Savings Vs current account

tony3619

Hello 

Are there any risks of leaving 90-95% of money in a easy access savings account? Say you have 10,000 and and only keep 300 -400 in the current account? 

I don't use fixed savers as I like to have access to money but would you recommend keeping a certain amount in my current account? 

I'm thinking more of banks going under etc and quickly moving money 

DullGreyGuy

FSCS protection is up to £85,000 per bank so as long as you arent going over that then there is only a risk of inconvenience. 

Its not going to be any quicker to move monies from a savings account to another bank than it is a current account. 

As to how much to keep in your current account? that depends on how much you pay by DD and how often you want to do your banking. Personally when monies come in from employer then I leave in my current account the monies required to pay bills plus £100 (have £500 interest free overdraft) and move the rest into various savings vehicles. So at the start of the financial month it will have a few thousand in it and at the end of the month it should have £100.

Ebe_Scrooge

If a bank goes under you're protected up to £85,000 anyway.  Aside from that, it makes sense to keep your money in a savings account if you're earning interest on it, and you don't need it for day-to-day expenses.  Obviously you need to keep enough in your current account to cover DDs, standing orders etc. as well as any routine spending you make on your debit card.

eskbanker

Although FSCS aims to reimburse within seven days of a bank failing, it's always sensible to spread money across multiple accounts where possible, to mitigate against not just those events but technical outages, card loss/theft, accounts being frozen/blocked, etc, etc.

Exactly how you achieve this is up to you but even if all your money is with one bank, having a credit card is another way of protecting against temporary cashflow issues....

B0bbyEwing

I'm going to guess that 10k is a bit to you & therefore a fair amount to have in an easy access savings account.

On that note I'd ask you to ask yourself how much of that 10k you think you'll need realistically over the next 12 month. 

And then to at least entertain the idea of regular savers which generally pay more interest (shop around) rather than being closed off to them. 

You don't have to put the full whack in. Off the top of my head first direct allow 300 tops /month but can go down to 25/month, so could you manage to spare even the lowest amount for the higher interest? 

Other providers will have difference ranges. 

jimjames

tony3619 said:

Hello 

Are there any risks of leaving 90-95% of money in a easy access savings account? Say you have 10,000 and and only keep 300 -400 in the current account? 

I barely even keep that in my current account, if a DD takes me over then I just transfer money from savings into the current account. Might as well maximise the interest you get.

redpete

[DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

That phrase might not be entirely clear but the rest of the post makes sense and is a helpful contribution.  

RobM99

A total guess on my part but interest rates might (<-- might!)  whizz up, so how about a 90 day notice account? Open it and give notice, the thinking being - if the rate does soar, you're not tied in to a low rate. You take a chance whatever you do, really.

As for current account, only you know your monthly expenses so how about that figure + say £300. You're concerned about accounts freezing due to IT worries? Maybe have 2 current accounts (I do) just in case, and/or keep a few £££ in cash at home

Matt1510

redpete said:

[DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

That phrase might not be entirely clear but the rest of the post makes sense and is a helpful contribution.  

That's correct redpete, the phrase isn't entirely clear hence my post.
As for the rest of the post making sense and being an helpful contribution I haven't noticed anyone on thread disputing that.
So with those points in mind I'm struggling to understand the reason of your own post redpete.

ScarletBea

jimjames said:

I barely even keep that in my current account, if a DD takes me over then I just transfer money from savings into the current account. Might as well maximise the interest you get.

I'm the same - my current account (which gives zero interest anyway) is just for regular DDs.

DullGreyGuy

eskbanker said:

Although FSCS aims to reimburse within seven days of a bank failing, it's always sensible to spread money across multiple accounts where possible, to mitigate against not just those events but technical outages, card loss/theft, accounts being frozen/blocked, etc, etc.

Exactly how you achieve this is up to you but even if all your money is with one bank, having a credit card is another way of protecting against temporary cashflow issues....

That assumes a bank is allowed to fail rather than the BoE stepping in with a bail in and/or out. Its still sensible to spread your monies as restrictions may be put in place before the bank actually topples extending the period where you dont have full access to your funds.