Natwest Savings Builder - am I missing anything?

grumbler

It pays 0.75% on up to £10K with instant access.

"Earn 0.75% interest on your first £10,000. ... To earn interest, make sure you grow your balance by £50 or more by the second last business day of each month.

...

Any withdrawals during the month which means your month to month balance does not increase by £50 or more will result in the regular savings condition not being met and interest not being earned."

Of course, it makes no sense to make withdrawals, but looks like a good option for putting aside £9.4K for a year or £8.8K for 2 years or even full £10K for slightly lower interest  - with instant access if needed.

https://personal.natwest.com/personal/savings/savings-builder.html

MovingForwards

Had it a few years now and it's one of the accounts I saved my mortgage deposit in. 

PRAISETHESUN

I used to have one - closed it when the interest rates dropped but it's unsurprisingly competitive again. 

The only issue I had with it was that any withdrawal that isn't repaid in the same month effectively forfeits the entire month's interest. If you do need to make a withdrawal you're better off withdrawing the entire balance to another easy access account that pays interest and re-depositing the balance (less what you actually needed to withdraw) the next month. Other then that it's a decent choice if you want to put aside some cash and aren't likely to withdraw it, but still need easy access to it.

VXman

They also have the Digital Regular Saver which is similar but 3%! Only up to £1000 though.

surreysaver

By the second to last business day of each month, you just withdraw everything except £50 more than you had the previous month, then pay it back in the next day. You have to be disciplined about it.
So end of January leave it with £50. End of Feb £100 etc. But between those dates put in and take out £9k or whatever
Handy place to store maturing Regular Savers before filling up Club Lloyds / BoS Vantage 

RG2015

I've had one for over four years and for most of that time it has been fairly competitive. I have most of my daily banking with NatWest so it is very convenient for sweeping daily or weekly excess cash.

Like @surreysaver, I move out excess cash on the penultimate working day and return it one day later. 

VXman

RG2015 said:

I've had one for over four years and for most of that time it has been fairly competitive. I have most of my daily banking with NatWest so it is very convenient for sweeping daily or weekly excess cash.

Like @surreysaver, I move out excess cash on the penultimate working day and return it one day later. 

So, can you put a lump sum in - say £9K and then add £50 per month? You don't have to start from £0?

pafpcg

VXman said:

RG2015 said:

I've had one for over four years and for most of that time it has been fairly competitive. I have most of my daily banking with NatWest so it is very convenient for sweeping daily or weekly excess cash.

Like @surreysaver, I move out excess cash on the penultimate working day and return it one day later. 

So, can you put a lump sum in - say £9K and then add £50 per month? You don't have to start from £0?

That's right!  You'll just have to plan carefully for the month when the balance reaches £10k.

Novice_investor101

Beware the digital saver account. I opened it thinking i could deposit £1000 for 3% interest. You can only pay in a maximum of £50 a month it seems. I’ll still use it, just as another piggy bank account. Just disappointed in myself I didn’t read the details properly! 

HansOndabush

There's no catch except it is a pretty sad interest rate though even more sad is that its one of the best around.

surreysaver

VXman said:

RG2015 said:

I've had one for over four years and for most of that time it has been fairly competitive. I have most of my daily banking with NatWest so it is very convenient for sweeping daily or weekly excess cash.

Like @surreysaver, I move out excess cash on the penultimate working day and return it one day later. 

So, can you put a lump sum in - say £9K and then add £50 per month? You don't have to start from £0?

That's right. Its not a Regular Saver in the traditional sense