Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Gers

Bridlington1 said:

Gers said:

I agree that the staff have been excellent, if puzzled!  Despite this I have closed the account, it was probably a rash decision to open it as I have already committed more than enough monthly funds to RS accounts. Still, not chuffed at inadequate IT systems.

I've just received an email from Leeds BS telling me that they've received my initial deposit so something's working in there at least. At the end of the day as long as the account runs smoothly in the end I don't mind too much if it takes them a few days to get set up.

If you think their systems are bad though just take a look at TSB. I spent 2 months of last year being unable to make a faster payment in online banking without it locking me out of online banking and asking me to ring their fraud team yet could make as many payments as I like over the phone, in branch or by debit card without issues. 

TSB works perfectly for me!  One man's meat etc. 

pookey

ForumUser7 said:

Nationwide have released their new rates https://www.nationwide.co.uk/-/assets/nationwidecouk/documents/savings/branch-notices/smd648-changes-to-savings-accounts-1-april-2023.pdf?rev=3a594c2792c544e19b86baeda1f1ecf0 (thanks @GalacticaActual)

Disappointingly, they are not increasing the rate on either the Flex Regular Saver, or the Start to Save Issue 2. These remain at their rates as of 1st December 2022...

Thank you for sharing this, they usually email me but I haven't received anything. Was about to transfer money into other accounts

dealyboy

@Bridlington1 ...
Form in the post ... sending a cheque ... maybe Ulster Bank is showing the way forward after all  .

Bridlington1

dealyboy said:

@Bridlington1 ...
Form in the post ... sending a cheque ... maybe Ulster Bank is showing the way forward after all  .

Either that or they're using the logic "if it ain't broke don't fix it". The shear number of technical issues I seem to run into from banking systems that don't let me bank to revolving doors that stop revolving when I'm trying to get through them, electronic passport gates that don't want to let me back into Britain to a set of 42 traffic lights that didn't seem to recognise I exist etc leaves me more than happy to open an account by post provided it's sent in a prepaid envelope.

dealyboy

@Bridlington1 ... aka 'The Invisible Man' 

kaMelo

careful @Bridlington1, paranoia is a state of mind.

Special_Saver2

Hi Folks,

I have changed the following items on page 1 of this thread.

- Halifax Regular Saver interest rate increased to 5.5% gross p.a. fixed for new applicants

- Halifax Kids' Monthly Saver interest rate increased to 5.5% gross p.a. fixed for new applicants

- NatWest Digital Regular Saver Account and Royal Bank of Scotland Digital Regular Saver Account interest rate on balances above £5,000 increased to 1% from 21st March 2023

- Principality BS 1 Year Regular Saver Bond (Issue 32) replaces issue 31 and pays 4.5% on up to £250 per month for 12 months

- Principality BS Dylan Regular Saver Bond (children only) interest rate increased to 4% gross p.a. fixed for new applicants

- Darlington BS Green Regular Saver withdrawn and removed from page 1

- Darlington BS Teen Goal Saver and Darlington BS Darly Young Saver interest rates increased to 3.65% gross p.a. variable from 28th March 2023

- Leeds BS Home Deposit Saver added to the Homebuyer section on page 1 paying 4% gross p.a. variable from March 2023 on up to £500 per month up to a maximum balance of £30,000 plus accrued interest

I will do the next update in just over 2 weeks' time.

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

Gers

Gers said:

Bridlington1 said:

I've just managed to open the Leeds BS Home Deposit saver online. I used MS Edge in internet explorer mode and applied as an existing customer. £500 is now winging its way to it just in time to make the March deposit.

I couldn't open it using five different browsers on three different devices. Logged in, clicked to open new account and sent round the loop. Phoned them to report it. After a day and a half I trekked 100 miles to my nearest branch yesterday (not only for that task) to open it. Deposited £250.00 by debit card in the branch.  The account showing online today. I tried to send the other £250.00 today but got error message 'account not verified' on three different attempts. Neither could I set up a SO.

I phoned customer services, the agent told me that a number of users had reported the same issues and I just had to be patient to allow 'banks to catch up with the large numbers of new accounts'.  By this time I had enough and simply closed the account as I would have missed being able to fill up the payment in March. And I have sufficient other RS accounts. And I CBA to faff around with inadequate IT systems. 

I've had a response from LBS about my complaint regarding the problems I've encountered.  This is part of it:

I am sorry we got things wrong. At Leeds Building Society we aim to be as transparent as possible and willing to accept and acknowledge when things go wrong.

Our Home Deposit Saver is a new account and there are some unforeseen issues affecting online applications for this account. This is currently raised with our IT and developer teams to ensure that we can rectify this problem as soon as possible.

We are also aware of the current issue where other banks and building societies are unable to verify our details. I understand this is impacting customers trying to deposit funds to their Leeds Building Society accounts. Unfortunately, this is a result of an issue with Confirmation of Payee scheme and is outside of our control. Although we appreciate how frustrating this must have been.

I have arranged for a payment of £100 to your [current] account and this will be in your bank in the next 5 working days. I hope you accept this gesture in the manner that it is intended. We are sorry things have gone wrong and we are attempting to resolve the issues as soon as possible.

 We’ve finished looking into your complaint, so it will now be closed.

It's a good response to the problems I encountered.

liamcov

Re regular savers like Lloyds, BOS, NatWest, RBS - do you have a SO set up for 1st of the month (which when it falls on a weekend doesn’t transfer until the Monday) or is it possible to do a manual transfer into them so you know the money goes in on the 1st?

ForumUser7

liamcov said:

Re regular savers like Lloyds, BOS, NatWest, RBS - do you have a SO set up for 1st of the month (which when it falls on a weekend doesn’t transfer until the Monday) or is it possible to do a manual transfer into them so you know the money goes in on the 1st?

I hold the Lloyds MS, BoS MS, NatWest DRS and RBS DRS (among others). I pay into all manually with no SOs set up. IIRC, I had to cancel the NatWest and RBS SOs as these were automatically set up