The New Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

KevinG

mebu60 said:

KevinG said:

leitmotif said:

Hi all. If you had half a million sat around and wanted reasonable access (max. 90 days) due to possibly buying a house in the next 12-18 months, what savings accounts would you spread it over (bearing in mind £85K FSCS cover)? Asking for a friend who doesn't have an account (and who is perhaps not so keen on Vanquis due to their focus on subprime).

EDIT: She has added that she could give some or half of the money to her common-law partner too.

You're forgetting the temporary high balance cover https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/claims-process/temporary-high-balances/

Even if the source of the funds qualified it's only applicable for 6 months and they are looking at 12 - 18. 

Ah yes, sorry, missed the timeframe.

allegro120

leitmotif said:

Hi all. If you had half a million sat around and wanted reasonable access (max. 90 days) due to possibly buying a house in the next 12-18 months, what savings accounts would you spread it over (bearing in mind £85K FSCS cover)? Asking for a friend who doesn't have an account (and who is perhaps not so keen on Vanquis due to their focus on subprime).

EDIT: She has added that she could give some or half of the money to her common-law partner too.

I would fill up all all available best paying limited balance accounts (Santander Edge Saver, Skipton Member Bonus Saver, Cahoot Sunny Day etc.), then look at best paying limited access accounts (Principality Triple Accessis still available) and for the rest of the sum find 5 best paying instant and/or 90 days notice.
Or for the sake of simplicity just split it equally between 6 easy access and 90 days accounts paying the bast rates. Ulster Loyalty (5.2%), Oaknorth 95d tracker (5.37% at current BoE rate), Oxbury 90d tracker (5.32% at current BoE rate), Cynergy issue 78 (4,94%), Paragon double access (4.91%), Wealthify instant access 4.91%.   

InvesterJones

Depending on their tax situation, UK Gilts maturing in 18 months could be an option as well - only takes 1-3 working days to sell if needed before maturity. Risks over savings include the UK govt deciding to default (unlikely) or BoE deciding to raise interest rates and you needing to sell before maturity (however most people expect them to lower interest rates, not raise them).

gwapenut

leitmotif said:

Hi all. If you had half a million sat around and wanted reasonable access (max. 90 days) due to possibly buying a house in the next 12-18 months, what savings accounts would you spread it over (bearing in mind £85K FSCS cover)? Asking for a friend who doesn't have an account (and who is perhaps not so keen on Vanquis due to their focus on subprime).

EDIT: She has added that she could give some or half of the money to her common-law partner too.

I presonally wouldn't rely in the FSCS temporary high balance protection until you're well down the conveyancing route (possibly even post-exchange when money needs to be gathered together), otherwise anyone could claim they may or may not buy a house in 6 months, ie abuse the system. As someone else said, it's discretionary and when I emailed the FCA about this the reply was even more woolly.

Joinnt accounts give you £170k protection. Consider also whether how to spread the interest to make the most of tax allowances - feasibly you could spread it over this tax year, next tax year, and possibly even the tax year after that if your house hunting tkes longer than expected. Monthly interest guarantees a portion in this tax year, but you can also crystallise interest in this tax year by closing an annual (anniversary, not fixed date) interest account before the end of this tax year. In some ways, annual interest can offer the best of both worlds as you can make a late decision on which tax year to let the interest fall into, eg if the budget changes things significantly.

leitmotif

Just catching up with comments during a busy work schedule. I should add that the temporary high balance protection won't come into the picture as she's had the money for quite some time already.

wmb194

leitmotif said:

wmb194 said:

leitmotif said:

Hi all. If you had half a million sat around and wanted reasonable access (max. 90 days) due to possibly buying a house in the next 12-18 months, what savings accounts would you spread it over (bearing in mind £85K FSCS cover)? Asking for a friend who doesn't have an account (and who is perhaps not so keen on Vanquis due to their focus on subprime).

The best ones or if you don’t want the bother and are willing to accept a lower rate put it all in NS&I as that’s 100% backed by the government (you’re lending directly to the Treasury).

That sounds interesting but the difference in interest between that and the higher accounts could be as much as £7K before tax. Putting in a few hours to apply for savings accounts is definitely worth it for that kind of money.

Of course, so put it in the best ones and don't give any of it to a, "common law partner."

https://anthonygold.co.uk/latest/blog/common-law-partner

gwapenut

leitmotif said:

Just catching up with comments during a busy work schedule. I should add that the temporary high balance protection won't come into the picture as she's had the money for quite some time already.

I used to think that,thinking it was for house SALES only, but was corrected by someone on this forum. I looked into it and concluded that you might be protected if you're in the process of assembling money towards the end of a property purchase process, which is why I mentioned that having exchanged contracts might make you safe.

CuparLad

With base rates cut by 0.25% on a split decision, will we see rates immediately start to drop and this forum awaken again as everyone tries to chase the best rate after a year of quiet?

refluxer

Today's BoE cut means that the recent boosted Chase Saver will go from 5.1% to 4.85% next Thursday (8th August).

BigBlueSky

refluxer said:

Today's BoE cut means that the recent boosted Chase Saver will go from 5.1% to 4.85% next Thursday (8th August).

Will they definitely reduce it that quickly ?