Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

colsten

Keith80 said:

kuepper said:

Is the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach a/c at 1.75% open to all inc those not buying a house / wanting  a mortgage or there strings attached to it that are hidden? I don't understand why it's listed as a best buy here but not in the main MSE site regular savings section.

It would be good to see it quoted in the major best-buy charts. It might arrest the race to the bottom and force other institutions to offer higher-yielding regular savers, but then again if Virgin Money see too much interest in it as a result they might move quickly to pull it. 

The account is mentioned on moneyfacts.co.uk, which is almost certainly the major source for the rates tables of the likes of MSE etc.. Other banks and building societies are highly unlikely to take their steer from an outlier - - - case in point is that none of them raised their rates because HSBC/M&S/FD had a 2.75% RS. Instead, HSBC and FD slashed theirs to 1%, and M&S bowed out of the RS market entirely.

Virgin have not launched this account to act as a white knight to savers, and will no doubt pull it as soon as there is any massive inflow of money, and/or when they notice that it attracts scores of people who aren't their intended customers for this account, i.e. people whom they can sell a mortgage to. 

Special_Saver2

Hi Everybody,

Here is this weekend's update to this thread.

As planned, I have re-assessed the criteria at the end of November which I use for accounts to be on the first page of this thread. I had planned to review the criteria at this point as I was waiting to see the full effects of the NS&I interest rate cut. I have decided to include accounts paying 1.5% and any account paying 1% with particularly good conditions (e.g. fixed rate, allow payment of £500 or more per month, or account duration of at least 2 years).

• HSBC and First Direct regular savings account interest rate reduced to 1% fixed rate for new applicants

• Earl Shilton BS Regular Monthly Saver paying 1.4% variable on £500 per month with no maturity date, existing members or locals only

• Furness BS 3 Year Regular Saver account paying 1.4% variable on £250 per month (£500 per month if a joint account) for 3 years

• Bath BS Homestart Regular Saver paying 1.35% variable on £150 per month until the age of 28 (can only be opened if you are aged 18-27 and you live, work or study in Bath)
  

• Coventry BS Regular Saver issue 3 removed and replaced with issue 4 paying 1.3% variable on £500 per month for 12 months

• Darlington BS Special Occasions Saver paying 1.25% variable on £1,000 per month (£250 per account and you can have 4 of them) with no maturity date, locals only, there is a special offer of paying in £750 per account for one month at the moment

• Bucks BS Regular Saver Locals paying 1.2% variable on £500 per month with no maturity date, locals only

• Mansfield BS 150th Anniversary Regular Savings (5th Issue) account paying 1.2% variable for the first year (including a 0.2% fixed bonus) then 1% for the second year onwards with no maturity date, locals only

• Ecology BS Regular Savings account paying 1.1% variable on £250 per month with no maturity date

• Monmouthshire BS Christmas Saver Bond (Issue 3) paying 1.1% variable on £1,000 per month until 31st October 2021, no withdrawals allowed although it may be possible to close the account early if they drop your interest rate (depending on how you interpret their general savings account terms and conditions – you may wish to confirm this before opening the account)

• Bath BS Regular Saver paying 1% variable on £250 per month with no maturity date

• Cumberland BS Regular Saver (Issue 3) – paying 1% variable on £250 per month with no maturity date, locals only and must have a Cumberland BS current account

• Cumberland BS First Home Saver (Issue 2) – paying 1% variable on £1,500 per month with no maturity date, locals only and must have a Cumberland BS current account as well as being a first time home buyer (but you can withdraw the money without buying a home)

I will do the next update next weekend.

SS2

---

For those new to this thread, the first few posts are constantly updated and are on the first page
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6106986/regular-savings-accounts-the-best-currently-available-list/p1

Eco_Miser

Darlington BS Special Occasions Saver

Eligibility condition now says

Limited to 3 accounts per person including any joint accounts.

kuepper

dcs34 said:

kuepper said:

Is the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach a/c at 1.75% open to all inc those not buying a house / wanting  a mortgage or there strings attached to it that are hidden? I don't understand why it's listed as a best buy here but not in the main MSE site regular savings section

Yes, to be safe download the app and apply through there rather than the link on here. There are no T&Cs beyond the normal regular saver requirements, there is no need to keep the app once the account is opened.

One website (MoneyFacts?) seems to have assumed you need to be using the proceeds for a mortgage/deposit, but there is nothing in the T&Cs for this and the account will appear within the normal Virgin savings portfolio. Can only assume MSE don't have it as it's not spotable from the VM website and if they scan through this section they may have come to the wrong impression it's only for those interested in buying a home.

After you sign up does the account show outside the app ie on the Virgin Money site ?

Costabit

That's a lot of work. Thanks as always

Frogletina

kuepper said:

dcs34 said:

kuepper said:

Is the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach a/c at 1.75% open to all inc those not buying a house / wanting  a mortgage or there strings attached to it that are hidden? I don't understand why it's listed as a best buy here but not in the main MSE site regular savings section

Yes, to be safe download the app and apply through there rather than the link on here. There are no T&Cs beyond the normal regular saver requirements, there is no need to keep the app once the account is opened.

One website (MoneyFacts?) seems to have assumed you need to be using the proceeds for a mortgage/deposit, but there is nothing in the T&Cs for this and the account will appear within the normal Virgin savings portfolio. Can only assume MSE don't have it as it's not spotable from the VM website and if they scan through this section they may have come to the wrong impression it's only for those interested in buying a home.

After you sign up does the account show outside the app ie on the Virgin Money site ?

Yes, it does.

You have to select savings, then standard savings.

Yorkshire_Pud

kuepper said:

dcs34 said:

kuepper said:

Is the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach a/c at 1.75% open to all inc those not buying a house / wanting  a mortgage or there strings attached to it that are hidden? I don't understand why it's listed as a best buy here but not in the main MSE site regular savings section

Yes, to be safe download the app and apply through there rather than the link on here. There are no T&Cs beyond the normal regular saver requirements, there is no need to keep the app once the account is opened.

One website (MoneyFacts?) seems to have assumed you need to be using the proceeds for a mortgage/deposit, but there is nothing in the T&Cs for this and the account will appear within the normal Virgin savings portfolio. Can only assume MSE don't have it as it's not spotable from the VM website and if they scan through this section they may have come to the wrong impression it's only for those interested in buying a home.

After you sign up does the account show outside the app ie on the Virgin Money site ?

I just opened the Home Coach account using the VM site, no app involved and it appeared atop my VM RS 14 immediately.

colsten

kuepper said:

dcs34 said:

kuepper said:

Is the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach a/c at 1.75% open to all inc those not buying a house / wanting  a mortgage or there strings attached to it that are hidden? I don't understand why it's listed as a best buy here but not in the main MSE site regular savings section

Yes, to be safe download the app and apply through there rather than the link on here. There are no T&Cs beyond the normal regular saver requirements, there is no need to keep the app once the account is opened.

One website (MoneyFacts?) seems to have assumed you need to be using the proceeds for a mortgage/deposit, but there is nothing in the T&Cs for this and the account will appear within the normal Virgin savings portfolio. Can only assume MSE don't have it as it's not spotable from the VM website and if they scan through this section they may have come to the wrong impression it's only for those interested in buying a home.

After you sign up does the account show outside the app ie on the Virgin Money site ?

Yes, as Frogletina has already said. The account also does not show in the app. The app just sends you off to a website from which you apply. That's the end of the visible connection between the app and the account.

Rich2808

colsten said:

kuepper said:

dcs34 said:

kuepper said:

Is the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach a/c at 1.75% open to all inc those not buying a house / wanting  a mortgage or there strings attached to it that are hidden? I don't understand why it's listed as a best buy here but not in the main MSE site regular savings section

Yes, to be safe download the app and apply through there rather than the link on here. There are no T&Cs beyond the normal regular saver requirements, there is no need to keep the app once the account is opened.

One website (MoneyFacts?) seems to have assumed you need to be using the proceeds for a mortgage/deposit, but there is nothing in the T&Cs for this and the account will appear within the normal Virgin savings portfolio. Can only assume MSE don't have it as it's not spotable from the VM website and if they scan through this section they may have come to the wrong impression it's only for those interested in buying a home.

After you sign up does the account show outside the app ie on the Virgin Money site ?

Yes, as Frogletina has already said. The account also does not show in the app. The app just sends you off to a website from which you apply. That's the end of the visible connection between the app and the account.

A bit like the 1.35% Tipton regular saver - even though that is supposed to be operated via their app (sorry in joke from another thread!).
Also Virgin imply you need to be a user of their homebuyer app to keep the account - so probably best to open it once in a while and click on an article to earn 5 points! Not sure what those points get you - prizes?

SFindlay

I just opened the Home Coach account using the VM site, no app involved and it appeared atop my VM RS 14 immediately.

Its not listed on VM website so how did you manage that?