Advise with my current savings 52k

ColdIron

Bucki said:

Frogletina said:

The 2% is only for the final £1000 in the account, the one between £4000 and £5000, not on the full amount if you have £4000 - £5000 in the account. It is a tiered interest account

Sorry, I am not into figures and maths ... but I could swear down that when I spoke to Lloyds agents and asked to why I never got the interest paid (as I did once 8.xx per month) their reply was "because you no longer meet the 2 x DD's requirements".

Unless it has changed. but even then it was 2% for 4-5k in the account.

The link says:

• 1.00% AER / 0.99% annual gross on balances from £1 up to and including £3,999.99.
• 2.00% AER / 1.98% annual gross on balances from £4,000 up to and including £5,000.

So that works out as:

• 1% on £4,000 = £40
• 2% on £1,000 = £20

Which is £60 or an effective rate of £60 / £5,000 = 1.2%

Mickey666

Bucki said:

Mickey666 said:

I'm in a similar position and have been using three Santander 123 accounts with £20k in each.  I've just opened a Marcus account and am in the process of closing two of the 123 accounts, transferring it all to the Marcus account and just keeping the one I use for bills.  I did consider looking at other options but to be honest I can't really be bothered spending time chasing fractions of a percent - law of diminishing returns and all that.

Hey Mickey

Thanks for sharing your experience.  So what what I understood, you had 2 x Santander (one single and one joint acc) and now you are closing both down and migrating over to Marcus with 40k ?

Instead you are then converting Santander 123 over to 123 lite for cashback and bills, right?

I probably should have said 'we' rather than 'I'.  Mrs Mickey and I have one joint and two single 123 accounts.  We're closing the two single ones and transferring the balances to Marcus and keeping the joint 123 for cashback and bills.  I suppose we should convert it to 123 lite as well but I haven't looked closely at that yet.  I don't think our cashback on utilties and CT are high enough to be capped. I'll probably wait until the end of the month and check how it has worked out. 

TBH, having lots of accounts was becoming a pain anyway.  The requirement to pay in a certain amount each month has meant lots of 'bouncing' between accounts, mainly with Nationwide flexdirect accounts, which also need a minimum paid in each month, plus the 123 accounts needed at least one or two regular payments each month, so that needed a standing order into another saving account.  It all seemed worthwhile at the time but now that rates have dropped it seems more trouble than it's worth - as I said, diminishing returns - so now we're going for simplicity and ease of managing things!

Bucki

Mickey666 said:

TBH, having lots of accounts was becoming a pain anyway.....!

Could not agree more on that well said.  I think I am just going to stick with Lloyds (been with them over 10 years lol) and try out Marcus... until next year when rates may start to go up again. 

Just need to find out how do I close my Sant 123 account and if there are any charges / fees to it?

colsten

Bucki said:

Just need to find out how do I close my Sant 123 account and if there are any charges / fees to it?

Easiest way to close a current account is to CASS switch it to a current account you want to keep. This has the advantage that any future incoming payments into the closed account will automatically be transferred (for 3 years, at least) to the account you switched to. Also, any remaining DDs and SOs will be transferred.

I have never heard of any charges or fees for closing a current account - although you would obviously have to settle any overdraft you have. If you have any Santander savings account that depends on you have a current account, it will have to be closed, too. Also, if you have specified your 123 account as a linked / nominated account, you should change it before you switch (although CASS would redirect any withdrawals for the next few years).

Bucki

colsten said:

I have never heard of any charges or fees for closing a current account - although you would obviously have to settle any overdraft you have. If you have any savings account that depends on you have a current account, it will have to be closed, too. Also, if you have specified your 123 account as a linked / nominated account, you should change it before you switch (although CASS would redirect any withdrawals for the next few years).

The only reason I have opened Santander was because of the great interest rate it had.
I have 2 DD's on the Sant123 account and will migrate them to my Lloyds account (which I have for many years).

I also have already created a Marcus account, doubt the CASS switch will work now?
Guess, need to manually arrange the DD's over to my LLoyds account... bit of admin work but yeh.

digalumps

Rather than a Marcus account at 1.2% you might want to consider an NS&I account at 1.15%

colsten

Bucki said:

The only reason I have opened Santander was because of the great interest rate it had.
I have 2 DD's on the Sant123 account and will migrate them to my Lloyds account (which I have for many years).

I also have already created a Marcus account, doubt the CASS switch will work now?
Guess, need to manually arrange the DD's over to my LLoyds account... bit of admin work but yeh.

Why wouldn't a CASS switch work? It's nothing to do with whether you have any savings account. CASS stands for current account switch service. Just fill in the form on the Lloyds website and you are done.

Bucki

colsten said:

Why wouldn't a CASS switch work? It's nothing to do with whether you have any savings account. CASS stands for current account switch service. Just fill in the form on the Lloyds website and you are done.

Thanks, I used the CASS form via Lloyds and got it sorted out fairly easy as well. cheers

Bucki

Thanks to everybody for your feedback.

Final question I have is: how will the interest be calculated? Is it based on what amount has been for 12 months or how exactly?
My thoughts are to now deposit 40K into RCI BANK (since Marcus drops the rates) but then I may need to widthdraw (lets say after 6month).... having a balance of 20K for example - how will the interest be per month on the amount or ...??

Cheers

colsten

Interest is calculated on the balance at the end of each day. It is paid either monthly or annually, or on account closure.