Putting money aside

Ant555

As a general question to the thinking on this board.

To those that are able to put money aside in readiness for energy bill increases (either due to cap changes or end of fixed deal)- are you upping your DD and putting money into your energy account or putting it to one side yourselves?

I know it may be a personal choice but im wondering what the collective wisdom is.

Sea_Shell

I get Santander cashback.

So whilst that's available at 2% I may increase my DD by even more.

It's capped at £5 per month*, but I won't be going that high (£250)

I won't be surprised if their cashback gets pulled or scaled back soon!!



* That's the total cap for the 2% category, including other DD's you may earn 2% on (Santander Insurance)

Ultrasonic

Sea_Shell said:

I get Santander cashback.

So whilst that's available at 2% I may increase my DD by even more.

It's capped at £5 per month, but I won't be going that high (£250)

I won't be surprised if their cashback gets pulled or scaled back soon!!

That would be my only reason to overpay to an energy company too but I've decided I don't want them to end up with a huge credit balance of mine (I'd be overpaying by more than £150 per month). I've wondered about them cutting the cashback too but on the other hand interest rates are going up. Let's see.

[Deleted User]

I have already started putting extra funds into my premium bonds and intend withdrawing amounts, if needed, during next winter to ease the pain especially as my current rate runs out in October.  

Sea_Shell

What if you ask your supplier to refund some of your credit mid-year though?

How would your supplier process that?    As a faster payment or as a credit DD?

If a credit DD then you may not then get the cashback for that month on your "debit" DD as the net result would be a credit, but Santander wouldn't also claw back the cash back on the total DD...or would they?

eg. usual DD £200, so monthly cashback of £4.
Credit with supplier builds up to, say, £300, which they agree to refund.
Next month you've only paid total DD, in that month, of minus £100, so no cashback earned.
However, do they claw-back 2% of the £100 - and actually deduct £2 from your account?

Hmmm

matelodave

Personally I rather keep the money in my own savings rather than give the energy company an interest free loan. You also have the benefit that you've still got the money rather than trying to reclaim it from the SoLR or administrators if the enrgy company goes bust.(I'm still waiting for the £35 that Neon Reef owe me from last July)

Do as DerewntMailman suggests and put it into Premium Bonds, you may be lucky and win enough to offset the increase, even my modest PB savings have already won £75 this year which is infinitely better than the aggregate interest I got on my ISA savings in the last couple of years.

wild666

Sea_Shell said:

I get Santander cashback.

So whilst that's available at 2% I may increase my DD by even more.

It's capped at £5 per month*, but I won't be going that high (£250)

I won't be surprised if their cashback gets pulled or scaled back soon!!



* That's the total cap for the 2% category, including other DD's you may earn 2% on (Santander Insurance)

I had a 123 account paying them £5 but receiving over £10 per month in cashback. Then they dropped the interest to 1.5% so I dropped to a lite account then it went to 0.6% so I changed to another account. As the monthly interest got lower I was getting less money than the monthly fee, I was paying them to have an account. Santander are shooting themselves in the foot by lowering rates and I suspect some are still losing money by having a 123 account but just cannot be bothered to change accounts or change banks.

MattMattMattUK

Ant555 said:

As a general question to the thinking on this board.

To those that are able to put money aside in readiness for energy bill increases (either due to cap changes or end of fixed deal)- are you upping your DD and putting money into your energy account or putting it to one side yourselves?

I know it may be a personal choice but im wondering what the collective wisdom is.

I save every month and put any remaining funds at the end of the month into savings as well, if I need to I will draw down on those for energy later in the year, although more likely I will just increase what I pay monthly and reduce the amount I save on an ongoing basis. I see little point in increasing the Direct Debit to build up a balance on the account.

jimexbox

I put what I can afford to one side each month (in my main account) for... Christmas, car bills, insurances, energy, holiday, birthdays and tax. I'm organised. 

Northern_Wanderer

I think I might open a Chase bank account for my bills along with their 1.5% interest savings account. No way am I going to build up ANY credit with an energy company, it's too risky nowadys. We all pay when they go bust with our money, in our future bills.

MattMattMattUK

Northern_Wanderer said:

I think I might open a Chase bank account for my bills along with their 1.5% interest savings account. No way am I going to build up ANY credit with an energy company, it's too risky nowadys. We all pay when they go bust with our money, in our future bills.

We do all pay as part of the SoLR process, but there is also no risk/cost directly with having a credit balance with your energy provider.