HSBC savings

jameseonline

PaulDesmond said:

Thanks for all your help. I will start it now. would take 8 monthe to reach £3,000. BUT if banks love you to invest loads of money into them, why would Virgin cap it at £3,000. Surley they would want as much out of you as they could get?

No it would take 12 months to reach £3000.

12 X £250 = £3000

Regular savings accounts are limited by their nature so wether it's by £250 a month &/or a total deposit limit or whatever it's how they are.

I believe they are designed to encourage saving at a decent rate each month.

You can have as many Regular Savings accounts as you are eligible for, eg you could have a Virgin regular, a Nationwide regular,a first direct one all at the same time if you wanted.

If you want to do the lump sum thing at a low rate then that's a different type of account.

If you want to have easy access again that's a different type of account (although I treat regular savings accounts like easy access as can get at most of my money easily should I need to without penalty)

Maybe look at these pages and read the guides to the type of accounts 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts/

eskbanker

PaulDesmond said:

BUT if banks love you to invest loads of money into them, why would Virgin cap it at £3,000. Surley they would want as much out of you as they could get?

Not at any cost - they don't want to pay you 10+% to deposit money they might only earn 5% on, so they'd prefer to attract cheaper money....

Albermarle

PaulDesmond said:

Thanks for all your help. I will start it now. would take 8 monthe to reach £3,000. BUT if banks love you to invest loads of money into them, why would Virgin cap it at £3,000. Surley they would want as much out of you as they could get?

10% is double the normal going rate. Virgin use this as a way of attracting new customers, who will hopefully stay and buy other things from them. like insurance etc.

However as the rate will be unprofitable for them, they restrict how much you can add. All regular savers from other providers do the same.

If you have a normal savings account, say paying 4 or 5%, then you can pretty much add as much as you like, usually with a limit of a Million or two.

ranciduk

HSBC’s online bonus saver still pays 4% on balances up to 50k

thats a better option than the regular if you have more money to deposit 

PaulDesmond

Hi again. I have taken your advice and I am presently putting £250 per month into virgin savings which earns me 10% interest. However, if I said that (hypothetically) that I had £5,000 or more in a bank account, could I not invest this in another savings account.  Know (thanks to you) there is a government limit on how much I can get interest free without it being taxed, but the £5,000 is just sitting there.

Even if it was at a lower interest rate say 5% and I would lose 20% of that leaving me with 4%, it is better than nothing. Or woul this upset the apple cart of the 10%

Any sugestions on this would be helpfull.

Albermarle

4% is always going to be better than zero .
You could look at putting the £5K in a cash ISA. In this case you will pay no tax on the interest but the interest rate will probably be marginally less.
Have a good read of this.
Savings - All Guides - MoneySavingExpert

PaulDesmond

I am not talking about the virgin 10%. I am talking about a further £5, 000 of desposable income sitting in a bank account which could ALSO be earning interest.

allegro120

PaulDesmond said:

I am not talking about the virgin 10%. I am talking about a further £5, 000 of desposable income sitting in a bank account which could ALSO be earning interest.

Find the best paying Easy Access account/s and put £5k there.

Santander Edge Saver pays 6% on up to £4k - this requires Edge current account. Edge current account has a fee, but you don't have to pay it if ou don't setup any direct debits.
Cahoot Sunny Day Saver pays 5.2% on up to £3k.

There is a wide choice of Easy Access accounts paying slightly below 5% you can look at. https://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/goals/?goal=SAV_EASYACCESS

PaulDesmond

If I pay £5,000 into another account or ISA will the £250 a month still be protected at 10%? If that is the case then I can look elswhere to put my money.

Was thinking about the investment side of things but I don't understand enough about that.

allegro120

PaulDesmond said:

If I pay £5,000 into another account or ISA will the £250 a month still be protected at 10%? If that is the case then I can look elswhere to put my money.

Was thinking about the investment side of things but I don't understand enough about that.

Yes, you will still get 10.38% AER on your £250 a months from Virgin. You can also open more well paying regular savers with other providers and drip-feed them from your Easy Access, this will maximise the overall interest on your money.

From the figures you have provided, it doesn't look like you need ISA because you are very unlikely to earn more than £1000 a year.