Chasing best interest rates?

scodlet3000

Hello, hope you're all keeping well.

Although I joined the forum community quite sometime ago, this will be my first post ... which I'd be interested & grateful to receive any feedback, guidance or/and views on.

I'm finally getting round to working out the best approach for my Savings - however, my query is this.  With different providers offering different products/accounts, on a seemingly daily/weekly basis, with improving & tempting interest rates, how do you avoid spending all your time constantly chasing the latest/greatest interest rates, and therefore potentially constantly moving your money around (constantly closing & opening accounts to do so)?  

eskbanker

By accepting that it's never going to be possible to be earning the absolute maximum interest, and recognising that perfect shouldn't be the enemy of the good? 

jimjames

I pick the best rate for me at the time which might not be the highest overall rate. So if it's a bank I already have an account with I'd favour that over a new one. Most of my savings are at 2.75% with a suite of regular savers paying up to 5.25%. I've not bothered chasing the better rate over 2.75% at the moment as it will make very little difference to me as most of my money is in S&S ISA. If you have a lot more savings then you might have more mileage doing that.

ForumUser7

The Family Building Society Market Tracker Saver may be good for you, because it tracks the top 20 rates and pays the average, but it only updates every few months and by nature never pays the top rate - that said, it does go up on the whole.

A potentially better option would be for you to open an account with the likes of Zopa, who always tend to be very near the top of the rate charts.

CHIP may be one to keep an eye on too, but I've only recently heard of them so don't know much about what position in the table they tend to be (they are top just now (apart from Kroo) I think).

I've had no experience with any of these companies actually, but if you want a single account that pays a decent rate and increases, one of the first two may be the best.

*EDIT @scodlet3000, did you want this to be in the ISA page, or just the general savings page? If you want it in savings, click the red button with the exclamation mark, report, needs merging moving or splitting, and ask for it to go in the Savings & Investments page, not the ISA page, and hopefully a helpful forum admin will sort it for you Just thinking it may get some more traction over there.

Andy7856

I think you have to be sensible, as long as my saving's provider is in the top  5 of best providers then I dont worry about chop and changing.   Its a constant race and there will never be a constant winner due to the competitive market, as long as you somewhere in the leading pack then you are still achieving something many are not.

25_Years_On

You avoid chasing by not chasing. Keep things reasonably competitive, choose easier options such as those I already have accounts with, realise that 0.25% is only £25 on £10000 and consider reorganising some savings every few months. Hence I just opened a Barclays Fixed Rate ISA (already a Barclays customer) and transferred some of my Cash ISA in (from Cynergy) while moving most easy access savings to Cynergy now the rate is 0.4% higher than Marcus. Some people like to chase and that's up to them. Don't worry about missing out and I'm not even annoyed that I have some money in fixed rate bonds paying below 2.5% because at the time it seemed like a good idea.

scodlet3000

ForumUser7 said:          

*EDIT @scodlet3000, did you want this to be in the ISA page, or just the general savings page? If you want it in savings, click the red button with the exclamation mark, report, needs merging moving or splitting, and ask for it to go in the Savings & Investments page, not the ISA page, and hopefully a helpful forum admin will sort it for you Just thinking it may get some more traction over there.

Thanks @forumUser7 As mentioned, this is my first posting so just getting to grips with how it all works.

I definitely would like to reach the widest and most appropriate audience, to get the best views/advice.

I didn't realise there were separate Boards for 'ISA' & 'Savings'?  I just went for the 'ISA's & tax-free savings' one.

In addition, I'm looking to put money into both an easy access cash ISA & open an easy access savings account ... and I guess my query is applicable to both so ......?            

Bridlington1

I personally chase the best rates as and when they emerge, if I can get an extra 0.05% on my savings by moving them to a different bank I will do (and have done a few times). Barring a load of easy access accounts with minimal balances I have all of my savings at 3% or above. Admittedly though I do tend to be a bit of a perfectionist.

It's only really the first of the month when my bank accounts go a bit hectic as my 2 dozen regular savers want topping up then. Even then, most of these are just a case of bung however much in by faster payment on 1st of the month and leave it there so very little effort involved. Most of these accounts have a variable rate of interest and/or pay such a high rate of interest that I probably won't withdraw money from them until they mature anyway.

I've found that quite often if an account becomes a top paying account it will remain a top paying account for a while so I am not constantly moving my money around. I opened an easy access cash ISA with Virgin in early/mid November at 3% and the bulk of my easy access savings (the chunk that isn't in regular savers anyway) stayed there for about 7 weeks before heading to Coventry at 3.25%.

The way I see it, accounts will often start to lag behind their competitors before too long and opening new accounts usually only takes a few minutes, especially if you are an existing customer, as does a faster payment to transfer the funds across. As long as chasing the best rates is not becoming an obsession for you why not?

RG2015

scodlet3000 said:

Hello, hope you're all keeping well.

Although I joined the forum community quite sometime ago, this will be my first post ... which I'd be interested & grateful to receive any feedback, guidance or/and views on.

I'm finally getting round to working out the best approach for my Savings - however, my query is this.  With different providers offering different products/accounts, on a seemingly daily/weekly basis, with improving & tempting interest rates, how do you avoid spending all your time constantly chasing the latest/greatest interest rates, and therefore potentially constantly moving your money around (constantly closing & opening accounts to do so)?  

I would say welcome to the forum, but over 17 years is quite a wait for your inaugural post!

Try the Moneyfacts website for the best rates.

At the moment the Virgin Money ISA exclusive is the best easy access account at 3.00% pa, but you need to have their current account to qualify. It is flexible so you can move money on and out as much as you wish within any tax year, subject to the ISA £20k per tax year rule.

Once you start you get a feel for how often to switch and to whom. I have my favourites which are not always the ones with the best rates.

Yellowman

The Virgin Money easy-access ISA at 3% EAR has been very easy for me, but the interest is paid annually.

For those that prefer monthly interest payments, the Moneybox Stocks and Shares ISA can be used in the same way (by depositing money as uninvested 'available cash') - also at 3% EAR (slightly less gross monthly).

Albermarle

scodlet3000 said:

ForumUser7 said:          

*EDIT @scodlet3000, did you want this to be in the ISA page, or just the general savings page? If you want it in savings, click the red button with the exclamation mark, report, needs merging moving or splitting, and ask for it to go in the Savings & Investments page, not the ISA page, and hopefully a helpful forum admin will sort it for you Just thinking it may get some more traction over there.

Thanks @forumUser7 As mentioned, this is my first posting so just getting to grips with how it all works.

I definitely would like to reach the widest and most appropriate audience, to get the best views/advice.

I didn't realise there were separate Boards for 'ISA' & 'Savings'?  I just went for the 'ISA's & tax-free savings' one.

In addition, I'm looking to put money into both an easy access cash ISA & open an easy access savings account ... and I guess my query is applicable to both so ......?            

There is a 'Savings and Investments' forum and there is a sub forum for 'ISA and tax free savings' because there are always a lot of questions about ISA rules ( can I open two in one year if I only contribute to one etc etc ) 
However some posts fall between the two and similar people read both forums, so not worth worrying about as it was a pretty general sort of question anyway.