The Top Fixed Interest Savings Discussion Area

Steve_xx

Bigwheels1111 said:

Steve_xx said:

Harryo said:

Steve_xx said:

Well yes, that's worth considering I guess. So then, if you put 21k into the 4.75% account, that would just about use up your £1000 personal allowance. It depends how much money you have saved.

And also how much income you have. If it is between £12750 and £17500 then you can earn up to £5000 interest tax free at best from the additional Starting Savings Rate. If it is below £12750 then you can make use of your normal Personal Allowance.

I think, that to be able to take advantage of the 5% starting rate, that your income (from work and/or pensions) needs to be below £12570. 

The way I read it is that if you earn say £14k it deducts £1,430 from the starter rate leaving £3,570.
I could be wrong.

I don't think you're correct.  In order to take advantage of the 0% starting rate I reckon that your total income, excluding savings income, but not ISA income,  must be below £12750.

bristolleedsfan

The way I read it if other income is not more than £12570 basic rate tax payer can get savings interest of £6000 tax free

Starting rate for savings

You may also get up to £5,000 of interest and not have to pay tax on it. This is your starting rate for savings.

Personal Savings Allowance

You may also get up to £1,000 of interest and not have to pay tax on it, depending on which Income Tax band you’re in. This is your Personal Savings Allowance.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings

Steve_xx

bristolleedsfan said:

The way I read it if other income is not more than £12570 basic rate tax payer can get savings interest of £6000 tax free

Starting rate for savings

You may also get up to £5,000 of interest and not have to pay tax on it. This is your starting rate for savings.

Personal Savings Allowance

You may also get up to £1,000 of interest and not have to pay tax on it, depending on which Income Tax band you’re in. This is your Personal Savings Allowance.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings

Yes. I'm reading it the same as you do. But on reflection I think Bigwheels1111 comments are in fact correct. The nice space for the operation of the 0% band is where income from work/pensions is falling at or below £12570. The upper limit for applying the 0% Savings band looks to be £17570. So for every £1 earned over £12570 you lose £1 of the £5000 0% Savings Rate.

Thumbs_Up

One piece of the jigsaw is missing for me and that is NS&I. They have been given a directive to attract more inward investment. Just wish they would get their finger out and get on with it.

 I do wonder if they have received a large inflow of cash due to the recent banking issues going on in America and Europe.

EthicsGradient

VNX said:

Just for information you can only have one savings bond with Smartsave I had looked at having a one and a two year but was told can only have one  

This is so unusual that I had to check, and it's right:

"Can I have more than one savings account?

Our customers can only have one SmartSave savings account at a time."

Your questions answered with our FAQs - SmartSave (smartsavebank.co.uk)

Very odd, and could be quite aggravating (I opened a 3 year one with them last year, so there's no point in me thinking about another account with them for 2 years). I think it could be important enough for MSE to put it as a caveat when they list them in their best-paying accounts (currently, SmartSave are top for 1, 2 and 3 year accounts). Anyone know the best way of bringing an MSE staff member's attention to it?

wiseonesomeofthetime

"Anyone know the best way of bringing an MSE staff member's attention to it?"

Normally, social media. Twitter??

becky_rtw

We couldn't get any raisin accounts to approve, so ended up with Atom 5 Year at 4.65

We will have some more available for fixing for shorter periods soon so these numbers are looking interesting. 

I'd like to see NS&I up their rates as well. Because they can offer a higher guarantee amount it would work well for us for some of our larger amounts and mean we don't have to keep lots of accounts on the go. 

PloughmansLunch

I'm twiddling my thumbs before committing anything fixed (have only ever used easy access/regular savers until now) and hoping that the NS&I guaranteed income bonds increase to the better side of 4%

jimexbox

PloughmansLunch said:

I'm twiddling my thumbs before committing anything fixed (have only ever used easy access/regular savers until now) and hoping that the NS&I guaranteed income bonds increase to the better side of 4%

I opened a one year fixed rate bond last November. Its slightly nerve racking locking money away for the first time.

If you open an oxbury one year fixed rate at 4.54% with 1k, which is the minimum. You can open an existing customer one year bond at 4.75%.

VNX

jimexbox said:

PloughmansLunch said:

I'm twiddling my thumbs before committing anything fixed (have only ever used easy access/regular savers until now) and hoping that the NS&I guaranteed income bonds increase to the better side of 4%

I opened a one year fixed rate bond last November. Its slightly nerve racking locking money away for the first time.

If you open an oxbury one year fixed rate at 4.54% with 1k, which is the minimum. You can open an existing customer one year bond at 4.75%.

Thanks for this just to clarify if you open a one year bond with the one k minimum you then have access to the existing customer bonus rates?