Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

Bridlington1

pookey said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

pookey said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

ForumUser7 said:

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

I've got a dozen regular savings a/cs, plus some reward accounts that need funds flushed through them. Tried for a couple of months to get SOs in place to auto fund them all. 

All went to ratpoop over xmas/new year. Given up and now do everything manually, took about an hour this morning. Quite cathartic. 

Wow, that's very good dedication. I need to be more stricter and get in on this method 😊

A spreadsheet is definitely your friend. 

That's a very good idea thanks

Whilst we're on the topic of spreadsheets I have one sheet of my spreadsheet in which I list all my regular savers, with minimum/max monthly deposit limits and day of month that they need to be deposited.

I copy this list at the start of each month and highlight in red the ones I am only paying the minimum deposits into. Once that has been done I highlight in green each monthly saver that I am paying the full amount into as and highlight in orange those that I've paid the minimum amount into. 

OceanSound

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

OceanSound said:

Yes, I'm not a fan of using SO's for feeding RS's either. Remember having a discussion about this some time ago with a forumite, and he had a chain of SO's even accounting for bank holidays and such so the SO's would deduct a few days before the 'due date' even during normal months (months without bank holidays). Used to swear by his system and seemed he had everything down to a T (apart from a bit of interest lost due to SO's deducting earlier than usual - here it would depend on the sums involved and number of RS's).  I guess it's what works best for you. 

S/O will never deduct before the due date, though DDs can and will do that with some.

It seems putting 'due date' in inverted commas didn't do the trick. 

If he needs the money in say Account B (e.g. a halifax current Account) on the 10th every month because there is an SO setup here to transfer money to a regular saver at Halifax, he would set the due date on Account A (A tsb Current Account) to 5th, so that the SO would deduct a few days before the due date (in his plan - not some due date for a bill).

So, even if there is a weekend or bank holiday around the 5th the money will always transfer by the 10th to Halifax and be there ready for the second SO (at Halifax) to transfer money (again via SO) to the Halifax RS.

A post on how SO's (of certain banks? or all SO's it's not clear) don't pay out on weekends (and bank holidays?):
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79580524/#Comment_79580524

Lloyds don't pay Standing Orders on weekends, not even if it's going to a Lloyds Savings Account.  I have a Standing Order from my Lloyds current account to a Lloyds savings account due out on 21st of every month.  In August, that was a Sunday, and the payment/transfer wasn't made until Monday 22 August.  

About SO Chain: 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76507567/#Comment_76507567

This is easily solved by setting up more SOs. For example, I set up a £250 SO to go from my main account (TSB) to my M&S current account. The date of the SO is 4 days before the M&S current account is due to drip-feed my M&S Monthly Saver. This way you do not need reminders on your smartphone.

Wheres_My_Cashback

IOceanSound said:

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

OceanSound said:

Yes, I'm not a fan of using SO's for feeding RS's either. Remember having a discussion about this some time ago with a forumite, and he had a chain of SO's even accounting for bank holidays and such so the SO's would deduct a few days before the 'due date' even during normal months (months without bank holidays). Used to swear by his system and seemed he had everything down to a T (apart from a bit of interest lost due to SO's deducting earlier than usual - here it would depend on the sums involved and number of RS's).  I guess it's what works best for you. 

S/O will never deduct before the due date, though DDs can and will do that with some.

It seems putting 'due date' in inverted commas didn't do the trick. 

If he needs the money in say Account B (e.g. a halifax current Account) on the 10th every month because there is an SO setup here to transfer money to a regular saver at Halifax, he would set the due date on Account A (A tsb Current Account) to 5th, so that the SO would deduct a few days before the due date (in his plan - not some due date for a bill).

So, even if there is a weekend or bank holiday around the 5th the money will always transfer by the 10th to Halifax and be there ready for the second SO (at Halifax) to transfer money (again via SO) to the Halifax RS.

A post on how SO's (of certain banks? or all SO's it's not clear) don't pay out on weekends (and bank holidays?):
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79580524/#Comment_79580524

Lloyds don't pay Standing Orders on weekends, not even if it's going to a Lloyds Savings Account.  I have a Standing Order from my Lloyds current account to a Lloyds savings account due out on 21st of every month.  In August, that was a Sunday, and the payment/transfer wasn't made until Monday 22 August.  

About SO Chain: 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76507567/#Comment_76507567

This is easily solved by setting up more SOs. For example, I set up a £250 SO to go from my main account (TSB) to my M&S current account. The date of the SO is 4 days before the M&S current account is due to drip-feed my M&S Monthly Saver. This way you do not need reminders on your smartphone.

I remember those threads and how posters were over thinking and overcomplicating the process. The OP who uses LBG has no need to set the SO up from the originating bank a few days early. 

The SO can be set to go from A to B and to the RS on exactly the same day without exception, but the OP is penalising him/herself by doing it a few days early. My earlier post highlights this.

The SO process starts at the time funds are attempted to be sent, usually in the early hours of the set date (LBG 0120-0230) If no funds SO fails, but will be attempted to be taken automatically later in the day (1630). 

By 1630 funds will have arrived from the originating a/c so the SO to the RS will not fail.

The OP could set up a DD of £1 to him/herself and then back again if further confirmation required.

Anyway this is detracting from the real purpose of this thread I think so may be better discussed elsewhere.

OceanSound

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

IOceanSound said:

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

OceanSound said:

Yes, I'm not a fan of using SO's for feeding RS's either. Remember having a discussion about this some time ago with a forumite, and he had a chain of SO's even accounting for bank holidays and such so the SO's would deduct a few days before the 'due date' even during normal months (months without bank holidays). Used to swear by his system and seemed he had everything down to a T (apart from a bit of interest lost due to SO's deducting earlier than usual - here it would depend on the sums involved and number of RS's).  I guess it's what works best for you. 

S/O will never deduct before the due date, though DDs can and will do that with some.

It seems putting 'due date' in inverted commas didn't do the trick. 

If he needs the money in say Account B (e.g. a halifax current Account) on the 10th every month because there is an SO setup here to transfer money to a regular saver at Halifax, he would set the due date on Account A (A tsb Current Account) to 5th, so that the SO would deduct a few days before the due date (in his plan - not some due date for a bill).

So, even if there is a weekend or bank holiday around the 5th the money will always transfer by the 10th to Halifax and be there ready for the second SO (at Halifax) to transfer money (again via SO) to the Halifax RS.

A post on how SO's (of certain banks? or all SO's it's not clear) don't pay out on weekends (and bank holidays?):
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79580524/#Comment_79580524

Lloyds don't pay Standing Orders on weekends, not even if it's going to a Lloyds Savings Account.  I have a Standing Order from my Lloyds current account to a Lloyds savings account due out on 21st of every month.  In August, that was a Sunday, and the payment/transfer wasn't made until Monday 22 August.  

About SO Chain: 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76507567/#Comment_76507567

This is easily solved by setting up more SOs. For example, I set up a £250 SO to go from my main account (TSB) to my M&S current account. The date of the SO is 4 days before the M&S current account is due to drip-feed my M&S Monthly Saver. This way you do not need reminders on your smartphone.

I remember those threads and how posters were over thinking and overcomplicating the process. The OP who uses LBG has no need to set the SO up from the originating bank a few days early. 

The SO can be set to go from A to B and to the RS on exactly the same day without exception, but the OP is penalising him/herself by doing it a few days early. My earlier post highlights this.

The SO process starts at the time funds are attempted to be sent, usually in the early hours of the set date (LBG 0120-0230) If no funds SO fails, but will be attempted to be taken automatically later in the https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79964256/#Comment_79964256 day (1630). 

By 1630 funds will have arrived from the originating a/c so the SO to the RS will not fail.

The OP could set up a DD of £1 to him/herself and then back again if further confirmation required.

Anyway this is detracting from the real purpose of this thread I think so may be better discussed elsewhere.

The distraction is that now we've started talking about the merits of the SO Chain method and I had at no point said it is superior to what 'the OP' is doing now. I simply mentioned the chain SO method and said i was not a fan of it.

At least one forumite understood what I meant, so it's clearly not something I hadn't explained properly. Perhaps re-read the post before replying to prevent distractions?

chris_the_bee

Bridlington1 said:

It's manual transfers and a spreadsheet for me, the only exceptions being HSBC's regular saver and the Ecology regular saver (DD). I paid manually into 27 regular savers yesterday afternoon, and will be paying into another regular saver later in the month by manual transfer.

I personally would rather do things manually myself largely because I do not want to have to faff around with setting up SOs then needing to cancel them when the regular savers mature/get closed. I would also rather avoid having money sat in a current account earning no interest overnight as I do not have anywhere near a big enough OD limit to cover all the regular savers.

Plus if I am unfortunate enough to end up with a payment from my EA account held up for whatever reason I do not want to find myself having to take money out of the regular savers I've just paid into to avoid paying 40% on an arranged OD. At least with manual transfers if an EA payment is held up by a few days the worst that'll happen is I'll be paying into my regular savers a few days late, with SOs it could become a real pain as some will take me into unarranged ODs, others will bounce etc

Surprised you still have an Ecology RS. At 2.85% it must be nearly rock bottom and is easily surpassed by most other BS regulars and a number of short dated bonds.and even EA accounts.

ForumUser7

chris_the_bee said:

Bridlington1 said:

It's manual transfers and a spreadsheet for me, the only exceptions being HSBC's regular saver and the Ecology regular saver (DD). I paid manually into 27 regular savers yesterday afternoon, and will be paying into another regular saver later in the month by manual transfer.

I personally would rather do things manually myself largely because I do not want to have to faff around with setting up SOs then needing to cancel them when the regular savers mature/get closed. I would also rather avoid having money sat in a current account earning no interest overnight as I do not have anywhere near a big enough OD limit to cover all the regular savers.

Plus if I am unfortunate enough to end up with a payment from my EA account held up for whatever reason I do not want to find myself having to take money out of the regular savers I've just paid into to avoid paying 40% on an arranged OD. At least with manual transfers if an EA payment is held up by a few days the worst that'll happen is I'll be paying into my regular savers a few days late, with SOs it could become a real pain as some will take me into unarranged ODs, others will bounce etc

Surprised you still have an Ecology RS. At 2.85% it must be nearly rock bottom and is easily surpassed by most other BS regulars and a number of short dated bonds.and even EA accounts.

It makes a good direct debit I find.

That said, it’s disappointing they haven’t increased it since November (?)

RetSol

It makes a good direct debit I find.

Let's be grateful for small mercies. 

Nothing wrong with that! 

pookey

Bridlington1 said:

pookey said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

pookey said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

ForumUser7 said:

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

I've got a dozen regular savings a/cs, plus some reward accounts that need funds flushed through them. Tried for a couple of months to get SOs in place to auto fund them all. 

All went to ratpoop over xmas/new year. Given up and now do everything manually, took about an hour this morning. Quite cathartic. 

Wow, that's very good dedication. I need to be more stricter and get in on this method 😊

A spreadsheet is definitely your friend. 

That's a very good idea thanks

Whilst we're on the topic of spreadsheets I have one sheet of my spreadsheet in which I list all my regular savers, with minimum/max monthly deposit limits and day of month that they need to be deposited.

I copy this list at the start of each month and highlight in red the ones I am only paying the minimum deposits into. Once that has been done I highlight in green each monthly saver that I am paying the full amount into as and highlight in orange those that I've paid the minimum amount into. 

Hi 
Just wondering why you have so many and pay the minium in some please? 
Is it because your income varies from month to month? Sorry I'm just wondering as I thought it would be better/ easier to have less and pay the full amount 😊

Kazza242

According to Moneyfacts, Melton Building Society are launching a new account, Regular Saver (issue 3), paying 5.00%.

The minimum opening amount is £10.  Pay in up to £200 per month.  The maximum investment is £3,000.

The account matures on 31/05/2024.  It is available to locals residing in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire or Rutland only.

It is available to open in branch only, but once opened it can be managed via branch or post.  

Moneyfacts states that unlimited withdrawals are permitted.

Once it has launched, it should appear on the Melton BS website: 

https://www.themelton.co.uk/our_savings/regular-savings/

Bridlington1

pookey said:

Bridlington1 said:

pookey said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

pookey said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

ForumUser7 said:

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

I've got a dozen regular savings a/cs, plus some reward accounts that need funds flushed through them. Tried for a couple of months to get SOs in place to auto fund them all. 

All went to ratpoop over xmas/new year. Given up and now do everything manually, took about an hour this morning. Quite cathartic. 

Wow, that's very good dedication. I need to be more stricter and get in on this method 😊

A spreadsheet is definitely your friend. 

That's a very good idea thanks

Whilst we're on the topic of spreadsheets I have one sheet of my spreadsheet in which I list all my regular savers, with minimum/max monthly deposit limits and day of month that they need to be deposited.

I copy this list at the start of each month and highlight in red the ones I am only paying the minimum deposits into. Once that has been done I highlight in green each monthly saver that I am paying the full amount into as and highlight in orange those that I've paid the minimum amount into. 

Hi 
Just wondering why you have so many and pay the minium in some please? 
Is it because your income varies from month to month? Sorry I'm just wondering as I thought it would be better/ easier to have less and pay the full amount 😊

A lot of regular savers have a variable rate of interest and/or have minimum monthly deposit limits. As a result a regular saver that offered a competitive rate of interest when I opened it may not have a competitive rate of interest now, but as it is variable it could become competitive again in the future.

E.g. I opened a regular saver with Stafford Railway BS last year at 2.5%. At the time it paid more than my EA accounts so I paid the full amount into it. The interest rate remained at 2.5% so when my EA savings accounts were paying more than 2.5% I reduced the balance to the minimum and went to paying in the minimum deposit. A few months later the rate was increased to 3.75% before rising again to 4.15% so I began paying the maximum deposit in again.

For Ecology as @ForumUser7 correctly mentioned I pay into it by DD so it is currently sat on one of my donor accounts (for getting bank switching bonuses).

My income doesn't vary from month to month but I do have a fair amount of EA savings which I drip-feed into my regular savers as they pay more interest than my EA accounts. I have recently paid pretty much all of my EA saving into regular savers so from next month I will be emptying lower paying regular savers into higher paying ones so as a result some of my lower paying regular savers will be made redundant.