Natwest Round Up

draiggoch

Just noticed on my Natwest App there was a new function for my current account. If you select the option it rounds up your debit card / contact less purchases to the nearest pound and adds the amount to a Natwest savings account of your choice. It allows you to send it to the digital regular saver account that has the £50 limit and is not included as part of the usual £50 you put in.
I know this is available for other banks but had not seen it before for Natwest, will probably add close to £10 a month to the regular saver.

Daliah

It was inevitable that this gimmick would arrive in Natwest, as it's already in RBS.

Whilst it is true that it could be a way to potentially add a tenner or so to your Digital Saver balance, you would make more if you did your spending with the Chase debit card (1% cashback on most purchases) and enabled the Chase Round Up (if you must) as this comes with a 5% AER. Your net gain over a year from Round Ups will, however be just pennies, whatever bank you do this with.

draiggoch

It wouldn't be a factor in my choosing a bank account but it is a nice little tool to have in the background to add a little to savings without really noticing it.

Daliah

I think you got in one - it's for savings that you won't really notice

Naomim

We do this on the Tilly Tidy thread over in Debt Free Wannabe challenges. 

I use the function on my Monzo app but glad to see it's on Natwest too.

orange-juice

Anyone tried the round up feature yet?

Turned it on in the app, made a fractional card payment towards my credit card bill but I can't see anything on the app to suggest it's been rounded up and moved across (admittedly the transaction is still showing as pending, so could be that?).

Unless it's in-store only?

FreeFallerSaver

orange-juice said:

Anyone tried the round up feature yet?

Turned it on in the app, made a fractional card payment towards my credit card bill but I can't see anything on the app to suggest it's been rounded up and moved across (admittedly the transaction is still showing as pending, so could be that?).

Unless it's in-store only?

Yes, it's that, give it time to clear and it will show. That's been my experience these last couple of weeks anyway.

RogerBareford

draiggoch said:

It wouldn't be a factor in my choosing a bank account but it is a nice little tool to have in the background to add a little to savings without really noticing it.

Anyone who gets any benefit out of this type of tool really needs to get a grip on their spending. The only way this would work is if your the type of person to spend every penny you have just because it's there and it will work as it takes away some of that money.

If someone had a proper budget for spending and then regularly re-evaluated that budget and each month put any leftover into savings it would result in saving more.

draiggoch

RogerBareford said:

draiggoch said:

It wouldn't be a factor in my choosing a bank account but it is a nice little tool to have in the background to add a little to savings without really noticing it.

Anyone who gets any benefit out of this type of tool really needs to get a grip on their spending. The only way this would work is if your the type of person to spend every penny you have just because it's there and it will work as it takes away some of that money.

If someone had a proper budget for spending and then regularly re-evaluated that budget and each month put any leftover into savings it would result in saving more.

Since the round up can be  added to the digital saver without being included in the monthly £50 limit then I have to say I disagree with your comment. I have money going every month to various savings including S+S ISA and SIPPs, the round up is as mentioned previously a nice little add on.

RogerBareford

draiggoch said:

RogerBareford said:

draiggoch said:

It wouldn't be a factor in my choosing a bank account but it is a nice little tool to have in the background to add a little to savings without really noticing it.

Anyone who gets any benefit out of this type of tool really needs to get a grip on their spending. The only way this would work is if your the type of person to spend every penny you have just because it's there and it will work as it takes away some of that money.

If someone had a proper budget for spending and then regularly re-evaluated that budget and each month put any leftover into savings it would result in saving more.

Since the round up can be  added to the digital saver without being included in the monthly £50 limit then I have to say I disagree with your comment. I have money going every month to various savings including S+S ISA and SIPPs, the round up is as mentioned previously a nice little add on.

But for someone who budgets properly then you would move any money left over at the end of the month/period to savings anyway so your not really gaining anything, it just moves some slowly over during the month instead.

orange-juice

FreeFallerSaver said:

orange-juice said:

Anyone tried the round up feature yet?

Turned it on in the app, made a fractional card payment towards my credit card bill but I can't see anything on the app to suggest it's been rounded up and moved across (admittedly the transaction is still showing as pending, so could be that?).

Unless it's in-store only?

Yes, it's that, give it time to clear and it will show. That's been my experience these last couple of weeks anyway.

Looks like it cleared about 2 days after I made the transaction. Cheers..