How much to live on

Murphybear

Nebulous2 said:

Organgrinder said:

Well I decided to switch banks following Halifax's termination of the rewards account. I've exhausted all the switches as sole accounts so a new Nationwide joint account. £175 switch incentive. 5% current account interest. 6.5% regular saver up to £200/month and 1% cashback on debit card spends. Plus of course the potential bonus payments.

It really does seem a very good deal.

Mrs O is thinking of doing the same as her sole account.

So potentially £350 just in time for Christmas. :-)

Have you seen the Santander one from Top cashback? A £100 Amazon voucher plus £20 from TCB.  Don't need to switch, only need to open a new account and make 30 debit card payments. 

This is useful thank you.  My husband has had a Halifax rewards account for donkeys years, I’m not sure he’s aware of the changes.  I’m sure there’s lots of better account 

Organgrinder

Murphybear said:

Nebulous2 said:

Organgrinder said:

Well I decided to switch banks following Halifax's termination of the rewards account. I've exhausted all the switches as sole accounts so a new Nationwide joint account. £175 switch incentive. 5% current account interest. 6.5% regular saver up to £200/month and 1% cashback on debit card spends. Plus of course the potential bonus payments.

It really does seem a very good deal.

Mrs O is thinking of doing the same as her sole account.

So potentially £350 just in time for Christmas. :-)

Have you seen the Santander one from Top cashback? A £100 Amazon voucher plus £20 from TCB.  Don't need to switch, only need to open a new account and make 30 debit card payments. 

This is useful thank you.  My husband has had a Halifax rewards account for donkeys years, I’m not sure he’s aware of the changes.  I’m sure there’s lots of better account 

Plenty of switch offers on currently. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/#switch

As stated earlier I've gone to Nationwide. £175 cashback. 5% interest on first £1500. 1% cashback on card spends.

I've just signed up to Very too and Very pay. 20% off first order. eg iPad £239 after discount.

Nebulous2

It's the beginning of a new month, and I've been doing my sums, so a quick update here. As you may remember, after an expensive year last year I intended to try to live on my income this financial year. 

The first 5 months of the financial year saw me with a £2200 deficit and a plan to claw that back over the remainder of the year. I've pulled back £1000 since then, £300 in September and £700 in October, so I'm now only £1200 off a balanced budget. 

It has been a good Month.. A further £200 from doing Surveys and £185 in interest from a regular saver. Still to come I have lined up £220 in cashback and a £100 Amazon voucher,  to be paid early next year. 

Expenditure this month has included £345 in vehicle tax, caravan insurance, and a deposit on a holiday. In September I also paid £380 for a vehicle service. So it hasn't been because of very low spending months, I've had expenditure, but income has exceeded it. 

While I'm only updating on my current account, not our capital, I'm surprised to see how well our investments have done this month as well. There has been a lot of talk about a bubble, people are pulling money out of the market because they are worried about a drop, and there have been a couple of wobbles reported in the press, around AI and tariffs. I knew things had continued to rise, but pulling it all together I'm surprised at how good a month it has been. 

Several months ago I put some money into gilts, rather than funds. They haven't shared in the growth equities have had since I bought them, but they have also had a better month this month. I'm expecting the budget to go some way to calming the bond markets, so I'm looking for a gain there next month as well. 

Clowance

I cant find any mention of the Amazon bonus on the Santander site, has anybody got a link or has the offer already endied? TIA


Never mind AI told me to apply via other sites, so Have opened account via Topcashback which I hadn't  used since 2018 but gives extra £20 on top first time of using card. 

Nebulous2

Clowance said:

I cant find any mention of the Amazon bonus on the Santander site, has anybody got a link or has the offer already endied? TIA


Never mind AI told me to apply via other sites, so Have opened account via Topcashback which I hadn't  used since 2018 but gives extra £20 on top first time of using card. 

Did you get linked to the voucher page to register for the £100?

The link isn't entirely clear on topcashback, you have to click on the speech box which describes the £100. I think you can also get it through MSE, possibly minus the £20 that TCB gives. 

cbsexec

Also through Quidco but only £15 from them not £20 

Organgrinder

Well I've completed 8 transactions on the santander card so far - just things I would normally buy. Another 22 to go! The £20 has tracked on topcashback so hopefully after doing the remainig transactions the amazon voucher will arive in February.

My switch to Nationwide (from Halifax as they are ending their monthly reward) is due to go through next week. I stupidly transferrred £1000 across but of course the T&C's say that has to happen AFTER the switch - but it's earning 5% interest now so it's all good overall!

Apart from topcashback and stoozing the only other thing adding to my pot is the car finance DCA thing. I have one claim with Black Horse from 2011. On Martin Lewis last night it talked about potential redress of approx £500 plus simple interest plus 1%. That said I have no idea of what this could be! Presumably around an extra 30-40% which is taxable.

MFMP

Organgrinder said:

Well I've completed 8 transactions on the santander card so far - just things I would normally buy. Another 22 to go! The £20 has tracked on topcashback so hopefully after doing the remainig transactions the amazon voucher will arive in February.

My switch to Nationwide (from Halifax as they are ending their monthly reward) is due to go through next week. I stupidly transferrred £1000 across but of course the T&C's say that has to happen AFTER the switch - but it's earning 5% interest now so it's all good overall!

Apart from topcashback and stoozing the only other thing adding to my pot is the car finance DCA thing. I have one claim with Black Horse from 2011. On Martin Lewis last night it talked about potential redress of approx £500 plus simple interest plus 1%. That said I have no idea of what this could be! Presumably around an extra 30-40% which is taxable.

I paid £1k in on opening the nationwide account, prior to my switch date & I've been paid the switching bonus. 

LL_USS

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. 

Can't wait  to see the outcome of budget on 26 Nov. 2% income tax rise predicted. I am wondering what are the ways to soften the impact of such a rise. I still have saving leftover each month - I could put more into volunteer contribution to pension but this would only reduce the absolute amount. It could be years till there's any reduction back again to the current rates....

Nebulous2

LL_USS said:

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. 

Can't wait  to see the outcome of budget on 26 Nov. 2% income tax rise predicted. I am wondering what are the ways to soften the impact of such a rise. I still have saving leftover each month - I could put more into volunteer contribution to pension but this would only reduce the absolute amount. It could be years till there's any reduction back again to the current rates....

There is always lots of speculation about budgets. Predictions I have seen are +2% on Income tax and -2% on national insurance, which balances out for people in work who are below state pension age, but not for those who live off unearned income. 

On an unrelated note, I've made my 30 Santander payments, by splitting shops, and paying for items we would normally use a different method to pay for.

I paid for individual onions in Tesco 16,17,17 and 19 pence. The young member of staff wandered over. "Are you paying for each of these onions separately?"  Me "Yes - I have a new bank account, which will pay me if I make 30 debit card payments." "Cool, I'd do the same myself, I just wondered what you were doing."