Halifax Regular Saver - rate increase

Speculator

Moneyfacts are a bit slow. Still showing 4.50% on their website.

ToastLady

Hope that I've got this right, after reading through all the posts. Opened a regular saver today and funded it with £250. Can I add further £250 on 1st April and thereafter on the 1st of every month? 

ForumUser7

ToastLady said:

Hope that I've got this right, after reading through all the posts. Opened a regular saver today and funded it with £250. Can I add further £250 on 1st April and thereafter on the 1st of every month? 

You’re correct - £250 per calendar month, so that’s fine

ToastLady

ForumUser7 said:

ToastLady said:

Hope that I've got this right, after reading through all the posts. Opened a regular saver today and funded it with £250. Can I add further £250 on 1st April and thereafter on the 1st of every month? 

You’re correct - £250 per calendar month, so that’s fine

That's great, thank you very much.

TheAble

subjecttocontract said:

Well I'm 6 months into a Halifax 4.5% reg saver and have decided to leave it as it is. No doubt there will be plenty of other s that make the opposite choice.

If closing early would mean loss of interest accrued then you made the right choice. The extra 1% at 5.5% over 6 months wouldn't be sufficient to net you back what you'd given up.

Assuming you've been saving the maximum, whether to close and start again is wholly a function of how many months you have left to maturity. If you've only had the 4.5% open a day, you'd switch. If only a day remaining until maturity, you'd wait. Therefore there's some date between the two where it's equally attractive to switch or remain. The greater the interest rate differential, the further to the right (on that timeline) the date is.

phillw

TheAble said:
If closing early would mean loss of interest accrued then you made the right choice. The extra 1% at 5.5% over 6 months wouldn't be sufficient to net you back what you'd given up.

You don't lose the interest you've accrued (at least AFAIK) but even so, six months in and the difference from 3.40 to 4.5 is greater than 4.5 to 5.5 & with easy access rates as they are then it's not worth it. I doubt chip is going to move rates in the next six months.

It's complicated because obviously you will be in the same position when it ends naturally with a load of money in a 3.40% account, but it's possible that someone is using one to pay off a credit card that needs repaying at a specific time.

Bridlington1

phillw said:

TheAble said:
If closing early would mean loss of interest accrued then you made the right choice. The extra 1% at 5.5% over 6 months wouldn't be sufficient to net you back what you'd given up.

You don't lose the interest you've accrued (at least AFAIK) but even so, six months in and the difference from 3.40 to 4.5 is greater than 4.5 to 5.5 & with easy access rates as they are then it's not worth it. I doubt chip is going to move rates in the next six months.

It's complicated because obviously you will be in the same position when it ends naturally with a load of money in a 3.40% account, but it's possible that someone is using one to pay off a credit card that needs repaying at a specific time.

Also many will be in a position to have all their EA savings in higher paying accounts. I am currently in a position where I can pay close to £10k/mth into regular savers that pay more than chip at 3.4% and from next month I'll be emptying lower paying regular savers into higher ones, which tips the balance more towards being better off renewing now.

Moreover some (myself included) grabbed notice accounts that track the base rate, in my case Mansfield's 90 day notice account at 4%, which I imagine will stay competitive for the rest of the Halifax regular saver term so for me the maths seems to suggest I should renew. I have emptied both Halifax and BOS into Mansfield where it will stay for a bit.

subjecttocontract

One thing missing is the fact that some of us aren't particularly interested in squeezing every last penny of interest from our savings. We look at the time/ effort required vs the gain and make a choice as to whether we think it's worthwhile. Some of us can't be persuaded to get out of bed for small gains as we probably make our money in many other ways. It doesn't make us wrong, it just means we don't all have the same approach.

Band7

subjecttocontract said:

One thing missing is the fact that some of us aren't particularly interested in squeezing every last penny of interest from our savings. We look at the time/ effort required vs the gain and make a choice as to whether we think it's worthwhile. Some of us can't be persuaded to get out of bed for small gains as we probably make our money in many other ways. It doesn't make us wrong, it just means we don't all have the same approach.

Agreed. A lot would also depend on how much savings you have. Somebody building up an emergency fund from monthly earnings won’t benefit as much from chasing rates as somebody who has the cash portion of their half a million investment portfolio in savings accounts.

Yorkshire_Pud

The terms of the Halifax RS state the need to set up a standing order for £25 to max £250 each month before the 25th. Then top up the difference if desired.

In practice can I set up a standing order for £1 on the first of each month and add up to £249 by manual transfer? Or would it have to be £25 standing order.