Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

pafpcg

Two hours to gain £30?  That sounds like a reasonable return - it's above Minimum Wage.

But I see you've not been on the MSE forum long - not long enough to realise that there are some on here that will happily spend two hours to gain 30pence!

ColdIron

It's a bit more than £30, more like £35 for that one, others have higher rates and or monthly amounts

Most here will have many regular savers and it's remarkable how quickly they add up. It won't take 90 mins of reading T&Cs, more like 20 minutes in total (even quicker if you are renewing) and then it runs itself for the rest of the year. I'm more than happy to have £10,000 to £20,000 on average sitting in higher rate accounts than lower rate accounts for a few minutes effort each

Play around with the RS calculator with the drip feed option

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/regular-savings-calculator

Wheres_My_Cashback

Feeding strictly prohibited 

pecunianonolet

MakeVotesMatter said:

Forgive me for being new here, but doesn't seem that worthwhile to drip feed 1 year regular savers. 2 hours wasted for £30 profit?
If I compare co-op 7% regular saver to a 5% easy access account:
Drip feed interest: (£250 * 6 * 0.07) + (£250 * 6 * 0.05) = £180
Non drip feed interest: £250 * 12 * 0.05 = £150
Difference: 180 - 150 = £30 profit
90 mins reading current account & regular saver terms and conditions(~22 page, ~4m per page), and 20 mins setting up account and standing orders is almost 2 hours spent.

1. Your choice to read all ~ 22 pages, most only read the summary and key facts details and only in some circumstances further in case of very specific questions. You can always ask here too and attractive accounts are usually discussed in detail anyway.

2. £30 profit (assuming no tax liability) for setting something up, which you can do whenever it suits you most, e.g. from the comfort of your sofa while sipping a cup of tea is a luxury. Imagine you would be on minimum wage as a cleaner and your work hours would be early evening when an office building you have to clean is empty. I would always prefer the sofa and tea option. 

3. £30 is for one regular saver, many here feed 10+ reg savers so this turns into a few hundred a year profit. Chasing rates and maximising profits is also for many, myself included, a kind of sport.

4. 2 hours spent, reading a lot of T&C's, how would you spend those 2 hours otherwise? Don't we all not also waste enough time otherwise, waiting for a delayed train, stuck in traffic, watching some nonsense on TV, waiting at the bus stop, waiting on the hotline to speak to an HMRC advisor, (...)

WillPS

MakeVotesMatter said:

Forgive me for being new here, but doesn't seem that worthwhile to drip feed 1 year regular savers. 2 hours wasted for £30 profit?
If I compare co-op 7% regular saver to a 5% easy access account:
Drip feed interest: (£250 * 6 * 0.07) + (£250 * 6 * 0.05) = £180
Non drip feed interest: £250 * 12 * 0.05 = £150
Difference: 180 - 150 = £30 profit
90 mins reading current account & regular saver terms and conditions(~22 page, ~4m per page), and 20 mins setting up account and standing orders is almost 2 hours spent.

Takes an hour or so to 'learn the ropes' (one time ever). Maybe 15 mins per account for setup (some will take more effort, some less). Then 10 mins or so per month no matter how many of these accounts.

 It is worth doing all that just for one single regular saver (in your life) with a 2% arbitrage above easy access? No, obviously not.

Do it enough and it very quickly becomes very profitable. But I'm not pretending it's something for everyone - it particularly appeals to me as I like notionally squirrelling stuff away to get maximal benefit, but I'm very sure that others will be far happier just seeing one lump sum gathering up less interest.

Horses for courses.

Bridlington1

MakeVotesMatter said:

Forgive me for being new here, but doesn't seem that worthwhile to drip feed 1 year regular savers. 2 hours wasted for £30 profit?
If I compare co-op 7% regular saver to a 5% easy access account:
Drip feed interest: (£250 * 6 * 0.07) + (£250 * 6 * 0.05) = £180
Non drip feed interest: £250 * 12 * 0.05 = £150
Difference: 180 - 150 = £30 profit
90 mins reading current account & regular saver terms and conditions(~22 page, ~4m per page), and 20 mins setting up account and standing orders is almost 2 hours spent.

I think the point you're missing is that you don't have to read the full Ts&Cs each time. Once you've opened one account with a bank/building society you've already read their general terms so when opening additional accounts with them you only need to read the summary box. 

Even then a lot of what is in there is ``redundant/unnecessary info" and as time goes on I've found you become much quicker at picking out the relevant terms, the same goes for the general Ts&Cs for that matter.

E.g. Say I was interested in opening the YBS Loyalty Regular eSaver at 5.75%. I've already read the General Ts&Cs from when I've opened accounts with them previously so can ignore that, the FSCS sheet also doesn't need to be read again so I'm left with the 3 page summary box (and most of the last page is blank). 

The ``About this Factsheet" bit doesn't tell you anything specific about the regular saver so can be ignored so just move onto the table. From the first box I just need ``5.75% variable, paid on anniversary of account opening". The second and third boxes are unnecessary as I already know the interest rate is variable and could work out the final balance later if I wished.

From the fourth box I can quickly tell if I'm eligible as I'm over 16, live in the UK, have YBS's online banking and have had a YBS savings account since 2022, good I'm eligible, I don't need to remember this info once I've opened the account. All I really need to know from this box is ``Can open it with £1, max £250/calendar month, can manage the account online". References to joint accounts can be ignored as I'm single.

From the next box I just need ``1 withdrawal day per year", the rest can be ignored. The final page is just standard info which appears on their other summary boxes.

All in all it took me less than 30 seconds to find the info I wanted from the summary box, opening the account from there is very quick so I certainly consider it to be worth the effort.

Plus when you've a few dozen regular savers these gains start to add up.

Bridlington1

Vernon BS have launched an online regular saver at 6.5% (variable) for those living in the following postcodes: BL, CH, CW, M, OL, SK, WA or WN, and existing members prior to 1st May 2024.

Max deposit: £250/calendar mth
No withdrawals, but early closure without penalty is permitted.
At the end of the anniversary month of opening the account, all but £1 of your savings will be transferred to a linked Vernon Easy Access account.

WillPS

Bridlington1 said:

Vernon BS have launched an online regular saver at 6.5% (variable) for those living in the following postcodes: BL, CH, CW, M, OL, SK, WA or WN, and existing members prior to 1st May 2024.

Max deposit: £250/calendar mth
No withdrawals, but early closure without penalty is permitted.
At the end of the anniversary month of opening the account, all but £1 of your savings will be transferred to a linked Vernon Easy Access account.

I don't qualify, but thought I'd have a look at accounts I could get a foot in the door with for next time. Looks like the only unrestricted products are fixed rate bonds (min £5k) or 35 day notice (min £500 account balance). So probably still won't qualify next time either..

Thomas_Crown

Bridlington1 said:

Vernon BS have launched an online regular saver at 6.5% (variable) for those living in the following postcodes: BL, CH, CW, M, OL, SK, WA or WN, and existing members prior to 1st May 2024.

Max deposit: £250/calendar mth
No withdrawals, but early closure without penalty is permitted.
At the end of the anniversary month of opening the account, all but £1 of your savings will be transferred to a linked Vernon Easy Access account.

The wording on the Vernon BS website actually states:-

ELIGIBILTY: This account is only available to UK residents aged 18 or over, living in the following postcodes: BL, CH, CW, M, OL, SK, WA, or WN, unless you were a society member prior to 1st May 2024.

The key word is 'unless'. It means that anyone living in the above postcode areas can apply for this account, even if they weren't a member prior to 1st May 2024.

subjecttocontract

MakeVotesMatter said:

Forgive me for being new here, but doesn't seem that worthwhile to drip feed 1 year regular savers. 2 hours wasted for £30 profit?
If I compare co-op 7% regular saver to a 5% easy access account:
Drip feed interest: (£250 * 6 * 0.07) + (£250 * 6 * 0.05) = £180
Non drip feed interest: £250 * 12 * 0.05 = £150
Difference: 180 - 150 = £30 profit
90 mins reading current account & regular saver terms and conditions(~22 page, ~4m per page), and 20 mins setting up account and standing orders is almost 2 hours spent.

My regular savers (approx 20) generate around £3000 pa profit and are a small but useful part of my savings portfolio.