Moving money around for small amounts of interest

inkydolphin

Hi, I'm interested to know how much people move money around on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to gain interest.

For example if you get paid at the beginning of the month but your credit card bill is not due until the 15th, moving the money to cover the bill into a savings account until the payment is due. Doing this with a bill of £2,000 and an interest rate of 3% could gain around £2 in interest. If you did it for every bill the gains would mount up over the months.

Personally I wouldn't do it for something like a £100 payment, even if due on the 25th of the month, as that would only net about 20p. Of course as with all of these things it's a trade off between time, effort and gains.

How far do people go with this kind of thing? 

Band7

You could keep your money in an interest-paying account that supports DDs and SOs? For example, the Chase Saver, or Kroo. They are unlikely to pay the very top rates, but the difference will be negligible on small amounts.

Lumiona

I do this every month. All funds are in savings. Transfer across when DDs are due to come out (same day every month)  it may even be pence gained. It's easy enough to move funds around with banking apps, seems daft to leave money in a non interest bearing account.

quirkydeptless

It's become a hobby of mine

EssexExile

After many years of being careful with money I've now got to the point where I can retire from micro-managing it. I have a rethink every April or whenever fixed term savers run out, but mostly I just leave it alone.

penners324

I've set up all DDs to come out the day after pay day. Makes life far easier 

phillw

inkydolphin said:

How far do people go with this kind of thing? 

I contacted all the companies I have direct debits with and have them move the payment to as close to the 1st of the month as possible. As soon as I get paid, the money goes into a savings account & then when I get informed that I'm overdrawn then I withdraw money to pay for it.

My outgoings are lower than my income, so I'd have to move the money at some point anyway. It's easier to just move whatever is necessary back than it is to calculate how much money I'd have to leave in my current account.

Moving the DD to the same time of the month, helps keep the admin down.

Frogletina

phillw said:

inkydolphin said:

How far do people go with this kind of thing? 

I contacted all the companies I have direct debits with and have them move the payment to as close to the 1st of the month as possible. As soon as I get paid, the money goes into a savings account & then when I get informed that I'm overdrawn then I withdraw money to pay for it.

My outgoings are lower than my income, so I'd have to move the money at some point anyway. It's easier to just move whatever is necessary back than it is to calculate how much money I'd have to leave in my current account.

Moving the DD to the same time of the month, helps keep the admin down.

I do similar, but I don't wait till I get overdrawn.

At the moment I'm getting 3.2 in my Zopa account, and I will transfer what I need back to my Santander current account the day before my direct debits are due.

I keep a small amount in my chase savings account which I transfer to the current account on the day I need to spend any.

gary1312

inkydolphin said:

Hi, I'm interested to know how much people move money around on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to gain interest.

For example if you get paid at the beginning of the month but your credit card bill is not due until the 15th, moving the money to cover the bill into a savings account until the payment is due. Doing this with a bill of £2,000 and an interest rate of 3% could gain around £2 in interest. If you did it for every bill the gains would mount up over the months.

Personally I wouldn't do it for something like a £100 payment, even if due on the 25th of the month, as that would only net about 20p. Of course as with all of these things it's a trade off between time, effort and gains.

How far do people go with this kind of thing? 

Not very far at all really. There's only ever a few hundred in my two main current accounts (one for bills and one for spending). I bank with RBS who do not offer an interest-bearing current account but their Reward account nets me three quid a month for paying my bills via direct debit which I'd do anyway. I couldn't be bothered with constantly transferring in and out of savings accounts for a few pence extra. 

I don't mind doing things like transferring money in and out of a Lloyds Club account each month as that provides a free perk I'd otherwise pay a fiver a month for, or running a few bits through my NatWest Reward for the three quid a month benefit but that's as far as it goes.

inkydolphin

penners324 said:

I've set up all DDs to come out the day after pay day. Makes life far easier 

Makes me wonder if I could move all my DDs to the last day of the month and earn interest on the money for the whole month before the DDs go out.