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

ForumUser7

Melton BS

Anyone had any success with closing a regular saver via the online portal? Seems you have to give a closure reason but there is nothing to select in this field - it just states 'no data available' - and therefore you cannot proceed.

Bob2000

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hattie627 said:

For accounts maturing on 30th November, online maturity instructions are now available, including 6 month RS Issue 4 and 2026 Christmas RS

Indeed they are. 

Which of the two should I choose?

Well, I've just applied  for a second Crimbo RS. Wait and see now if l get found out.

happybagger

s71hj said:

I have opened a Mansfield e saver 30 joint account £10 a month 3.6%to give a foothold in that institution. Looking at their accounts I'm now wondering if that would give us both access to their 5.25% saver as an "existing member" ? 

One year membership required for that.
When mine matured last year I called in branch to renew it by opening another and withdrawing the rest. They did it but weren't keen "that's not what we're meant to do, as the account isn't a 1yr account but the bonus only lasts for a year".

I suggested they should just leave the bonus to continue and that would save the need for messing about. In the end they opened a new one and I got the balance.

surreysaver

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hattie627 said:

For accounts maturing on 30th November, online maturity instructions are now available, including 6 month RS Issue 4 and 2026 Christmas RS

Indeed they are. 

Which of the two should I choose?

Prinky
 It's all a bit of a gamble, because it all depends upon what accounts and interest rates are available in six months time!
I might to the Christmas one, as I applied for the Six Month one as a maturity instruction the other day. Get the best and worst of both worlds then

Bobblehat

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hattie627 said:

For accounts maturing on 30th November, online maturity instructions are now available, including 6 month RS Issue 4 and 2026 Christmas RS

Indeed they are. 

Which of the two should I choose?

Could you do this?

jameseonline said:

rallycurve said:

Principality BS

Regarding the renewal of a matured RS, would it be better to renew to an additional 6 month regular saver at 7.50% (£200 pm) or go with an additional Christmas regular saver at 6.50% (£150pm) but lasting for a full year? 

I am assuming it'll be possible to have multiple Christmas RS too via maturity instructions

Get an additional 6 month as maturity & you can apply for the Xmas separately, best of both worlds😊

Maybe?

clairec666

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hattie627 said:

For accounts maturing on 30th November, online maturity instructions are now available, including 6 month RS Issue 4 and 2026 Christmas RS

Indeed they are. 

Which of the two should I choose?

Principality - depends a lot on your personal circumstances and if you have excess capacity which you can't fill in other regular savers.

One benefit of the Christmas account is that the rate is fixed for a year. When the time comes to renew the 6 month account, the rate could well have dropped.

I've made a little update to my spreadsheet - as well as adjusting the Gross/AER interest rate as someone rightly suggested, I've also altered the interest rate for the 2nd half of the year to 7% AER for the 6 month account, which seems a fairly realistic scenario. In this case, the 6 month account wins if your easy access drip-feeder pays 4.2% or higher. Otherwise, Christmas wins.

WillPS

happybagger said:

s71hj said:

I have opened a Mansfield e saver 30 joint account £10 a month 3.6%to give a foothold in that institution. Looking at their accounts I'm now wondering if that would give us both access to their 5.25% saver as an "existing member" ? 

One year membership required for that.
When mine matured last year I called in branch to renew it by opening another and withdrawing the rest. They did it but weren't keen "that's not what we're meant to do, as the account isn't a 1yr account but the bonus only lasts for a year".

I suggested they should just leave the bonus to continue and that would save the need for messing about. In the end they opened a new one and I got the balance.

Sorry to hear about this, I can't bear it when staff get huffy like this. The product allows early closure, that's pretty much all there is to it unless they want to reject a new application from you.

where_are_we

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hattie627 said:

For accounts maturing on 30th November, online maturity instructions are now available, including 6 month RS Issue 4 and 2026 Christmas RS

Indeed they are. 

Which of the two should I choose?

I went for the 6 Month RS4. "If it`s not broke, don`t fix it" comes to mind. 6 Month RS4 has worked umpteen times before so I am reluctant to go for something new ie a 2nd Xmas 26 RS. What swings it for me is - 7.5% v 6.5%, £200/month v £150/month, and funds being released for other RS`s in 6 months v 12 months. But as "Clairec666" points out we do not know what will be on offer in 6 months time.

flaneurs_lobster

where_are_we said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hattie627 said:

For accounts maturing on 30th November, online maturity instructions are now available, including 6 month RS Issue 4 and 2026 Christmas RS

Indeed they are. 

Which of the two should I choose?

I went for the 6 Month RS4. "If it`s not broke, don`t fix it" comes to mind. 6 Month RS4 has worked umpteen times before so I am reluctant to go for something new ie a 2nd Xmas 26 RS. What swings it for me is - 7.5% v 6.5%, £200/month v £150/month, and funds being released for other RS`s in 6 months v 12 months. But as "Clairec666" points out we do not know what will be on offer in 6 months time.

Sold. I'm up to 8 6mth RS's, best not to tempt fate by going for that 2nd Xmas 26.

Ch1ll1Phlakes

AndyTh_2 said:

Ch1ll1Phlakes said:

clairec666 said:

chris_the_bee said:

allegro120 said:

rallycurve said:

Principality BS

Regarding the renewal of a matured RS, would it be better to renew to an additional 6 month regular saver at 7.50% (£200 pm) or go with an additional Christmas regular saver at 6.50% (£150pm) but lasting for a full year? 

I am assuming it'll be possible to have multiple Christmas RS too via maturity instructions

I've picked 6 months this time.  Can't remember what tipped the scale, but it wasn't a simple decision to make. Last year I picked Christmas.

If in 6 months time the 6 Months RS will be still available at the same rate and the maturity scheme is still going, then 6M was the right decision to make. Otherwise, Christmas looks more attractive because of its length.

Principality BS
Interest on 2 X 6MRS (if still available in 6 months time) would be approx £54, whereas interest from a Christmas RS would be £63.37. However, if the proceeds of the fist 6MRS, £1,027 [(6*200)-200 for reinvest in 2nd 6MRS] were invested at say 4.5%, this would result in an extra £23.10 making the 2 X 6MRS more attractive. Perhaps someone with a clever spreadsheet could confirm or otherwise.

A clever spreadsheet, you say...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n50F6t5Jsb3kpjSVxP7HwvaoLDi0a0-IjllulAmxrGE/edit?usp=sharing

I rustled this up a while ago in response to a previous debate. I've set all deposits to £150 in order to make a direct comparison between the 6 month and Christmas accounts.
I'm making the assumption that a) the interest rate for the 6 month account hasn't dropped by the time you renew, and b) you can get yourself an extra one on maturity (i.e. if there's a new issue)

Assuming also that you don't have an initial lump sum deposit, and the £150 comes from income each month.

After 6 months the "excess" is put into an easy-access account for drip-feeding. I've set this bar quite low at 3.5% for this particular example. (Currently my drip-feeding accounts are all 5.5% regular savers which I can't fully fund, so my figures work out even better!)

Anyway, the conclusion is that 6 month RS + dripfeeding wins, in this scenario anyway.

Can add one other thing? Interest calculations for the 6 Month Regular should use the AER not the Gross interest rate, i.e 7.36% not 7.5%. My calculations of previous versions of the 6 Month Regular Saver using the AER give interest correct to the exact amount paid into the account. I know it won't make much difference but it will narrow the gap between the two types of account. Great table non the less, as with all prediction tables assumptions have to be made as the exact details of the account and deposits are only known after the account is completed.

I tried a similar table using the £150pm and £200pm values and the accounts are surprising similar. My assumptions were all months of equal length, the 6 month interest rate does not drop (as above), and I ignored the extra account at maturity. I conversely assume there was an initial deposit of £2000 (to cover both regular savers to the max) which was held in an EA as it was drip feed into the regular savers.

With EA @ 3.5% the Christmas Regular wins by £1.78 but with EA @ 4.5% the 6 Month Regular Saver wins £1.10.

7.36% is the gross, the AER is the 7.5%. You would use the gross, but I think you just mixed up the terms

Yes, my bad sorry, wrote this very quickly before heading for work.