Help for my mums savings

xylophone

I still have one of these - I keep it just to maintain membership - I certainly don't keep £1000 in it.

Way back,  Nationwide introduced a scheme which offered higher rates for those who had been a member for a certain number of years.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4212087/nationwide-loyalty-saver

These accounts have not been available for a number of years,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6060785/nationwide-axes-loyalty-saver-accounts

badmemory

That's good to know as I still have 2 which is why I mentioned them.

Robin9

Make sure she gets the 25% Council Tax reduction.

Robin9

Have a good look at her insurances  - eg House Insurance - it may well pay to change companies.

Also have a good look through the bank statements -  have they been paying for something for something they don't receive or need any more

MX5huggy

Krakkkers said:

Thanks for all the advice, its all good stuff and plenty to think about.
My mum banks with nationwide but their rates don't seem competitive although she has been getting nothing up till now so we can improve on that.

For the last 2 years Nationwide have made £100 “Fairer Share” payments to qualifying members. By adding a savings account with £50 or more in and having a current account that she is using she should qualify for this if they do it again this year. The criteria are quite tight the period of qualifying is Jan to March and payment made in May June previously. 

p00hsticks

Sarahspangles said:

Krakkkers said:

So my dad just died and we are sorting out my mums finances going forward.
She is 92 and on state pension and pension credit but has around £20k in savings which it turns out she has been receiving no interest on.
Being the age she is she has no interest in the internet so we are looking at finding her a highstreet building society paying good interest, as a non tax payer i guess it doesn't matter if its an ISA or not.
Most if not all of the accounts in the moneysaving website are online accounts but my mum will want a physical highstreet bank/building society so any recommendations?
Also probably the wrong board but how much savings are you allowed before it affects things like pension credit/housing benefit/council tax discounts?

In the end the option she went with was Premium Bonds. OH had to help her set this up but you get a physical certificate and her winnings were paid into her current account. For some reason she was more willing to spend winnings than she would have if she received interest. And from a practical point of view, PBs are easy to handle when someone passes away. They can remain invested while other things are sorted out.

The downside to NS&I products is the low figure above which a grant of probate is required to release the funds held after the persons death - currently only £5,000.

As the OP says his mother lives in rented accommodation (and so probate would not be required to deal with a property sale) then when looking where to put her savings it's worth considering how easy it would be to get the money out after her death.

Not only is a probate application an extra administrative burden, it's also costly (£300 unless the total estate is under £5,000 when it's free). So a savings account paying slightly less interest but with a bank that has a higher probate requirement is likely to be better than one with a better interest rate but requiring probate to get at the funds.