Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

chris_the_bee

StayinAlive said:

I have a Skipton RS, opened (and first-funded) on 11th August. I have just noticed under "When can I pay into the account again?" the answer "Your £250 allowance refreshes on the 1st of each month.".

I assume they mean calendar month and therefore I don't have to wait till 11th September to make payment no. 2 but make it on 1st September.

As an aside, and out of curiosity, if you pay in more than your "allowance" in one month, what happens. Do they return it or just not give you interest on it until the next "month"?

Calendar month or not, the 1st of each month is the same. You have used your August allowance. Your September allowance begins on 1st September until 30th September. 

Most Building Societies will return the whole of the offending payment. From their T's&C's:-
3.0 Savings account limits
      3.1 Electronic payments which don’t comply with the minimum and maximum limits will be returned to their source automatically.

Kazza242

Stafford Railway Building Society have increased their Regular Saver (issue 1) monthly deposit limit.

They now allow holders of this account to pay in up to £1,000 per month (this has recently increased from £500 per month). 

Hopefully, Stafford Railway BS will increase the interest rate on their regular saver, which is currently paying 4.90% (as they have yet to respond to the latest BOE base rate increase).  

See the account details page, here.

Zopa_Trooper

Question: If you have a regular saver alongside a current account and then switch out of that account, what happens to the saver and the interest already earned?

Barkin

Zopa_Trooper said:

Question: If you have a regular saver alongside a current account and then switch out of that account, what happens to the saver and the interest already earned?

That'll depend on the particular account. Do you have a specific one in mind? 

Zopa_Trooper

HSBC. Its only 5% and its been running for 4 months.

Barkin

Well, according to the web page a current account is required, and if the regular saver is closed early the interest is paid at a lower rate... 

Zopa_Trooper

Yes, just tried to work it out. If I close it (I get 2% instead of 5%), stick the money straight in Tandem, I think I'll lose £9 overall, though compound interest would reduce that slightly. If I stick it in Santander (worth 7%) then I'd probably break even (roughly). I might be wrong. The longer I leave it, the worse it gets.

MiserlyMartin

Kazza242 said:

Stafford Railway Building Society have increased their Regular Saver (issue 1) monthly deposit limit.

They now allow holders of this account to pay in up to £1,000 per month (this has recently increased from £500 per month). 

Hopefully, Stafford Railway BS will increase the interest rate on their regular saver, which is currently paying 4.90% (as they have yet to respond to the latest BOE base rate increase).  

See the account details page, here.

With Shawbrook and others snapping at their heels with 4.83% it won't be worth drip feeding even £1000 a month into a reg saver with its withdrawal restrictions unless they significantly increase the rate. I already withdrew most of my money from my multiple Darlington reg savers with their now poor 4.5%. It seems they have given up being competitive

fabsaver

Zopa_Trooper said:

Yes, just tried to work it out. If I close it (I get 2% instead of 5%), stick the money straight in Tandem, I think I'll lose £9 overall, though compound interest would reduce that slightly. If I stick it in Santander (worth 7%) then I'd probably break even (roughly). I might be wrong. The longer I leave it, the worse it gets.

If you do decide to switch your current account I would wait to see if they close the Regular Saver.

On page 45 of their terms and conditions it states:

Regular Saver Account conditions: You must have a qualifying current account with us. If, at any time, you don’t have one, we’ll close your Regular Saver and pay your savings into your current account.

Then on page 46 it states

If we close the account: If we close your account early for any reason, we’ll pay interest at the Regular Saver interest rate until the date we close it. 

That would suggest to me that if they close the Regular Saver, rather than you, they pay the full 5% up to the point of closure. 

Terms are open to interpretation and they do seem poorly written. It's not clear how they're going to pay your savings into your current account if you no longer have one.

gt94sss2

fabsaver said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

Yes, just tried to work it out. If I close it (I get 2% instead of 5%), stick the money straight in Tandem, I think I'll lose £9 overall, though compound interest would reduce that slightly. If I stick it in Santander (worth 7%) then I'd probably break even (roughly). I might be wrong. The longer I leave it, the worse it gets.

If you do decide to switch your current account I would wait to see if they close the Regular Saver.

A word of caution. 

From reports here, others have found it very difficult to get money out of HSBC without a current account in place. Their savings accounts are not designed to let you make external withdrawals from them.

Also, the only way you can fund their RS is via their own current account - and the T&C of their regular saver says you should make a minimum payment of £25/month.