Savings/investment DDs and debit card deposits- An updated list

Nimbleberryfinn

Bridlington1 said:

FREEPOST HEBS

Is that really the address? Just one line??

Also how do you know if they've received your DD mandate? Like say you posted it on the 1st of the month and wanted the DD to be taken out on the 21st of that month, would that be sufficient time for them to receive the mandate and set it up, or would it be taken out the following month?

Bridlington1

Nimbleberryfinn said:

Bridlington1 said:

FREEPOST HEBS

Is that really the address? Just one line??

Also how do you know if they've received your DD mandate? Like say you posted it on the 1st of the month and wanted the DD to be taken out on the 21st of that month, would that be sufficient time for them to receive the mandate and set it up, or would it be taken out the following month?

That's the address, all on one line. Moreover if you want proof of postage you can get it, though in my experience many post office staff don't know how to do it so you sometimes have to be persistent.

I think 21 days may be a bit tight of a turnaround considering it's going to go via Royal Mail. I'm going to send mine off requesting the first collection is on 1st September, I don't actually need the first DD to be taken till October though so it doesn't matter too much if it gets delayed.

I'll keep you updated with how long the process takes but I'd imagine they'll send a letter or email once it's set up. If not you should be able to phone them to ask for an update.

10_66

Bridlington1 said:

For those who still have a Scottish Widows account:

I've received a letter to say my Instant Saver 2 account is getting closed on or around 10/9/25. I've just spoken to them and they've said they are going to be closing all of their savings accounts. 

If you are using Scottish Widows as a source of DDs it may therefore be worth getting replacement DDs lined up for when the accounts are closed.

I still haven't received their letter advising of this, so I was wondering if the closure date's related to when the account was opened.  Do you have a note of what month it was when you opened your Instant Saver 2, please?

friolento

Bridlington1 said:

It's looking as though HEBS could potentially be a useful source of DDs. There doesn't seem to be any stated limit to the number of instant access accounts you can open with them and they allow 1 DD to be paid into each account per month with no stated minimum.

I've just opened a second instant access account with them so I shall try to set up a £2 monthly DD into each one to replace Scottish Widows DD on my RBS reward account.

It requires a paper DD mandate form to be sent in but they do still have a freepost address so I shall keep you all updated with respect to how long it takes them to set up the DD for future reference.

HEBS CS are incredibly sharp and on the job. I would not be surprised if they took exception to small DDs, even if you don’t breach minimum deposit and balance T&Cs.

Bridlington1

10_66 said:

Bridlington1 said:

For those who still have a Scottish Widows account:

I've received a letter to say my Instant Saver 2 account is getting closed on or around 10/9/25. I've just spoken to them and they've said they are going to be closing all of their savings accounts. 

If you are using Scottish Widows as a source of DDs it may therefore be worth getting replacement DDs lined up for when the accounts are closed.

I still haven't received their letter advising of this, so I was wondering if the closure date's related to when the account was opened.  Do you have a note of what month it was when you opened your Instant Saver 2, please?

I opened mine in the summer of 2022 IIRC. 

I've just spoken to them again and it seems I've been given incorrect information the first time I called. The person I've spoken to has said they're not planning to close all savings accounts after all, it is just mine they've decided to close.

Please accept my apologies for the misinformation earlier, I shall go back and remove my earlier post.

That being said I have received a few letters over the last year or so telling me that other banks within LBG offer higher rates of interest than Scottish Widows so it wouldn't surprise me if they withdrew from the savings market at some stage in the future.

10_66

Bridlington1 said:

10_66 said:

Bridlington1 said:

For those who still have a Scottish Widows account:

I've received a letter to say my Instant Saver 2 account is getting closed on or around 10/9/25. I've just spoken to them and they've said they are going to be closing all of their savings accounts. 

If you are using Scottish Widows as a source of DDs it may therefore be worth getting replacement DDs lined up for when the accounts are closed.

I still haven't received their letter advising of this, so I was wondering if the closure date's related to when the account was opened.  Do you have a note of what month it was when you opened your Instant Saver 2, please?

I opened mine in the summer of 2022 IIRC. 

I've just spoken to them again and it seems I've been given incorrect information the first time I called. The person I've spoken to has said they're not planning to close all savings accounts after all, it is just mine they've decided to close.

Please accept my apologies for the misinformation earlier, I shall go back and remove my earlier post.

That being said I have received a few letters over the last year or so telling me that other banks within LBG offer higher rates of interest than Scottish Widows so it wouldn't surprise me if they withdrew from the savings market at some stage in the future.

Many thanks for the update.  I guess it's inevitable they'll work through all of us and do the same, and that they're going the same way that Birmingham Midshires did.

Bridlington1

10_66 said:

Bridlington1 said:

10_66 said:

Bridlington1 said:

For those who still have a Scottish Widows account:

I've received a letter to say my Instant Saver 2 account is getting closed on or around 10/9/25. I've just spoken to them and they've said they are going to be closing all of their savings accounts. 

If you are using Scottish Widows as a source of DDs it may therefore be worth getting replacement DDs lined up for when the accounts are closed.

I still haven't received their letter advising of this, so I was wondering if the closure date's related to when the account was opened.  Do you have a note of what month it was when you opened your Instant Saver 2, please?

I opened mine in the summer of 2022 IIRC. 

I've just spoken to them again and it seems I've been given incorrect information the first time I called. The person I've spoken to has said they're not planning to close all savings accounts after all, it is just mine they've decided to close.

Please accept my apologies for the misinformation earlier, I shall go back and remove my earlier post.

That being said I have received a few letters over the last year or so telling me that other banks within LBG offer higher rates of interest than Scottish Widows so it wouldn't surprise me if they withdrew from the savings market at some stage in the future.

Many thanks for the update.  I guess it's inevitable they'll work through all of us and do the same, and that they're going the same way that Birmingham Midshires did.

In my case there's also the fact that I was banned from LBG 2 years ago but despite this I managed to keep hold of my SWs account. I'm wondering if the LBG lifetime ban has finally filtered through to SWs?

I think you're correct though in that eventually they'll probably axe their savings accounts as Birmingham Midshires did, particularly given that they've already stopped offering savings accounts to new customers. Whether they'll keep the SWs brand for pensions though remains to be seen.

Nimbleberryfinn

Another question about HEBS, if I have set up the DD to a bank account (Barclays) I later switch and that DD then takes from the new account I have switched into (TSB), can I then send the DD form in again and change it to a different bank account (Nationwide)?

Bridlington1

Nimbleberryfinn said:

Another question about HEBS, if I have set up the DD to a bank account (Barclays) I later switch and that DD then takes from the new account I have switched into (TSB), can I then send the DD form in again and change it to a different bank account (Nationwide)?

I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to change the account the DD is taken from, it's essentially equivalent to cancelling the DD and setting up a new one for a different account.

Bridlington1

Changes to the Savings/investment DDs & debit card deposits thread:

I have now made a few changes to the first page of this thread, these are mainly part of a general simplification of the first page of the thread and a slight reduction of the scope of it so that the listings focus on the DD/debit card deposit facilities themselves rather than other account details. The changes are as follows:

Simplifying of listings: Previously the DDs listings included ``Multiple monthly DDs" and ``Direct debit date" as separate subheadings, these have now been combined into one subheading ``Frequency/date". ``Account Opening" and ``Account Management" have also been combined into one item.

Removal of interest rates: Previously listings for each account included its interest rate, these have now been removed to reduce maintenance of this thread.

Removal of RAF/sign up offers: Previously listings for each account included details of any refer-a-friend offers and/or sign up offers associated with the accounts in question, after careful consideration these have now been removed owing to concerns that it was resulting in several breaking the forum rules regarding referrals. I do however intend to be fairly laissez-faire when it comes to people discussing refer-a-friend offers related to the items on the lists but they shall no longer be listed as remarks.

Removal of items which charge a fee for maintaining the account: I have now removed all items in which a fee is charged simply for having the account. Accounts that have been removed include NuWealth, Vanguard and Interactive Investor.