The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

nottsphil

Dizzycap said:

Bridlington1 said:

Newcastle BS Interest Rate Reductions From 7/3/25:

Of note:

Newcastle BS Regular Saver (Issue 1) ~~~~ NO CHANGE ~~~~~ Remains at 5.5%.

Good old Newcastle BS! They very rarely, if ever, change interest rates on variable rate accounts

But does that also apply when the Bank of England rate rises?

nottsphil

Bridlington1 said:

simonsmithsays said:

Bridlington1 said:

Mansfield BS Interest Rate Reductions From 7/3/25:

Regular Savings (Issue 8) from 4.85% to 4.6% (includes 1.85% bonus for first 12 months)
 

Was this i.e. not 4.85



Reverting to this

Quite correct, thanks for pointing this out, apologies for the significant number of typos I've been making of late. I've got my first day off work since 19th January tomorrow so shall go through this thread and the Archived thread to ensure the info is accurate.

EDITED TO ADD:

Additionally the first page of the Archived thread isn't up to date, I haven't forgotten about the Ts&Cs to these accounts and they have still been archived to the wayback machine. I shall put them into my spreadsheet and update the first page of that thread within the next 24 hours.

There should be no need - we can be your proofreaders!
So, in the archived thread, I've noticed that under 'penalty-free withdrawals' for Newcastle Issue 1 you've put 'Yes, miss as many as you like'.

simonsmithsays

friolento said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

simonsmithsays said:

kamkop said:

simonsmithsays said:

YBS Loyalty eSaver 5.45%

https://www.ybs.co.uk/savings/loyalty-savings-accounts?cmpid=eml-YBS-Xsell-Lapsed&spMailingID=30815003&spUserID=MjEyNzIxNjE3ODc2S0&spJobID=2670493556&spReportId=MjY3MDQ5MzU1NwS2

The interest rate on this account will go down to 5.25% gross per year/AER variable on 11 March 2025.

Seeing as they've (YBS) only just sent me this email offering that's absolutely scandalous that it's not mentioned (in the email)

...and on the second page of detail when you check the product online. Poor.

I have just applied fir this account. The impending rate drop is prominently highlighted. They couldn’t have made it any clearer.

Clearly barking up the wrong tree.

nottsphil

WillPS said:

simonsmithsays said:

Section62 said:

simonsmithsays said:

Bridlington1 said:

Additionally Nottingham BS Branch Regular Saver 2 has been launched at 4.75% var (branch only), £500/mth max, unlimited withdrawals.

The unlimited withdrawals make this an excellent product for those near a branch.

Nottingham

Not sure I'd go as far as "excellent".  The unlimited withdrawals are useful in case Nottingham reduce the rate significantly below what is available elsewhere, but being able to withdraw unlimited times from an account which has a monthly deposit limit of only £500 is a feature not dissimilar to the kind posessed by chocolate teapots.  Either 4.75% (variable) turns out to be a rate which is better than most, in which case it would be unwise to make use of the withdrawals, or else 4.75% (variable) turns out not to be so good compared to the alternatives, in which case it would be unwise to leave more than the minimum balance in the account for any longer than you have to.

Comparing to (say) Coventry's 5 Access Saver (Online) (2) account - currently 4.66%, dropping to 4.5% on 03/03 - the Nottingham offer doesn't look so tempting to me.  The Coventry limited access account doesn't have the limited monthly deposits, and the number of accesses means it can be dipped into if necessary and/or if the rate becomes uncompetitive.  Most of all, it can be managed entirely online without need to phone up to check whether deposits have been received, or visiting a branch to open/withdraw.

I like the Nottingham.  The branch staff are lovely and helpful.  But the management need to sort themselves out when it comes to online access, and they need to up their game on interest rates and go back to the days when it was worth running several Nottingham RS accounts at the same time because they were consistently up there with the best.  In my view this is an OK product if you can get to a branch with minimal time/financial expense, but personally I wouldn't want the Nottingham's senior management to rest on their laurels thinking what they were offering was "excellent".  Other views are equally valid though.

In my scenario any RS that's better (or the same as) my easy access 'float' gets applied for (currently 4.75%). So your Coventry comparison which has only a limited amount of withdrawals, is irrelevant to me.

The unlimited access makes it even better.

All down to personal circumstances as Notts have plenty of branches close by me.

I too remember the days of having half a dozen Notts RS running consecutively - but their rates were much more competitive then.

Probably trying to recoup their rebranding debacle money.

Fingers crossed this is the start of them being competitive again in the RS (including mini cash ISA) market.

Not sure who this "Notts" you speak of is, there's a Nottingham BS but the only Nottinghamshire building society I'm aware of is Mansfield  

I'm not native to the county so on moving here, I was very surprised to hear it occasionally being referred to as Nottingham. Referring to the city as Notts, though, is much more common.

Bigwheels1111

nottsphil said:

bioboybill said:

My wife signed up for an Easy Access account with West Bromwich BS online yesterday in the hope of accessing their 6% fixed RS. At the end of the application it said, "we'll get back to you with a decision in 3-5 days". Seriously? Every other bank or BS I've used manages to give you a decision in minutes! Is that typical with them?

I took out an ISA with them but was still not able to open a regular saver. Apparently, I'm not a member. So, they are now stuck with the administrative costs of a £1 ISA which I refuse to fund until recognised as a member.

I opened an easy access saver at 2.5% I think it was.

That let me open a regular saver with the west brom, Just opened a new one last week.

Took 3 day to open, I think its because its a manual process.

Bridlington1

Cumberland BS Interest Rate Changes 8/4/25:

Regular Saver (Issue 3) ~~~ NO CHANGE ~~~ Remains at 5%.
First Home Saver ~~~ NO CHANGE ~~~ Remains at 4.1%

subjecttocontract

Dizzycap said:

liamcov said:

Re Halifax regular saver - my account has matured and funds were transferred to an easy access account, but the main main remains open and still showing 5.5% preventing me from opening a new one - does this account roll over to carry on saving or do I have to request closure?

I think it takes a couple of days before the old Halifax RS is fully closed, but I'd get onto chat and get them to manually close it so that you can open a new fixed 5.5%

I've personally never had a Halifax RS rollover, but I believe some have experienced this. Again, I would check on chat to confirm that this is the case

My Halifax reg saver matures this month & I was not going to renew it but......it's 5.5%, it's fixed and it's going to automatically renew (according to the letter I received from them). So hey ho what's not to like ? 5.5% fixed seems damn good in the current falling market.

Dizzycap

nottsphil said:

Dizzycap said:

Bridlington1 said:

Newcastle BS Interest Rate Reductions From 7/3/25:

Of note:

Newcastle BS Regular Saver (Issue 1) ~~~~ NO CHANGE ~~~~~ Remains at 5.5%.

Good old Newcastle BS! They very rarely, if ever, change interest rates on variable rate accounts

But does that also apply when the Bank of England rate rises?

As this is a 1st issue RS and the climate of BoE rates are decreasing, how long is a piece of string?

gt94sss2

Archerychick said:

gt94sss2 said:

AndyTh_2 said:

Principality BS First Home Steps

Seems they are going to convert previous issues to the issue 5 on 6th March (I just got an email about it for my issue 3).

Those fortunate enough to have multiple issues of the Principality BS First Home Steps RS may want to check that Principality have correctly merged their accounts.

It seems that as well as merging all the previous issues into a issue 5 as previously communicated, they also merged any other issue 5 account that you already had open which they hadn't notified you about as "you can only have one issue 5 account".

This means that if your balance exceeds 50k in the merged account, you can't continue to contribute to Issue 5 even though the reason you would have had two of the same issue is solely down to PBS's decision to merge issues.. 

I suspect I will have to log a complaint to get this resolved..

I did wonder if they’d close the loop hole at some point. I have 2 issue 2 of their 6 month regular saver - no message at the moment and my accounts are still showing. Wonder if they’re working through them product by product 

Yes, though I would not describe it as a loophole if they allow you to open an RS and then close it because they subsequently decided to merge your other RSs into the same account type/issue..

Bigwheels1111

gt94sss2 said:

Archerychick said:

gt94sss2 said:

AndyTh_2 said:

Principality BS First Home Steps

Seems they are going to convert previous issues to the issue 5 on 6th March (I just got an email about it for my issue 3).

Those fortunate enough to have multiple issues of the Principality BS First Home Steps RS may want to check that Principality have correctly merged their accounts.

It seems that as well as merging all the previous issues into a issue 5 as previously communicated, they also merged any other issue 5 account that you already had open which they hadn't notified you about as "you can only have one issue 5 account".

This means that if your balance exceeds 50k in the merged account, you can't continue to contribute to Issue 5 even though the reason you would have had two of the same issue is solely down to PBS's decision to merge issues.. 

I suspect I will have to log a complaint to get this resolved..

I did wonder if they’d close the loop hole at some point. I have 2 issue 2 of their 6 month regular saver - no message at the moment and my accounts are still showing. Wonder if they’re working through them product by product 

Yes, though I would not describe it as a loophole if they allow you to open an RS and then close it because they subsequently decided to merge your other RSs into the same account type/issue..

I had issue 1 and issue 2, issue 1 matured and gave me the option to open a new issue 2 and have 1k plus interest 
sent to my bank.
£800 in one and £400 in the other as opened on the 28th February.