Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

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.

castle96

Me too. Round and round... Little time and enough profit for my time

TheWoodler

MakeVotesMatter said:

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.

It’s never taken me 2h to open an account, even with a financial institution new to me, or opening a current account then the linked RS (if applicable). 

The thing is that you would have to read the key facts and set up SOs anyway for any RS, so you might as well do it profitably from a high-paying easy access account, rather than your current account. 

All of the processes take minutes tops. I’d say for me the process for any account typically takes 15m: reading the key facts; thinking time and any research I need to undertake in making the decision to apply, eg if there are any inaccessible conditions such as withdrawals or closure by phone, which is a no-go for me personally; applying; and setting up the SOs. 

It’s not as if you have to go into branch these days and do actual legwork, pay for petrol or a bus fare, etc. Online and mobile banking have made accounts of any type more profitable for the customer in that sense.

 

As @Bridlington1 says, with experience you become more adept at reading the key facts documents - and deciding if the account is for you or not - and acting accordingly. 

You only need to service the SOs from a single easy access account anyway, and you need not open regular savers where you require an associated product, eg a current account, such as the First Direct or Club Lloyds versions. That could be your exclusionary criterion - to open standalone RSs if you feel it’s too much faff or too overwhelming to apply for associated products.

It’s worth looking at easy access accounts with quite a few building societies for two reasons: one is that membership with them, typically a year, is a gateway to preferential RS and other products for existing members, and the second reason is that it then becomes easy to set up internal standing orders from those EA accounts - and Robert is then your mother’s brother! Skipton and Yorkshire are two I can think of that work this way. 

The idea is that every single £ works as hard as it possibly can! And I’d open and fund a RS in less time than it took me to type this out even with predictive text on a mobile. . .

MakeVotesMatter

Ok, you've made me a regular saver convert Thanks all.

Thomas_Crown

TheWoodler said:

MakeVotesMatter said:

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.

It’s never taken me 2h to open an account, even with a financial institution new to me, or opening a current account then the linked RS (if applicable). 

The thing is that you would have to read the key facts and set up SOs anyway for any RS, so you might as well do it profitably from a high-paying easy access account, rather than your current account. 

All of the processes take minutes tops. I’d say for me the process for any account typically takes 15m: reading the key facts; thinking time and any research I need to undertake in making the decision to apply, eg if there are any inaccessible conditions such as withdrawals or closure by phone, which is a no-go for me personally; applying; and setting up the SOs. 

The idea is that every single £ works as hard as it possibly can! And I’d open and fund a RS in less time than it took me to type this out even with predictive text on a mobile. . .

It may take 15 - 20 minutes to apply for a Regular Saver but if you are not an existing customer, there are normally loads of questions to answer. Just because you have completed an application, it doesn't mean that the account is actually open.

I have just applied for the Vernon BS Online Regular Saver but  it will take the society up to 2 days to open the account.