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

Born2Save_3

s71hj said:

Kim_13 said:

s71hj said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

s71hj said:

Happened to be Market Harborough so popped in and opened the branch 5.8% RS. My current one matures Sunday. Am I correct I can't fund the new one until after the old one matures on Sunday? 

You were in the branch, you opened the account, they didn't ask if you wanted to add funds and you didn't ask if you could?

I did and he said I could and I said I thought it might not be allowed and he said I was right and he seemed uncertain about that and various things. It was hard to hear him through the screen. We were pushed for time and just glad to get it opened, but only just in the time we had available. We won't be here again before Christmas and I know people on here would give a much more reliable answer. 

By the letter of their terms it would depend on if and by how much you had funded your current one this month? If you had funded the current one £250 you would have to wait until December, but if you had only funded £10 you could do £240. 

In reality you could probably do the full £250 now regardless, as the other will have matured by the time they would get around to asking which account you want the excess contribution to be removed from. 

Thanks. I may well chance it. Sounds like the consequences are at worst minimal and at best non existent . Ideally I'd have opened early December but won't be here again until close to the end of the month and it may get withdrawn as well before then 

I'm on the MHBS naughty list.  I use to have 4 RS and fully funded them every month. I lost 2 in the recent too many accounts cull, as did some other forumites here.  Following this, I can only fund the 1 account, but every month I also do a full transfer to the 2nd account.  And it bounces.  I think it is a MHBS manual process and it only happens because I'm on the naughty list.  I think if you're not on the list you can 'fill your boots', as I use to.  The worst that will happen is a bounce, nothing more in my experience.

I'm having second thoughts now about writing the above as I've got an RS with them maturing in a few days...

10_66

Born2Save_3 said:

nottsphil said:

Loughborough BS
I cannot find the 1 year Super Saver (max £2000pm) on page 1 of this thread, nor is it amongst those removed from the lists. 
Can somebody tell me what the minimum monthly payment is please, and if it is still 6%.

The Summary says :

"If the required 12 monthly deposits are not made, the account will be transferred to an Instant Access Saver 1."

But do they really do that, especially if you've made £2K deposits some/all months ?  And it doesn't really say how interest would be accrued.  Would it be RS rate up to the missed month or just Instant Access Saver rate (probably 1%) from the first RS deposit ?…

Yes, if a month is missed they definitely transfer it as this happened to me. I deliberately missed the payment, no reminder is issued, just a letter to confirm the transfer.  Full interest paid up to closure date.

Dizzycap

Born2Save_3 said:

s71hj said:

Kim_13 said:

s71hj said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

s71hj said:

Happened to be Market Harborough so popped in and opened the branch 5.8% RS. My current one matures Sunday. Am I correct I can't fund the new one until after the old one matures on Sunday? 

You were in the branch, you opened the account, they didn't ask if you wanted to add funds and you didn't ask if you could?

I did and he said I could and I said I thought it might not be allowed and he said I was right and he seemed uncertain about that and various things. It was hard to hear him through the screen. We were pushed for time and just glad to get it opened, but only just in the time we had available. We won't be here again before Christmas and I know people on here would give a much more reliable answer. 

By the letter of their terms it would depend on if and by how much you had funded your current one this month? If you had funded the current one £250 you would have to wait until December, but if you had only funded £10 you could do £240. 

In reality you could probably do the full £250 now regardless, as the other will have matured by the time they would get around to asking which account you want the excess contribution to be removed from. 

Thanks. I may well chance it. Sounds like the consequences are at worst minimal and at best non existent . Ideally I'd have opened early December but won't be here again until close to the end of the month and it may get withdrawn as well before then 

I'm on the MHBS naughty list.  I use to have 4 RS and fully funded them every month. I lost 2 in the recent too many accounts cull, as did some other forumites here.  Following this, I can only fund the 1 account, but every month I also do a full transfer to the 2nd account.  And it bounces.  I think it is a MHBS manual process and it only happens because I'm on the naughty list.  I think if you're not on the list you can 'fill your boots', as I use to.  The worst that will happen is a bounce, nothing more in my experience.

I'm having second thoughts now about writing the above as I've got an RS with them maturing in a few days...

I'm in the same boat with extactly the same issues. The MHBS RS that's maturing at the end of this month hasn't been funded since my culling in August. They send 2 letters saying if I didn't fund the November maturing RS; which still has around £800 in it, it would be closed, so I let it ride without funding and absolutely nothing has happened for months . MHBS sent me a 3rd letter last week to say that they would be closing the non-funded maturing November RS at the end of November due to non-funding. 3rd letter received once I had opted for full closure in my maturity instructions confirmed online     -  Seriously?!   ) 

shirley999

happybagger said:

shirley999 said:

Bridlington1 said:

With regards to the Manchester BS Regular Saver Issue 1 at 5.5%, I just thought I'd mention my experience below in case anyone's interested in refreshing their account:

I requested this account be closed yesterday at around 8pm, the account was closed this morning and the funds arrived in my nominated account at some point today, I don't know precisely when they arrived as I was at work.

I have now been able to open a new account at around 5:30pm today, the account now shows in online banking, therefore it would seem their systems behave near identically to Newcastle BS with respect to refreshing accounts.

A warning did pop up when closing the account saying that if it is my only account, online banking would be disabled, so if refreshing the account I would be inclined to ensure you have another account with them before closing your account (in my case I've retained a rainy day saver with £1) to save having to set up online banking again.

I'm going into branch to open the festive saver, weather permitting, at which the gentleman advised me I would get a free colourful umbrella if I open their rainy day saver.

I'm heading there next week. did you make an appointment? not sure if be able to as I've got to work around other stuff. Debated opening the RDS too, to collect the maturity funds.

MANCHESTER FESTIVE SAVER

I tried to make an appointment but they rang me to say it wasn't necessary and I was seen as soon as I arrived.  I paid just £1 into the rainy day saver for which I received the umbrella, which came in useful straight away.  I think the maturity funds go to your nominated account, worth checking though.  When you go, take along photo ID and proof of residence; a bill dated in the last 3 months.

Bridlington1

For the RS nerds among you, I thought I'd mention this:

It appears there's been something of a ``RS drought" of late. The eagle-eyed among you might've noticed that that there hasn't been a single RS launched that is eligible to enter p1 of my thread since 14th November.

If I am not mistaken the previous longest gap between eligible RSs being launched was in May, when there were no eligible RSs launched between 15th and 29th May inclusive.

If another RS isn't launched by the end of the month then that'll be the longest I've gone without adding a new RS to the list since I took over the thread, this could well happen given 1st December is Monday and it's rare RSs are launched over the weekend.

Moreover if you look at the accounts that have been added to p1 of the thread in most recent to oldest:
14/11/25- Newcastle & Manchester Festive RSs are branch opening only so most shan't've been able to open them.
11/11/25- The two Skipton RSs exclude those who hold RSs already unless they close their RSs first so I can imagine most shan't've opened them.
10/11/25- Mkt Harborough is branch opening only so again few shall've opened it.

You have to go back to 3rd November before you find a RS being launched that everyone was immediately eligible for and that could be opened online, but even that was only at 5% and its appeal may be limited given that it doesn't allow early withdrawals/closure.

happybagger

proper statto stuff that
no doubt fears of the budget has impacted all savings for the last month
I suspect Furness will put something out but last year's Christmas saver didn't come out until January 

clairec666

Bridlington1 said:

For the RS nerds among you, I thought I'd mention this:

It appears there's been something of a ``RS drought" of late. The eagle-eyed among you might've noticed that that there hasn't been a single RS launched that is eligible to enter p1 of my thread since 14th November.

If I am not mistaken the previous longest gap between eligible RSs being launched was in May, when there were no eligible RSs launched between 15th and 29th May inclusive.

If another RS isn't launched by the end of the month then that'll be the longest I've gone without adding a new RS to the list since I took over the thread, this could well happen given 1st December is Monday and it's rare RSs are launched over the weekend.

Moreover if you look at the accounts that have been added to p1 of the thread in most recent to oldest:
14/11/25- Newcastle & Manchester Festive RSs are branch opening only so most shan't've been able to open them.
11/11/25- The two Skipton RSs exclude those who hold RSs already unless they close their RSs first so I can imagine most shan't've opened them.
10/11/25- Mkt Harborough is branch opening only so again few shall've opened it.

You have to go back to 3rd November before you find a RS being launched that everyone was immediately eligible for and that could be opened online, but even that was only at 5% and its appeal may be limited given that it doesn't allow early withdrawals/closure.

Yes, I was thinking it had been quiet. Which is quite useful for me actually, because I don't really have the capacity for any extra accounts right now. Hopefully there'll be some good accounts that pop up in January, as my TSB 6% is maturing and their current offer is only 5%.

From a mathematical/statistical viewpoint, there will always be natural peaks and troughs in activity throughout the year, but it might also be influenced by the upcoming base rate review.

WillPS

YBS usually do a Christmas saver too, but given the meagreness of their offerings recently my anticipation levels are low. 

UK Savings week was a bust too, but overall the landscape of regular savers is a good bit better than this time last year, when the best we could hope for was 6% on a new offering. MonBS's pair of generous exclusive savers at 7% alone were a bit of a gamechanger.

Bridlington1

clairec666 said:

Bridlington1 said:

For the RS nerds among you, I thought I'd mention this:

It appears there's been something of a ``RS drought" of late. The eagle-eyed among you might've noticed that that there hasn't been a single RS launched that is eligible to enter p1 of my thread since 14th November.

If I am not mistaken the previous longest gap between eligible RSs being launched was in May, when there were no eligible RSs launched between 15th and 29th May inclusive.

If another RS isn't launched by the end of the month then that'll be the longest I've gone without adding a new RS to the list since I took over the thread, this could well happen given 1st December is Monday and it's rare RSs are launched over the weekend.

Moreover if you look at the accounts that have been added to p1 of the thread in most recent to oldest:
14/11/25- Newcastle & Manchester Festive RSs are branch opening only so most shan't've been able to open them.
11/11/25- The two Skipton RSs exclude those who hold RSs already unless they close their RSs first so I can imagine most shan't've opened them.
10/11/25- Mkt Harborough is branch opening only so again few shall've opened it.

You have to go back to 3rd November before you find a RS being launched that everyone was immediately eligible for and that could be opened online, but even that was only at 5% and its appeal may be limited given that it doesn't allow early withdrawals/closure.

Yes, I was thinking it had been quiet. Which is quite useful for me actually, because I don't really have the capacity for any extra accounts right now. Hopefully there'll be some good accounts that pop up in January, as my TSB 6% is maturing and their current offer is only 5%.

From a mathematical/statistical viewpoint, there will always be natural peaks and troughs in activity throughout the year, but it might also be influenced by the upcoming base rate review.

I must confess I'm running short of spare funds. I currently have a lot of capacity at 6% (driven largely by having Loughborough's 1YSS at 6% gobbling up £2k/mth) which is drawing a lot of funds out of my lower RSs to the point where I am now nibbling into the NatWest/RBS DRSs.

December's RSs are proving to be a difficult balancing act in my case. I've just about managed to fund my accounts north of 5.5% this month but with next month's maturities I have are only enough to cover those north of 6% and about half of those at 6%. Then there's the complication that the BOE base rate could fall again next month, if it does then I'll be needing to speculate which accounts shall fall and by how much, possibly choosing to fund marginally lower RSs speculatively (as I sometimes did when interest rates were on the rise a few years back).

It's a nice problem to have though.

nomorekids

Bridlington1 said:

For the RS nerds among you, I thought I'd mention this:

It appears there's been something of a ``RS drought" of late. The eagle-eyed among you might've noticed that that there hasn't been a single RS launched that is eligible to enter p1 of my thread since 14th November.

If I am not mistaken the previous longest gap between eligible RSs being launched was in May, when there were no eligible RSs launched between 15th and 29th May inclusive.

If another RS isn't launched by the end of the month then that'll be the longest I've gone without adding a new RS to the list since I took over the thread, this could well happen given 1st December is Monday and it's rare RSs are launched over the weekend.

Moreover if you look at the accounts that have been added to p1 of the thread in most recent to oldest:
14/11/25- Newcastle & Manchester Festive RSs are branch opening only so most shan't've been able to open them.
11/11/25- The two Skipton RSs exclude those who hold RSs already unless they close their RSs first so I can imagine most shan't've opened them.
10/11/25- Mkt Harborough is branch opening only so again few shall've opened it.

You have to go back to 3rd November before you find a RS being launched that everyone was immediately eligible for and that could be opened online, but even that was only at 5% and its appeal may be limited given that it doesn't allow early withdrawals/closure.

Counting blessings, we were totally spoilt over the summer though weren't we? Those fabulous Monmouthshires that I have quite a few months had raided flexi isa to pay with the £1500 at 7% and another £500 at 6%. Oh those were the days....... and quite a few of us have flown under the Principality radar as well. 
Recently revisited Suffolk "thanks to ever lowering of my minimum worth it to open another regular saver each "with their quirky allowing us to open both online and branch and lovely helpful branch staff.
We've not done badly but I do admit to wondering if I can persuade DH for a road trip via Market Harborough, West Bromwich, Newcastle and Manchester in the new year ........
Can't think why I'm constantly told I'm obsessed