The New Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

KevinG

Cobbler_tone said:

jaypers said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

poppystar said:

I’m moving most savings from Chase but still want to put in the monthly amount to get cash back. Is there anything to stop me from putting in that amount each month then withdrawing it during the month less whatever I’m likely to spend? It feels wrong. What are others doing? 

Absolutely nothing wrong, £1500 in, then all but a couple of day's spend straight out every 1st.

I pay £1500 in and take it out again same day. Triggers cashback qualification no problem. 

What money are you using to spend on to get the cash back, assume you must be transferring money back over to spend?
I absolutely love Chase and disappointed that they are now 3.5%. I get my wages paid in and tend to move main savings out to RS's and keep my spending money for the month in the 3.5% account and keep a small amount in the cashback account to do my spending.
The trouble with my Gatehouse account is that it can take half a day to get money if/when I need it, so minimise the back/forth from that account to chase pennies. If there is some left over after the RS's and what I anticipate spending monthly I flick it over to Gatehouse.

I do the same as many probably, transfer £1500 in then £1400 back to keep a balance there to spend from, which I top up during the month whenever necessary, that way I get the cashback on all spending.

Bobblehat

Yorkshire_Pud said:

Basically you never quite know where you stand since interest started being paid gross. It’s a game of catch up. As interest received  rose rapidly since 2022 and especially during 2024/25 I expect to have to pay more than the temporary revision suggests. All I can do is make a guesstimate of tax due and try and make sure it will be there in January 2026 to pay it as a lump sum or face 12 months from April 2026 of significantly reduced monthly income after tax made worse by the fact that as interest rates are now reducing I will be paying tax in 2026/27 estimated based on the higher interest received in 2024/25! Then maybe due a rebate after final revision based on actual interest received in year 24/25 calculated in January. This last bit may be wrong as my brain is getting stewed.

Simples eh!!? 

This sums up the position I feel I am in quite well ... always catch-up, always owing more tax than they took the previous year. If I knew for sure that the figures were right and I really do owe that much tax then I would not be complaining. It's the "not knowing if it's right or not" that bugs me! C'est la vie!

I am still wondering if there is any mileage in closing "duplicate" dormant saving accounts with any particular bank/BS in terms of having no further influence on HMRC estimations of interest earned/tax to pay. If nothing else, it would decrease any spreadsheet maintenance. I wouldn't normally close the very last account with a bank/BS, it makes opening new attractive accounts so much easier.

Getting back to Easy Access and my original question ... my inclination is to close the Gatehouse EAA and leave the Gatehouse ERG open .... I don't have the £1,000,000 problem flaneurs_lobster suggested earlier but appreciate the thought 

janusd

RCi Bank Freedom Savings Account - the rate is dropping for existing customers from 4.45% to 4.35% AER (4.27% monthly) as of 13th February 2025.

linz

Monument tri (Limited Access Saver) (4.71%) increasing to 4.75% effective today. For more than 3 withdrawals rate also going up to 4.24%

Source : email 

@soulsaver

Bridlington1

@soulsaver

Vida Savings Defined Access Issue 1 `quad' 4.63% £10 min

Yorkshire_Pud

Bobblehat said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

Basically you never quite know where you stand since interest started being paid gross. It’s a game of catch up. As interest received  rose rapidly since 2022 and especially during 2024/25 I expect to have to pay more than the temporary revision suggests. All I can do is make a guesstimate of tax due and try and make sure it will be there in January 2026 to pay it as a lump sum or face 12 months from April 2026 of significantly reduced monthly income after tax made worse by the fact that as interest rates are now reducing I will be paying tax in 2026/27 estimated based on the higher interest received in 2024/25! Then maybe due a rebate after final revision based on actual interest received in year 24/25 calculated in January. This last bit may be wrong as my brain is getting stewed.

Simples eh!!? 

This sums up the position I feel I am in quite well ... always catch-up, always owing more tax than they took the previous year. If I knew for sure that the figures were right and I really do owe that much tax then I would not be complaining. It's the "not knowing if it's right or not" that bugs me! C'est la vie!

I am still wondering if there is any mileage in closing "duplicate" dormant saving accounts with any particular bank/BS in terms of having no further influence on HMRC estimations of interest earned/tax to pay. If nothing else, it would decrease any spreadsheet maintenance. I wouldn't normally close the very last account with a bank/BS, it makes opening new attractive accounts so much easier.

Getting back to Easy Access and my original question ... my inclination is to close the Gatehouse EAA and leave the Gatehouse ERG open .... I don't have the £1,000,000 problem flaneurs_lobster suggested earlier but appreciate the thought 

They don’t estimate based on what they think you will get in interest from any given account they estimate based on what you actually received so doesn’t matter if you have a dormant account, if it generates no interest it doesn’t get included. If it generates 2p in interest it gets reported. I had loads of accounts like this and HMRC phone line read them out to me, it became quite comical! It’s just the way the system works. The only other approach is opting for self assessment I think and if interest received exceeds £10,000 in a tax year then HMRC will likely tell you to do self assessment as it’s mandatory over 10K interest, going forward but the onus is on them to tell you not for you to tell them as I understand it although HMRC pretends that you should tell them when it’s supposed to be PAYE so taxed by employer/pension provider. Yet another stupid situation brought about by paying interest gross. 

I expect that the higher interest received in 24/25 will pitch some/many into self assessment but because it won’t show until about January 2026 there will be a lag for them to realise. Makes it more important to keep a record of interest received in 24/25 as you have to tell HMRC how much interest you received which they can then cross reference with what information they were sent by the banks which is totally stupid as they could just tell us rather than cause to send in the wrong figures. So it’s PAYE Self Assessment, ludicrous.

Bobblehat

Yorkshire_Pud said:

Bobblehat said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

Basically you never quite know where you stand since interest started being paid gross. It’s a game of catch up. As interest received  rose rapidly since 2022 and especially during 2024/25 I expect to have to pay more than the temporary revision suggests. All I can do is make a guesstimate of tax due and try and make sure it will be there in January 2026 to pay it as a lump sum or face 12 months from April 2026 of significantly reduced monthly income after tax made worse by the fact that as interest rates are now reducing I will be paying tax in 2026/27 estimated based on the higher interest received in 2024/25! Then maybe due a rebate after final revision based on actual interest received in year 24/25 calculated in January. This last bit may be wrong as my brain is getting stewed.

Simples eh!!? 

This sums up the position I feel I am in quite well ... always catch-up, always owing more tax than they took the previous year. If I knew for sure that the figures were right and I really do owe that much tax then I would not be complaining. It's the "not knowing if it's right or not" that bugs me! C'est la vie!

I am still wondering if there is any mileage in closing "duplicate" dormant saving accounts with any particular bank/BS in terms of having no further influence on HMRC estimations of interest earned/tax to pay. If nothing else, it would decrease any spreadsheet maintenance. I wouldn't normally close the very last account with a bank/BS, it makes opening new attractive accounts so much easier.

Getting back to Easy Access and my original question ... my inclination is to close the Gatehouse EAA and leave the Gatehouse ERG open .... I don't have the £1,000,000 problem flaneurs_lobster suggested earlier but appreciate the thought 

They don’t estimate based on what they think you will get in interest from any given account they estimate based on what you actually received so doesn’t matter if you have a dormant account, if it generates no interest it doesn’t get included. If it generates 2p in interest it gets reported. I had loads of accounts like this and HMRC phone line read them out to me, it became quite comical! It’s just the way the system works. The only other approach is opting for self assessment I think and if interest received exceeds £10,000 in a tax year then HMRC will likely tell you to do self assessment as it’s mandatory over 10K interest, going forward but the onus is on them to tell you not for you to tell them as I understand it although HMRC pretends that you should tell them when it’s supposed to be PAYE so taxed by employer/pension provider. Yet another stupid situation brought about by paying interest gross. 

I expect that the higher interest received in 24/25 will pitch some/many into self assessment but because it won’t show until about January 2026 there will be a lag for them to realise. Makes it more important to keep a record of interest received in 24/25 as you have to tell HMRC how much interest you received which they can then cross reference with what information they were sent by the banks which is totally stupid as they could just tell us rather than cause to send in the wrong figures. So it’s PAYE Self Assessment, ludicrous.

Thanks for your considered reply.

As much by luck as by planning, I've managed to avoid the unknown territory of >£10K taxable interest in one year, by shuffling £20K lumps into ISA's for a few years now and shifting some interest into future years using annual paying savings accounts. It's been an "interesting" game trying to "maximise" all interest but keeping under the £10K taxable interest "bar" (if I can call it that)!

It's been a close thing this year, but with decent spreadsheet records and with the recent help(?) of falling rates, next FY should tip the balance away from that £10K self assessment point and more towards tax-free interest. 

Just got to continue paying those tax bills and keep taking the pills, as they say!

Aidanmc

Gatehouse seem to be having issues processing faster payments today.

SJMALBA

Aidanmc said:

Gatehouse seem to be having issues processing faster payments today.

That'll explain why my withdrawal, done just after midnight, still hasn't arrived...? 

RosieRooBear

@Aidanmc & @SJMALBA, Gatehouse use Barclays for payments and Barclays has been down since around 10am and still not back working 😤