The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Bridlington1

Leeds BS have now withdrawn their Home Deposit Saver Issue 4 at 4.8% and replaced it with issue 1 at the same rate. Ts&Cs seem to be the same.

pokemaster

Just a couple of questions I couldn’t seem to find answers for…

1) it says this account is for you if….

• You are saving for a house deposit

So that could be any one right?

2) it says

> The account is available to First Time Buyers and Home Movers aged 18 or over who are resident in the UK. 

Again that could be anyone who is a “home mover” ?

3) how would they know if you are not a first time buyer? I always thought this account was opened to first time buyers only, but it doesn’t say that?

Also with CBS first home deposit

It mentions saving for a family member to get their first house. How can they know that? And if it’s not used in 3 years it turns to an easy access?

jim1999

pokemaster said:

It mentions saving for a family member to get their first house. How can they know that? And if it’s not used in 3 years it turns to an easy access?

IMO these accounts are a bit of a middle ground, they are trying to show themselves as being considerate of first time buyers, and pull in some cash from people who might be mortgage customers in the future (rather than paying over the odds rates of interest to a bunch of pensioners who will never produce income for the BS) - but also they know that a) it's very difficult to define what a first time buyer is and b) the costs of checking this would be very painful and c) therefore it's not worth trying to keep track of.  All the ones I've seen convert into easy access, and sometimes they have further incentives if you go on to take out a mortgage (but I imagine getting the timing right on this is extremely rare).

So you get these wishy-washy statements that probably wouldn't matter unless a customer tried to go to the Ombudsman in some capacity and then they could point at some T&Cs.

I recall when Coventry made their very competitive BHS account available it specified that you could use it to save for any house purchase, whether that's your own or not.  I intend to help my kids with a house purchase one day, so I was satisfied that I'd technically meet their requirements.

In short, I doubt it matters.

apt

The 10% Virgin Money RS moves to a measly 1.75% Everyday Saver at the end of the month so should be moved on to a better place then. If you don't close the Everyday Saver this month's RS interest is only capitalised in September.

pecunianonolet

apt said:

The 10% Virgin Money RS moves to a measly 1.75% Everyday Saver at the end of the month so should be moved on to a better place then. If you don't close the Everyday Saver this month's RS interest is only capitalised in September.

So the Everyday Saver should be closed on 1st August to capitalise the interest after the last day of being paid 10% and to avoid funds being left to earn 1.75%? 

apt

pecunianonolet said:

apt said:

The 10% Virgin Money RS moves to a measly 1.75% Everyday Saver at the end of the month so should be moved on to a better place then. If you don't close the Everyday Saver this month's RS interest is only capitalised in September.

So the Everyday Saver should be closed on 1st August to capitalise the interest after the last day of being paid 10% and to avoid funds being left to earn 1.75%? 

Yes. They only mention closing it by phone or letter. Hope it can also be done on the app or online.

Bobblehat

apt said:

The 10% Virgin Money RS moves to a measly 1.75% Everyday Saver at the end of the month so should be moved on to a better place then. If you don't close the Everyday Saver this month's RS interest is only capitalised in September.

.... and as Masonic predicted earlier in this thread, no sign of even a vanilla RS from VM to take its place   

PRAISETHESUN

apt said:

pecunianonolet said:

apt said:

The 10% Virgin Money RS moves to a measly 1.75% Everyday Saver at the end of the month so should be moved on to a better place then. If you don't close the Everyday Saver this month's RS interest is only capitalised in September.

So the Everyday Saver should be closed on 1st August to capitalise the interest after the last day of being paid 10% and to avoid funds being left to earn 1.75%? 

Yes. They only mention closing it by phone or letter. Hope it can also be done on the app or online.

There's an option to close your account through online banking by submitting a closure form. I've used it to close the linked savings account that comes bundled with their current account (despite what they say, it does not get automatically closed when you close your current account), and I assume this online form will also allow you to close other types of savings accounts as well.

When logged in to internet banking, from the menus across the top of the page select the three dots "More" and scroll down to "Close an account" (under the Account Services sub-heading). From there you fill in a form with details of the account you wish to close and you can nominate an account (can be with another bank) to receive any outstanding balance/interest.

subjecttocontract

What's with the need to close the account ? If you can withdraw all of the money does it matter that the account remains open with a zero balance ?

apt

subjecttocontract said:

What's with the need to close the account ? If you can withdraw all of the money does it matter that the account remains open with a zero balance ?

You can't withdraw the c. £26 interest from July before September unless you close the account.