The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Kim_13

francoghezzi said:

PixelPound said:

Born2Save_3 said:

PixelPound said:

What's your biggest factor for choosing a RS?

- Highest interest rate? 

- fixed rate of interest? 

- withdrawal options? 

- Monthly Deposit limits? 

Obviously a High interest earns as much as you can (barring BoE cuts), where as fixed could beat these if there is more than a couple of cuts during the term. Maybe it's where you keep the emergency fund, so an option to withdraw it if something happens and it's needed is a big factor. Or maybe you don't like faffing around with lots of small monthly amounts and one with a high deposit limit means bigger total interest at the end. 

Why are you asking ? What will you do with the replies ? Are you connected to an organisation that may offer or does offer RS ?

For me it has been : 

* Is the rate better than my lowest EA rate

* Can I apply for it; i.e. branch application, post code restrictions or restrictions on the number of accounts that can be held, make applying not as easy

* Is the account still available:  (Please Dudley let us have a second chance...)

Turn offs are : 

* Passbooks and postal operation

* Low monthly deposit limits (<=£50 monthly) and mediocre rates (<=5%AER currently)

* Peculiar/unusual terms

* Slow/difficult transfers out

* Limited to having a single RS when organisation may offer several

Turn ons are : 

* Good rates

* Fixes

* Large monthly deposits, i.e. £500+

* Good maturity/renewal options

* Early access, if required

* Fast/easy transfers out

* Being able to have all the RS an organisation offers

* Keeps an active relationship with organisation that may offer other products of interest, i.e. CA, SA, Bonds, ISAs, maybe even mortgages. One organisation I've joined for RS, I had no idea offered a speciality mortgage I'm quite interested in.

There's likely to be other important factors too.

What am I going to do with the replies? I am going to .... read them. 

Am I connected to an organisation offering RS? No, just a video peaked my interest. Glad you think the question was worthy of what financial organisations would do (I think, though maybe on some of the questions they ask, maybe I should be insulted you think that 😂(I'm not, just saying that for the joke))

As to Why am I asking. This links to last answer. When Monmouthshire BS launched their members RS I found out about it via a YouTube video, and as I'd opened the normal 6% RS a month earlier went and signed up. It was what the video said that had me thinking for this. The suggestion was that this members RS was a better proposition than Principality RS at 7.36% and given the choice you should prioratise sticking your cash in the 7% rather than the 7.36%

I had always gone on rate first when choosing any investment, and in the case of RS would be transferring money from EA to RS and back again on maturity (or to other investments). So the suggestion was that as the Members-only RS was £1000pm and 7%, then putting cash here first gets more returns because you can put more in and it gets 7% for 12 months (rate cuts aside). In fact doing it for the first few months was better even if you couldn't afford to fund every month for the whole year.

It made sense once I thought about it, so now when I see new RS announced I look at what makes that RS different, if it doesn't have a top interest rate does it have something else that might offer something I don't have.Such as withdrawals so that put emergency money there instead on in an EA (yes you often can't replace the funds after withdrawing, but the idea of an emergency fund is most likely it won't be used unless a proper emergency (if dipping into your emergency fund regularly then it's not your emergency fund.

Finally. Someone using his brain and not following those believing in fairies. Uplifting

The probability of rate cuts also need to be considered though, and given the way they decimated the last Exclusive Regular Saver (cuts in excess of the cut following every base rate drop if I recall correctly) they have seemed likely from the off. Opening and funding a 6 Month at this point would seem wise given the recent rate drop and the Monmouthshire accounts are a third of the way through their term anyway. 

In working out what to fund, what will be done with the money when it matures is important. There's no point having £12,000 (and for some £18,000 or £24,000) maturing at Monmouthshire in August if you need to redeposit it all and then end up having to take lower rates because you don't have enough higher RS paying capacity for August/September. If that happens, smoothing out maturities a bit by paying into Principality earlier (and other accounts with lower deposit limits, for instance I am prioritising Progressive) would have been better.

My Principality 6 Month Issue 4 will fund Monmouthshire for March. While I have been in support of the 6 Monthers generally, I have never had more than one of an issue and couldn't justify attempting it when the money could be paid into the likes of Monmouthshire for the best of both worlds.

soulsaver

Kim_13 said:

francoghezzi said:

PixelPound said:

Born2Save_3 said:

PixelPound said:

What's your biggest factor for choosing a RS?

- Highest interest rate? 

- fixed rate of interest? 

- withdrawal options? 

- Monthly Deposit limits? 

Obviously a High interest earns as much as you can (barring BoE cuts), where as fixed could beat these if there is more than a couple of cuts during the term. Maybe it's where you keep the emergency fund, so an option to withdraw it if something happens and it's needed is a big factor. Or maybe you don't like faffing around with lots of small monthly amounts and one with a high deposit limit means bigger total interest at the end. 

Why are you asking ? What will you do with the replies ? Are you connected to an organisation that may offer or does offer RS ?

For me it has been : 

* Is the rate better than my lowest EA rate

* Can I apply for it; i.e. branch application, post code restrictions or restrictions on the number of accounts that can be held, make applying not as easy

* Is the account still available:  (Please Dudley let us have a second chance...)

Turn offs are : 

* Passbooks and postal operation

* Low monthly deposit limits (<=£50 monthly) and mediocre rates (<=5%AER currently)

* Peculiar/unusual terms

* Slow/difficult transfers out

* Limited to having a single RS when organisation may offer several

Turn ons are : 

* Good rates

* Fixes

* Large monthly deposits, i.e. £500+

* Good maturity/renewal options

* Early access, if required

* Fast/easy transfers out

* Being able to have all the RS an organisation offers

* Keeps an active relationship with organisation that may offer other products of interest, i.e. CA, SA, Bonds, ISAs, maybe even mortgages. One organisation I've joined for RS, I had no idea offered a speciality mortgage I'm quite interested in.

There's likely to be other important factors too.

What am I going to do with the replies? I am going to .... read them. 

Am I connected to an organisation offering RS? No, just a video peaked my interest. Glad you think the question was worthy of what financial organisations would do (I think, though maybe on some of the questions they ask, maybe I should be insulted you think that 😂(I'm not, just saying that for the joke))

As to Why am I asking. This links to last answer. When Monmouthshire BS launched their members RS I found out about it via a YouTube video, and as I'd opened the normal 6% RS a month earlier went and signed up. It was what the video said that had me thinking for this. The suggestion was that this members RS was a better proposition than Principality RS at 7.36% and given the choice you should prioratise sticking your cash in the 7% rather than the 7.36%

I had always gone on rate first when choosing any investment, and in the case of RS would be transferring money from EA to RS and back again on maturity (or to other investments). So the suggestion was that as the Members-only RS was £1000pm and 7%, then putting cash here first gets more returns because you can put more in and it gets 7% for 12 months (rate cuts aside). In fact doing it for the first few months was better even if you couldn't afford to fund every month for the whole year.

It made sense once I thought about it, so now when I see new RS announced I look at what makes that RS different, if it doesn't have a top interest rate does it have something else that might offer something I don't have.Such as withdrawals so that put emergency money there instead on in an EA (yes you often can't replace the funds after withdrawing, but the idea of an emergency fund is most likely it won't be used unless a proper emergency (if dipping into your emergency fund regularly then it's not your emergency fund.

Finally. Someone using his brain and not following those believing in fairies. Uplifting

The probability of rate cuts also need to be considered though, and given the way they decimated the last Exclusive Regular Saver (cuts in excess of the cut following every base rate drop if I recall correctly) they have seemed likely from the off. Opening and funding a 6 Month at this point would seem wise given the recent rate drop and the Monmouthshire accounts are a third of the way through their term anyway. 

In working out what to fund, what will be done with the money when it matures is important. There's no point having £12,000 (and for some £18,000 or £24,000) maturing at Monmouthshire in August if you need to redeposit it all and then end up having to take lower rates because you don't have enough higher RS paying capacity for August/September. If that happens, smoothing out maturities a bit by paying into Principality earlier (and other accounts with lower deposit limits, for instance I am prioritising Progressive) would have been better.

My Principality 6 Month Issue 4 will fund Monmouthshire for March. While I have been in support of the 6 Monthers generally, I have never had more than one of an issue and couldn't justify attempting it when the money could be paid into the likes of Monmouthshire for the best of both worlds.

There's a board game in there, somewhere...

Section62

soulsaver said

There's a board game in there, somewhere...

"You've opened more than one account of the same type in breach of the T&Cs. Go directly to Jail. Do not collect £200"

Mind you, there are so many variables at play (not just interest rate and duration) that the rules would take forever to read and nobody would ever get round to playing the actual game.

Doing what feels right in individual circumstances is likely to be way more important overall.

Bobblehat

Section62 said:

soulsaver said

There's a board game in there, somewhere...

"You've opened more than one account of the same type in breach of the T&Cs. Go directly to Jail. Do not collect £200"

Mind you, there are so many variables at play (not just interest rate and duration) that the rules would take forever to read and nobody would ever get round to playing the actual game.

Doing what feels right in individual circumstances is likely to be way more important overall.

Bu99er! I thought we were playing the actual game ... now I know what I've been doing wrong 

Kim_13

Section62 said:

soulsaver said

There's a board game in there, somewhere...

"You've opened more than one account of the same type in breach of the T&Cs. Go directly to Jail. Do not collect £200"

Mind you, there are so many variables at play (not just interest rate and duration) that the rules would take forever to read and nobody would ever get round to playing the actual game.

Doing what feels right in individual circumstances is likely to be way more important overall.

Shouldn’t that be £20? 😂

The yield must be very close to that without the open at the end of the month and fund again on the 1st that was immediately possible with Issue 4. 

s71hj

Kim_13 said:

Section62 said:

soulsaver said

There's a board game in there, somewhere...

"You've opened more than one account of the same type in breach of the T&Cs. Go directly to Jail. Do not collect £200"

Mind you, there are so many variables at play (not just interest rate and duration) that the rules would take forever to read and nobody would ever get round to playing the actual game.

Doing what feels right in individual circumstances is likely to be way more important overall.

Shouldn’t that be £20? 😂

The yield must be very close to that without the open at the end of the month and fund again on the 1st that was immediately possible with Issue 4. 

And in most charity shops you can get a green shirt for under a fiver. 

Enzo_L

Born2Save_3 said:

Hattie627 said:

surreysaver said:

PixelPound said:

What's your biggest factor for choosing a RS?

- Highest interest rate? 

- fixed rate of interest? 

- withdrawal options? 

- Monthly Deposit limits? 

Obviously a High interest earns as much as you can (barring BoE cuts), where as fixed could beat these if there is more than a couple of cuts during the term. Maybe it's where you keep the emergency fund, so an option to withdraw it if something happens and it's needed is a big factor. Or maybe you don't like faffing around with lots of small monthly amounts and one with a high deposit limit means bigger total interest at the end. 

The higher the rate, the more effort I'm willing to go to to open it.

Deposit limits are irrelevant for me.

The lower the rate, I look at how much effort it is to operate the account (can I do it online?). Is the rate fixed? Is it easy access? (so I can withdraw money should the rate become uncompetitive).

I will open an uncompetitive account just to become a member of an organisation I am not a member of, to be in a position to secure any loyalty accounts and to make it easier to apply for accounts with that organisation in the future, but I will only pay the minimum into such accounts.

For example, three weeks ago I travelled to Manchester, Market Harborough and Durham to open Manchester's, Market Harborough's and Newcastle's Festive Regular Savers.
Last week I travelled to Stoke and Edinburgh to open Hanley's and Scottish's Regular Savers.
But when making such trips, I try to combine them with a visit to the area as a tourist as well. Owing to the industry I work in, it doesn't cost me anything (apart from my time) to make such trips.

I can travel for free anywhere in Scotland on the buses with my over 60 bus pass. Unfortunately there isn't much in the way of local building societies in Scotland except Scottish BS in Edinburgh. It would be great if my travel pass would take me to northern England. I'd be delighted to visit all the nice places there like Penrith, Furness, Newcastle, Darlington etc, might even make it as far as Yorkshire or Lancashire for Chorley, Leeds, Manchester. Midlands or Wales might be a bit too far just for account opening, unless I could open 3 or 4 in one trip. Perhaps better to avoid darkening the door of Principality BS in case they haul me in for questioning.

If you can estimate the profit you'd make on Northern England branch based RS and how much the travel may cost you. Your Scottish bus pass could get you to the Scotland/England border.  There is a NCL BS branch at Berwick upon Tweed.

From the transport.scot.gov website:

"Travel out with Scotland

Your National Entitlement Card is not valid for travel out with Scotland, however, you can use it on services to and from Carlisle and on services to and from Berwick-upon-Tweed from anywhere in Scotland. Please note that your card is not valid for travel within these towns."

https://www.transport.gov.scot/concessionary-travel/60plus-or-disabled-free-bus-travel/#61848

Nuggy96

mon3ysav3r said:

Someone asked many weeks ago how long it took to open a Scottish BS Regular Saver 250 a month 6.5% variable account by post, well from posting the form to receiving my online User ID and Activation key back in the post - it has been 4 weeks.

I can now login, It is the same portal many Building Societies use, and just like some of the others there is some default text that has not been customised such as account details saying "Stores Account Type Text". It also notes faster payments received as standing orders, but at least it exists.

That was me, took me 3 weeks for passbook to arrive then a further 24 hours for online access. Wife is still waiting after nearly 4 weeks for her passbook, but did yet emailed her account number for online registration.