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

Emily_Joy

masonic said:

pecunianonolet said:

That such a step doesn't happen over night but if this is a serious plan it will mean a lot of restructure beforehand and that could mean that they restructure their portfolio, which in turn could mean accounts are withdrawn but remain perfectly fine and operable by those who have it open. 

Or if you are very lucky they'll return your money early and pay out full interest as if you'd carried on to term.

As far as I can see the rate is not very competitive at the moment. Perhaps I am missing something?

masonic

Emily_Joy said:

masonic said:

pecunianonolet said:

That such a step doesn't happen over night but if this is a serious plan it will mean a lot of restructure beforehand and that could mean that they restructure their portfolio, which in turn could mean accounts are withdrawn but remain perfectly fine and operable by those who have it open. 

Or if you are very lucky they'll return your money early and pay out full interest as if you'd carried on to term.

As far as I can see the rate is not very competitive at the moment. Perhaps I am missing something?

It might look a little more inviting after the next MPC meeting, but it's below my threshold. If you are an existing customer, it would be minimal effort to add to the collection.

surreysaver

Emily_Joy said:

masonic said:

pecunianonolet said:

That such a step doesn't happen over night but if this is a serious plan it will mean a lot of restructure beforehand and that could mean that they restructure their portfolio, which in turn could mean accounts are withdrawn but remain perfectly fine and operable by those who have it open. 

Or if you are very lucky they'll return your money early and pay out full interest as if you'd carried on to term.

As far as I can see the rate is not very competitive at the moment. Perhaps I am missing something?

Rates which are uncompetitive at the moment may seem competitive in a few months time, particularly if it is a fixed rate.
I'm not sure you can open easy access accounts at 5% now (although I have a couple open), so if people have got spare cash lying around they may put money in Regular Savers paying 5%. Or you could open it speculatively with the minimum required in case it is competitive later on 

subjecttocontract

Santander regular saver is a fixed interest rate in what some consider to be a falling market. So,  by this time next year 5% may look very attractive.

Emily_Joy

surreysaver said:

Emily_Joy said:

masonic said:

pecunianonolet said:

That such a step doesn't happen over night but if this is a serious plan it will mean a lot of restructure beforehand and that could mean that they restructure their portfolio, which in turn could mean accounts are withdrawn but remain perfectly fine and operable by those who have it open. 

Or if you are very lucky they'll return your money early and pay out full interest as if you'd carried on to term.

As far as I can see the rate is not very competitive at the moment. Perhaps I am missing something?

Rates which are uncompetitive at the moment may seem competitive in a few months time, particularly if it is a fixed rate.
I'm not sure you can open easy access accounts at 5% now (although I have a couple open), so if people have got spare cash lying around they may put money in Regular Savers paying 5%. Or you could open it speculatively with the minimum required in case it is competitive later on 

I understand your point, but with a mortgage at 4.4% and being well over PSA for the next year already it would be better, in my circumstances, to overpay the mortgage.

surreysaver

Emily_Joy said:

surreysaver said:

Emily_Joy said:

masonic said:

pecunianonolet said:

That such a step doesn't happen over night but if this is a serious plan it will mean a lot of restructure beforehand and that could mean that they restructure their portfolio, which in turn could mean accounts are withdrawn but remain perfectly fine and operable by those who have it open. 

Or if you are very lucky they'll return your money early and pay out full interest as if you'd carried on to term.

As far as I can see the rate is not very competitive at the moment. Perhaps I am missing something?

Rates which are uncompetitive at the moment may seem competitive in a few months time, particularly if it is a fixed rate.
I'm not sure you can open easy access accounts at 5% now (although I have a couple open), so if people have got spare cash lying around they may put money in Regular Savers paying 5%. Or you could open it speculatively with the minimum required in case it is competitive later on 

I understand your point, but with a mortgage at 4.4% and being well over PSA for the next year already it would be better, in my circumstances, to overpay the mortgage.

Maybe in your case, but my mortgage already has savings balancing the outstanding balance, so I'm effectively not paying interest on it. Not everyone has a mortgage. My ISA is also maxed out this year, with plans to max out next years. So 5% is attractive to me.
If other things are attractive to you, then do that with your money 

Slinky

Slinky said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

GetRichOrDieSaving said:

silvercar said:

Coventry loyalty seasonal saver, 6%, max £250 per month, 12 month term, 30 days loss of interest on amount withdrawn before 31/10/25 , then free access. 

Seems I can now pick this one up, presumably because I’ve been a member now long enough to meet the criteria. 

If I opened and funded on 31st Jan could I then fund again on 1st Feb? Anyone know? 

Coventry and First Direct are the only 2 that don’t allow this.
The day it’s opened is the day you make the next payment.
Opened on the 18th of January, next payment on the 18th of February.

Zopa RS doesn't either.

Regarding Zopa, it is worth signing up for the waiting list. I was only on it for about a month-6 weeks before getting the invite for the CA

Looking back on this, my memory has gone totally awol.  I've now found I had an email that I was on the wait list on 25th November, and got an email from them on 3rd December saying I had reached the top of the wait list.  Whether the amount of money you have with them has anything to do with it I don't know, but I'd invested my full ISA limit with them.

ToastLady

Slinky said:

Slinky said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

GetRichOrDieSaving said:

silvercar said:

Coventry loyalty seasonal saver, 6%, max £250 per month, 12 month term, 30 days loss of interest on amount withdrawn before 31/10/25 , then free access. 

Seems I can now pick this one up, presumably because I’ve been a member now long enough to meet the criteria. 

If I opened and funded on 31st Jan could I then fund again on 1st Feb? Anyone know? 

Coventry and First Direct are the only 2 that don’t allow this.
The day it’s opened is the day you make the next payment.
Opened on the 18th of January, next payment on the 18th of February.

Zopa RS doesn't either.

Regarding Zopa, it is worth signing up for the waiting list. I was only on it for about a month-6 weeks before getting the invite for the CA

Looking back on this, my memory has gone totally awol.  I've now found I had an email that I was on the wait list on 25th November, and got an email from them on 3rd December saying I had reached the top of the wait list.  Whether the amount of money you have with them has anything to do with it I don't know, but I'd invested my full ISA limit with them.

I don't know what their criteria is, but I've only put £5K into flexible ISA and only pence in smart saver pot. I was quite honest when applying for current account that I wanted it for access to savings, which could only mean RS as I already have access to their savings accounts. 

someone

Re Santander thinking about exiting the UK market

Any exit is going to involve some sort of sale of the UK business. Virgin fattened up the customer books for a few years prior to their sale to Nationwide. They have or had 10% regular savers, high interest current accounts, good fixed term and instant access ISAs, along with good switching offers. 

What will happen with Santander is anyone’s guess. In a way they have already said “we can’t make the profits we want” so it’s not too attractive for buyers. The only exception would be if they had some different business model. Maybe it would be attractive to one of these newer banks, allowing them to buy up a few million customers. But their business model seems to be streamlined and limited product offering, not really what Santander offers.

spreadsheeterapple

someone said:

Re Santander thinking about exiting the UK market

Any exit is going to involve some sort of sale of the UK business. Virgin fattened up the customer books for a few years prior to their sale to Nationwide. They have or had 10% regular savers, high interest current accounts, good fixed term and instant access ISAs, along with good switching offers. 

What will happen with Santander is anyone’s guess. In a way they have already said “we can’t make the profits we want” so it’s not too attractive for buyers. The only exception would be if they had some different business model. Maybe it would be attractive to one of these newer banks, allowing them to buy up a few million customers. But their business model seems to be streamlined and limited product offering, not really what Santander offers.

re. if Santander selling up - they have hefty assets to put forward for any bidding buyer. They are in fact no.5 in the UK behind the Big 4 in terms of assets, and the 4 don't have the spare cash to buy such a big Santander, not on their own anyway and not even the biggest (HSBC) would necessarily have the business appetite to increase their UK-dependent business to that extent, and nor do the big building societies behind them. Nationwide & Coventry only just deployed considerable sums acquiring VirginMoney & Co-opBank respectively; Barclays have bought TescoBank, NatWest are I think buying Sainsbury'sBank; there's a lot of acquisitions going on !
- "Assets" of course for a bank doesn't just mean buildings/property in respect of high street branches/head office & their retained cash; assets are mainly people's mortgage balances (people's savings balances are the bank's liabilities). It isn't unusual for banks to sell their loan book in part-portions though; Metro did so last year, and many have done so in the past.

The upshot of what I'm saying is that it can be possibly expected that Santander's exit would either be by several financial institutions taking on portions of Santander's loan book & savings book, or by entirely new external institution/s buying big chunks in order to enter the UK market. UK isn't necessarily that attractive though.
- whoever buys Santander or parts of it, and that might take some considerable time, may seek to raise funds both before & after acquisition by offering high-ish savings rates to the likes of us. Personal Savings in total are many many billions; we are a big market, and even at what we view as good savings rates we are cheaper for them to borrow from than commercial markets in most cases.

If more new good savings rates ARE offered due to these potential acquisitions, they may come with strings attached such as existing-member-only or pre-existing for x number of months.
- all the more reason to keep a foothold in several bank & building society savings accounts, possibly, I won't be closing any for sure. For myself I include footholds by doing some of the lower Regular Savers below 5% say, I don't mind having some cash deployed at 4.75% especially if low minimum deposits, or fixed which may become quite attractive 6 months later.