The Old Regular Savers Discussion Thread 28/12/24-29/1/26

What_time_is_it

Do you think it’s worth my while opening the 2 at The Leeds offering 5.05% and 4.8%? Or is it likely that they will both drop in a couple of weeks’ time anyway following the rate cut coming this Thursday?

Better to act now and open them? Or wait?

jaypers

What_time_is_it said:

Do you think it’s worth my while opening the 2 at The Leeds offering 5.05% and 4.8%? Or is it likely that they will both drop in a couple of weeks’ time anyway following the rate cut coming this Thursday?

Better to act now and open them? Or wait?

They are only likely to go one way if they change so if you like the account, open now. 

What_time_is_it

Thanks. I guess what Im saying is whether I should have more quality control! If Loughborough are launching one this week at 5.6% then it seems likely that there will be others launching regular savers at over 5% in the coming months, even after the rate cut this week.
And if I open these 2 at 5.05% and 4.8% now there is every chance that they will drop by 0.2-0.3% in a few weeks too!

Hard to decide what to do for the best!

jaypers

What_time_is_it said:

Thanks. I guess what Im saying is whether I should have more quality control! If Loughborough are launching one this week at 5.6% then it seems likely that there will be others launching regular savers at over 5% in the coming months, even after the rate cut this week.
And if I open these 2 at 5.05% and 4.8% now there is every chance that they will drop by 0.2-0.3% in a few weeks too!

Hard to decide what to do for the best!

Many RS accounts allow you to close early with no penalty. Some even have fixed interest rates. I tend to judge on a case by case basis. Just watch ones like TSB that make you wait a year from account opening, even if you close early. 

WillPS

What_time_is_it said:

I’ve been opening a large number of regular savers and was wondering what others deem to be the cut-off point for what is worth opening and what is not?

I’ve got most of the fixed rate ones and the variables over 5%. I’m now looking at the ones that The Leeds offer at 5.05 and 4,8% variable respectively. Are they worth it? Or am I better off waiting to see what else emerges? As shown by The Loughborough’s new 5.6% one this week?

I seek to open any with a rate above 5.5% presently, although only those offering 6% or above receive more than minimum funding. I have a spreadsheet which orders them primarily by rate and secondarily by term (longest first). Typically Melton's 2 year 6% account gets fully funded but none of the others at 6% do. All quite changeable month-to-month though; if a big maturity occurs during the month then I might fund some of the others.

I suspect Loughborough might end up being one which only ever gets minimum funding but one thing I've learned in this game is that you have to be in it to win it; and given the cost of opening these things is either nothing or the cost of a stamp I tend to get anything vaguely attractive. If you're filling up all your 5.x% regular savers routinely then it'd make perfect sense to me to go for the higher 4.x% ones too (if only speculatively).

subjecttocontract

I think the cut off point varies depending on how many you want to manage/finance. There are plenty of good payers around so I don't need to bother with the others. My cut off is currently 6% because I have 24 & don't want to spend any more time on them. We are all different, whatever suits you is the way to go.

What_time_is_it

Thanks for the responses everyone. I’m relatively new to this “game” so it’s good to hear a range of views of experienced “players”.

trickydicky14

subjecttocontract said:

I think the cut off point varies depending on how many you want to manage/finance. There are plenty of good payers around so I don't need to bother with the others. My cut off is currently 6% because I have 24 & don't want to spend any more time on them. We are all different, whatever suits you is the way to go.

24 regular savers, I would assume some of those are below 6%?

dcs34

I'd used a 5.5% cut-off for a while but as the easy access rate dropped in Gatehouse/Ulster, in the last month I moved this to 5.25% or above on the basis it meant I could open the Lloyds Monthly (since I had the Club version) and keep a link to Furness with the Xmas Regular Saver 2. This means a max monthly deposit of about £7k across 30 accounts which just about works in terms of spending time to fund them manually each month, and also in terms of managing the cashflow from monthly salary, maturing regular savers and fixed savings accounts, and dipping into easy access accounts to cover shortfalls.

I did consider setting a lower threshold but thought (perhaps ironically!) there were too many accounts in that 5% - 5.15% band and I'd have a headache working out what to open and fund each month. If rates start to fall I might open the fixed rate ones just to lock in a better rate.

Dizzycap

What_time_is_it said:

I’ve been opening a large number of regular savers and was wondering what others deem to be the cut-off point for what is worth opening and what is not?

I’ve got most of the fixed rate ones and the variables over 5%. I’m now looking at the ones that The Leeds offer at 5.05 and 4,8% variable respectively. Are they worth it? Or am I better off waiting to see what else emerges? As shown by The Loughborough’s new 5.6% one this week?

Only you can answer that question, really:-)

I've got 25 fully funded RS: 23 @ 6% and above with some NLA and 2 @ 5.5% fixed. 

My personal plan was to have 2 RS mature each month. It's worked well for the past couple of years.

My cut off is 5.5 fixed for fully funded with the exception of the YBS Loyalty saver @ 5.45% variable which I use to put monthly interest in to. I like the fact that I can close the YBS RS if I need to, without faffing around with withdrawl letters and passbooks.

If my memory serves me right, isn't there someone who has 52 or 60 RS?

Again, it really does depend on personal finances but I also like to fill my tax free T212 Cash Isa every year with a view of moving cash funds into the S&S section should / when buying opportunites arise.