MSE News: First Direct doubles interest on regular saver to 7% – how to get the new rate

J63320

RG2015 said:

westv said:

cricidmuslibale said:

ColdIron said:

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

If you mean the amount of interest this gets you pretty close

Monthly amount * rate/100 * 6.5

E.g. 400 * 0.0525 * 6.5 = £136.50

If you really mean 'the average % interest  per year' then it's the advertised rate. E.g. if the advertised rate is 5.25% then the average % interest  per year is 5.25%

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.5 slightly overestimates the total annual interest each time. Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.44 gives a slightly more accurate estimate, I think.

Am I the only one that has a % button on my calculator? 

If I need to calculate interest at, say 5.25%, I automatically put 0.0525 in my calculator.

Am I the only one to do this?

PS. I never use the % button on a calculator, although I quite like using the % function in an Excel formula.

I’ve been using Excel for decades but I’ve only recently realised that if I define a cell as Number type Percentage, then when I enter, say, 2.5, not only does it display as 2.5%, but if I use the cell in a formula it will do the percentage calculation automatically.

RG2015

J63320 said:

RG2015 said:

westv said:

cricidmuslibale said:

ColdIron said:

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

If you mean the amount of interest this gets you pretty close

Monthly amount * rate/100 * 6.5

E.g. 400 * 0.0525 * 6.5 = £136.50

If you really mean 'the average % interest  per year' then it's the advertised rate. E.g. if the advertised rate is 5.25% then the average % interest  per year is 5.25%

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.5 slightly overestimates the total annual interest each time. Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.44 gives a slightly more accurate estimate, I think.

Am I the only one that has a % button on my calculator? 

If I need to calculate interest at, say 5.25%, I automatically put 0.0525 in my calculator.

Am I the only one to do this?

PS. I never use the % button on a calculator, although I quite like using the % function in an Excel formula.

I’ve been using Excel for decades but I’ve only recently realised that if I define a cell as Number type Percentage, then when I enter, say, 2.5, not only does it display as 2.5%, but if I use the cell in a formula it will do the percentage calculation automatically.

When my company migrated from Lotus 123 to Microsoft Excel in the eighties I was keen to compare the two. Hence I was aware of most of the functionality. Pretty soon however there were so many new features that I just concentrated in those I needed to use.

Now I am discovering some new very useful functions but also some annoying ones. Sometimes the Number Type Percentage appears in an adjacent cell when I don't want it!

masonic

RG2015 said:

westv said:

cricidmuslibale said:

ColdIron said:

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

If you mean the amount of interest this gets you pretty close

Monthly amount * rate/100 * 6.5

E.g. 400 * 0.0525 * 6.5 = £136.50

If you really mean 'the average % interest  per year' then it's the advertised rate. E.g. if the advertised rate is 5.25% then the average % interest  per year is 5.25%

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.5 slightly overestimates the total annual interest each time. Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.44 gives a slightly more accurate estimate, I think.

Am I the only one that has a % button on my calculator? 

If I need to calculate interest at, say 5.25%, I automatically put 0.0525 in my calculator.

Am I the only one to do this?

PS. I never use the % button on a calculator, although I quite like using the % function in an Excel formula.

I do the same, but I didn't know the % symbol could be used as a "divide by 100" operator in Excel formulae. I'm more familiar with its use as the modulo operator in programming, so wouldn't have expected that.

RG2015

masonic said:

RG2015 said:

westv said:

cricidmuslibale said:

ColdIron said:

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

If you mean the amount of interest this gets you pretty close

Monthly amount * rate/100 * 6.5

E.g. 400 * 0.0525 * 6.5 = £136.50

If you really mean 'the average % interest  per year' then it's the advertised rate. E.g. if the advertised rate is 5.25% then the average % interest  per year is 5.25%

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.5 slightly overestimates the total annual interest each time. Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.44 gives a slightly more accurate estimate, I think.

Am I the only one that has a % button on my calculator? 

If I need to calculate interest at, say 5.25%, I automatically put 0.0525 in my calculator.

Am I the only one to do this?

PS. I never use the % button on a calculator, although I quite like using the % function in an Excel formula.

I do the same, but I didn't know the % symbol could be used as a "divide by 100" operator in Excel formulae. I'm more familiar with its use as the modulo operator in programming, so wouldn't have expected that.

Quite. Although I am unfamiliar with programming language, I recognise your surprise.

This does remind me of my early feelings when comparing Excel with Lotus 123. I initially was annoyed that Excel did things quite differently. Pretty soon though I realised that once I had accepted the very simple Excel constructions that it did so much more than Lotus 123, and did it more efficiently without having to think about it.

pafpcg

RG2015 said:

masonic said:

RG2015 said:

westv said:

cricidmuslibale said:

ColdIron said:

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

If you mean the amount of interest this gets you pretty close

Monthly amount * rate/100 * 6.5

E.g. 400 * 0.0525 * 6.5 = £136.50

If you really mean 'the average % interest  per year' then it's the advertised rate. E.g. if the advertised rate is 5.25% then the average % interest  per year is 5.25%

ANGLICANPAT said:

Whats the formula please to work out  the average %  interest  per year with these savers  that restrict your pay in amount per month?

Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.5 slightly overestimates the total annual interest each time. Monthly amount * rate / 100 * 6.44 gives a slightly more accurate estimate, I think.

Am I the only one that has a % button on my calculator? 

If I need to calculate interest at, say 5.25%, I automatically put 0.0525 in my calculator.

Am I the only one to do this?

PS. I never use the % button on a calculator, although I quite like using the % function in an Excel formula.

I do the same, but I didn't know the % symbol could be used as a "divide by 100" operator in Excel formulae. I'm more familiar with its use as the modulo operator in programming, so wouldn't have expected that.

Quite. Although I am unfamiliar with programming language, I recognise your surprise.

This does remind me of my early feelings when comparing Excel with Lotus 123. I initially was annoyed that Excel did things quite differently. Pretty soon though I realised that once I had accepted the very simple Excel constructions that it did so much more than Lotus 123, and did it more efficiently without having to think about it.

I had no problem switching from Lotus123 to MS Excel because my first exposure to spreadsheets was with MS Multiplan - the forerunner of Excel.  I remember the re-learning difficulties of my accounting colleagues, who had discovered (round about 1990) the benefits of electronic spreadsheets running Visicalc on an add-in board for their Apple-II computers, when forced to switch to Lotus123...

RG2015

Actually started with Supercalc.

Nebulous2

pepsi_max2k said:

For anyone who’s opened one - how long did it take to be approved? I submitted yesterday and said it’d take up to 3 days, and currently there’s nothing showing at all on the app/website (not even an email/message to show I’ve applied 😐). 

Applied early on the 1st - as I didn't want a standing order going out at the end of the month. Found the account on the app today (3rd), with the £300 transfer dated yesterday.  I've had no messages about it at all. 

They seem to have a liking for sending letters - I'll probably get a letter about it on Friday or Saturday...... 

veggieblob

RG2015 said:

Actually started with Supercalc.

Good grief, I remember that - used it on an Apricot computer!

intalex

intalex said:

intalex said:

If one has reduced their monthly standing order from £300 to £25, does this account allow you to pay in the difference (£275 for 1 month) separately as a manual transfer?

Seems that deposits into the FD RS are restricted to each monthiversary of the account opening, so they amended my SO back to the full value and also set up a one-off future transaction for the next monthiversary to add the £275 (this is allowed apparently).

Just to confirm, both transfers went through fine on the monthiversary.

hoc

I opened and funded my account a few days ago. I notice my first SO date is March 1 not Feb 1. Having read the fine print now it looks like this is because my first payment was after the 25th of January so FD counts it as a "February" payment. Is that right? In that case, if I were to transfer manually by FP would it be rejected because it is not by SO? If I were to set up a second SO just for Feb would it still be rejected?