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

savethepandas

Kim_13 said:

savethepandas said:

Coventry BS Loyalty Regular Savers

Mine matured and turned into a 2.45% Easy saver on Saturday, my partner's on Sunday, had thought we would need to wait until Monday for access.

Were you able to get yours into a Current Account today? That is next day, so I had in mind that Coventry RS proceeds would only land on a weekday.

Mine matures on a Satuday as I wasn’t as careful about when I opened it as I was with the Sunny Day Saver. Is an internal transfer processed at the weekend (if you requested one?)

I put it all in the 4 access account at 4.85%. So internal transfer that worked straight away.

Kim_13

35har1old said:

Kim_13 said:

35har1old said:

Section62 said:

surreysaver said:

HHUK said:

allegro120 said:

I don't think you need to leave £1 in Smart Saver .... Also this is not really the account worth keeping.

It's probably a case of overkill and there may well be no need to, but for the sake of £1 I'm happy to keep the Co-operative Bank Smart Saver open and funded in case it makes life easier when it comes to opening new accounts at some point in the future.

Shouldn't make a difference if you've got their current account, which is needed for the regular saver in the first place 

Co-op

My only other account with them is the current account, so I've decided to retain the Smart Saver because although it is only a year-old account it would become my oldest account should anything happen to the current account. (like many of us for 'loyalty' reasons I work on the basis of keeping the oldest account with a financial institution open whenever possible).

I'm not expecting anything to happen to the Co-op current account anytime soon, but the Coventry takeover could go either way - maybe Coventry will want to continue to be a player in the current account market, or maybe they will ultimately decide that isn't part of the business they want to retain.

I figured that less interest than elsewhere on £1, plus maintaining a line on my spreadsheet, was probably worth it for not having to think too hard about the Co-op's future direction.

Coventry did withdraw from the current account market a number or years ago (2019)

It would be a strange thing to do to buy a bank with no interest in getting back into the market of providing bank accounts - at a time when closing someone’s bank account and leaving them with no alternative is frowned upon, particularly for a business decision. CoOp Cashminder is also likely to be held by those who might struggle to obtain replacement banking facilities elsewhere.

Having said that if I were a CoOp customer I would leave £1 in a savings account (assuming that the current account might become a useful switcher.)

They didn't actually close them but withdrew the debit card and replaced it with a cash card for cash withdrawals only.Standing orders and direct debits remained unchanged.
Those with a overdraft had to repay it.
Do you not need a debit card for a switch to work?

You do, but existing debit cards surely continue to work until advised otherwise (for which notice would be given) by CoOp or Coventry. Some posters have ticked an option saying no debit card, switching an account out of Chase while trying to keep another open, but that might mean a switch being rejected if there actually is an active debit card on the account.

WillPS

Could I cordially invite the users discussing the future of Coventry BS and Co-op Bank products and services to consider moving to another thread? There are quite a few already, such as:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6589803/coventry-bs-co-op-savings-accounts-any-sign-of-merging

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6491078/coventry-bs-bids-for-the-co-op-bank/p11

Or of course start a new one.

Bridlington1

Bridlington1 said:

According to moneyfacts:

Suffolk BS Online 1 Year Variable Rate Regular Saver (31.03.2026) and Suffolk 1 Year Variable Rate Regular Saver (31.03.2026) at 5% to go NLA by 17/3/25.

To be replaced by Online Fixed Rate Regular Saver (30.06.2026) and Fixed Rate Regular Saver (30.06.2026) both at 5%

Suffolk 1 Year Fixed Rate Regular Saver (30.06.2026) and Suffolk BS Online 1 Year Fixed Rate Regular Saver (30.06.2026) at 5% now live as advertised. First page of this thread has been updated to reflect this.

ThePirates

Suffolk BS account is interesting! 
Well below my current threshold but fixed rate. 
It's trying to work out if rates will fall that much in 16 months?

Section62

ThePirates said:

Suffolk BS account is interesting! 
Well below my current threshold but fixed rate. 
It's trying to work out if rates will fall that much in 16 months?

No withdrawals and no early closure, so at £500/month it wouldn't take long to build up a reasonable sum which wouldn't be accessible until 30/06/2026.

Not necessarily a reason to avoid opening one (or both) accounts... just that we've had a fair few accounts recently which can be 'refreshed' or closed early if the rate no longer looks so good, but these are ones where there is absolutely zero access before maturity (except in the case of death of the account holder).

allegro120

ThePirates said:

Suffolk BS account is interesting! 
Well below my current threshold but fixed rate. 
It's trying to work out if rates will fall that much in 16 months?

There's no formula to work this out, but according to experts the rates are very likely to fall this year.  My guess is that 5% will become a desirable rate for RS at some pint this year.

The attractive part of this product is "fixed rate".  This combined with 15 months term is encouraging.  The other benefit for me is expanding my BS membership portfolio, I don't have any accounts with Suffolk.  I'm going to apply.  £10pm at a reasonable rate won't do any damage.

Bridlington1

allegro120 said:

ThePirates said:

Suffolk BS account is interesting! 
Well below my current threshold but fixed rate. 
It's trying to work out if rates will fall that much in 16 months?

There's no formula to work this out, but according to experts the rates are very likely to fall this year.  My guess is that 5% will become a desirable rate for RS at some pint this year.

The attractive part of this product is "fixed rate".  This combined with 15 months term is encouraging.  The other benefit for me is expanding my BS membership portfolio, I don't have any accounts with Suffolk.  I'm going to apply.  £10pm at a reasonable rate won't do any damage.

You don't even need to deposit £10/mth if I'm not mistaken. The terms only state that you can deposit £10-£500/mth, not you must deposit £10-£500/mth and there's no stated penalty for missing payments.

I've got a Suffolk BS regular saver with £10 from last year and haven't made any further deposits. The account remains alive and well.

surreysaver

Bridlington1 said:

surreysaver said:

Bridlington1 said:

surreysaver said:

PowerSavingMode said:

surreysaver said:

Bridlington1 said:

surreysaver said:

Speculator said:

Melton Adcock Regular Saver

Posted my application on Wednesday, account showing online this morning with zero balance.

Didn't realise you'd be able to see it online. Thought it was all managed offline. I might pop up and open an account then, I wasn't going to bother as I'd thought there was no online visibility 

It's also worth noting as well that you can make withdrawals from Melton's regular savers over the phone. IIRC when I made a withdrawal from one of their accounts last year the funds took a day or so to arrive in my nominated account.

Do you know whether I'd be able to withdraw online from Melton's Aldcock?

The product literature says: "you can make withdrawals from your account without notice or penalty, by visiting a branch of the Society or by sending us your passbook and written instructions to us. You can also transfer funds from your account to a nominated bank or building society account."

I presume that means you can either message (online?) Melton with your withdrawal instructions...

That's the trouble with presumptions. It says nothing about online visibility, but you have to manage it by post or in person. Another poster says they can see the account online. So it all starts to become a bit vague. That's why I'm asking!

All I can do in this case is relay my own experience with Melton BS.

I can confirm that last year I phoned them to make a withdrawal from my Melton RS Issue 4 and they sent the funds to my nominated bank account despite that account being advertised as branch/post, in that respect it's not too dissimilar to the way Leeds BS allows withdrawals over the phone.

Whilst I can view my Melton BS regular savers online I couldn't see an option in online banking to make a withdrawal when I tried last year unless I've missed it. I can't recall ever sending them a secure message online to make a withdrawal though so do not know if this is possible.

I'll be needing to make a withdrawal from Melton next month anyway to feed other regular savers so shall attempt to schedule a withdrawal by faster payment by secure message.

I don't mind the odd account that involves faff! I'll have Nottinghamshire regular savers as it's easy for me to get to a branch. So I'll do the same with Melton - Grantham just happens to have a branch of each opposite each other!
I suppose as the Alcock has a long shelf life it's probably one worth having 

So far as I'm concerned it's a good account to grab. It's 6.5%, unlimited penalty free withdrawals and has about 2 1/2 years to go till it matures.

There's also the possibility that they could start allowing you to make online withdrawals at some point before the end of the account term given it's a while away.

Furness BS did that not so long back. Furness BS's regular savers used to be branch/post with accounts being able to be viewed in online banking and withdrawals (but not closure) being able to be done by phone. When they rolled out a new online banking system not so long back they started allowing online withdrawals on accounts and this change was applied to existing accounts (including NLA accounts).

It'll give me an excuse to go to the pork pie shop!

allegro120

Bridlington1 said:

allegro120 said:

ThePirates said:

Suffolk BS account is interesting! 
Well below my current threshold but fixed rate. 
It's trying to work out if rates will fall that much in 16 months?

There's no formula to work this out, but according to experts the rates are very likely to fall this year.  My guess is that 5% will become a desirable rate for RS at some pint this year.

The attractive part of this product is "fixed rate".  This combined with 15 months term is encouraging.  The other benefit for me is expanding my BS membership portfolio, I don't have any accounts with Suffolk.  I'm going to apply.  £10pm at a reasonable rate won't do any damage.

You don't even need to deposit £10/mth if I'm not mistaken. The terms only state that you can deposit £10-£500/mth, not you must deposit £10-£500/mth and there's no stated penalty for missing payments.

I've got a Suffolk BS regular saver with £10 from last year and haven't made any further deposits. The account remains alive and well.

Even better - it says "If you miss a monthly deposit, your account will remain open until maturity, and you can continue to save monthly."
Similar to Leeds RS, the minimum initial deposit will keep the account running.
Opened and funded . Nice and easy, no faff and get online access straight away.