is necessarily any quicker, but the quick turnaround being because you had a 'Savings Account'. I didn't have that a couple of months ago and although I was able to obtain the balance + interest (£137.05) two days after maturity following a phone call, I did have to wait a few extra days for the RS to convert to a Savings Account before allowing me to open a new RS. I have read before that it may be a good idea to open a Savings Account before maturity.

I always had a 'savings accounts' ready for receiving funds from RS and yet it always takes few days until the funds received and I can open a new RS.  My current one matures tomorrow, we'll see what happens this time round.

AmityNeon

allegro120 said:

Bridlington1 said:

WillPS said:

No standing order is actually needed at all I find - ours are all funded manually from a non-Natwest Group source on the first of every month.

Though it's worth noting that deposits into the NatWest group regular savers don't start earning interest until the next working day if funds are received on a non-working day.

I fund mine on the first working day of the month rather than the first of every month for this reason. I still make my deposits manually though.

Next month will be one of those, 1st June falls on Saturday so it will be 3rd June for some RS deposits. In my collection this affects Bos, Halifax, Lloyds, Co-op, Hanley, Mansfield, Natwest, RBS, Saffron and Tipton.

LBG pays interest on deposits received on non-working days.

Kim_13

Saffron

I have easily made a transfer to my current account in the past, but this functionality seems to have disappeared; my only option now is an internal transfer. Has anyone successfully transferred to a current account recently? Thinking ahead as the Members’ Month Regular Saver matures next month.

Bridlington1

Kim_13 said:

Saffron

I have easily made a transfer to my current account in the past, but this functionality seems to have disappeared; my only option now is an internal transfer. Has anyone successfully transferred to a current account recently? Thinking ahead as the Members’ Month Regular Saver matures next month.

I've just checked and I still seem to have the option to make a payment from my Small Saver to my nominated account, though peculiarly I ``refreshed" my Small Saver on Tuesday and instead of paying the interest to my nominated account as they normally do, it seems to have remained in the Small Saver: