The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Bobblehat

s71hj said:

Re Monmouthshire presumably the best way to max out interest is to get a payment in this month then another 11 on the 1st of each month? 

That's what I'm hoping but one month later than you, as I applied online and don't expect the RS to open before 1st Aug. I'll try to make the 1st payment as late in Aug as possible and 2nd on 1st Sept. It should net ~£218 if rates don't drop and MonBS start the interest date as the day of the 1st deposit.

I'm assuming my application will be successful, of course! 

dingling68

dingling68 said:

dingling68 said:

MonBS RS issue 8

waited till after 9, downloaded the app, applied for account and got the “system maintenance” message after the “we are processing your application” screen, so perhaps still some issues to be resolved! 

MonBS RS issue 8 - update

checked the app and they are still "processing my application" according to the message I get when I log back on. I am not being asked for 2FA when I open up the app again [iOS]

MonBS RS Issue 8 - updated and successful

after deleting and reinstalling the app, the application process was finished and the account is now showing

Stargunner

As an existing customer I applied for the Mon RS Issue 8 around lunchtime today from within the app. I found it a very easy process. I have just checked the app to see if the account is showing and 2 RS issue 8's are showing with different account numbers. I only received an email confirmation for one of them.

snow62

Long time lurker with very few posts, but I've been playing the RS game for 10+ years, currently with 19 RS accounts.

I've never been convinced about the argument for waiting until the end of the month to open and make the initial payment to a new account.  I totally understand that this will maximise the interest on that account, but this is offset by the lower interest earned in a feeder account before opening as well not having an earlier opportunity to open a new account at maturity.  As an example, if I open and fund a new account in the middle of the month, I earn a higher rate for two weeks on that first deposit than if I wait.  In a year's time I either open a new account or I earn a further two weeks' interest on the accrued total.  Of course it can depend on each account's conditions, and a crystal ball is required to know what rates will be in a year's time, but my calculations don't indicate a benefit from waiting until the end of the month.

Re Monmouthshire, I've never had any problems with them.  Yes, their systems are fairly antiquated, and things might take a day or two longer than other institutions, but I'm quite happy to accept this if their rates make it worthwhile.  I've applied for the 6% online, and £500 monthly pay-in is a bonus - I'd have been fine with £300 as with previous accounts with them.

mhoc

After deleting and adding the app and various passcodes I am finally into the app but no new regular saver is  showing as yet. 
Also tried logging in and again it wont accept my details which are as they have always been so this might involve a phone call on Monday  
 - "We were unable to log you in at this time. Either some of the details you provided were incorrect or your User ID has been suspended. Please try again or contact us to reactivate your User ID".

dcs34

Tried to apply to MonBS online and then surprised not to get account details confirmed. Then remembered I'd closed the previous regular saver as the rates had fallen. So technically don't hold any accounts and maybe aren't considered a new customer. But since I gave them all the same details maybe they will eventually link it to the same online account? Albeit with MonBS usually need to wait for 1+ working day so will see what happens.

MarkFromCornwall

dcs34 said:

Tried to apply to MonBS online and then surprised not to get account details confirmed. Then remembered I'd closed the previous regular saver as the rates had fallen. So technically don't hold any accounts and maybe aren't considered a new customer. But since I gave them all the same details maybe they will eventually link it to the same online account? Albeit with MonBS usually need to wait for 1+ working day so will see what happens.

I haven't held an account with them for three years, but I put in the account number of a long closed savings account and my old user ID and password and that worked and I was able to open the issue 8 regular saver.

Bobblehat

snow62 said:

Long time lurker with very few posts, but I've been playing the RS game for 10+ years, currently with 19 RS accounts.

I've never been convinced about the argument for waiting until the end of the month to open and make the initial payment to a new account.  I totally understand that this will maximise the interest on that account, but this is offset by the lower interest earned in a feeder account before opening as well not having an earlier opportunity to open a new account at maturity.  As an example, if I open and fund a new account in the middle of the month, I earn a higher rate for two weeks on that first deposit than if I wait.  In a year's time I either open a new account or I earn a further two weeks' interest on the accrued total.  Of course it can depend on each account's conditions, and a crystal ball is required to know what rates will be in a year's time, but my calculations don't indicate a benefit from waiting until the end of the month.

Re Monmouthshire, I've never had any problems with them.  Yes, their systems are fairly antiquated, and things might take a day or two longer than other institutions, but I'm quite happy to accept this if their rates make it worthwhile.  I've applied for the 6% online, and £500 monthly pay-in is a bonus - I'd have been fine with £300 as with previous accounts with them.

Have you taken into account that the RS maturing near the end of a month may be used to.... a) fund other RS's a day or so later in the next month, which could/should pay more than any EA holding account ... b) or fund a new RS at the end of the next month on from when the maturing RS matured (e.g. RS matures at end of July funds 1st payment of new RS at end of August and 2nd at beginning of September)? .... c) a combination of a) and b)?

With 19 RS's, hopefully spread out over a decent period, I'm surprised that you are not already doing a) or b) or c)?
I'll admit that differences in timing will only create small advantages over figures quoted by the Banks/BS's expected interest figures, but those small advantages add up. After all, if you thought differently, why not leave the funds in an EA/FR/Notice Account rather than administer 19 RS's?

As for crystal ball gazing .... I work on the general principle that rising RS rates occur with rising EA rates, and falling EA rates occur when RS rates are falling! Once I've filled my ISA allowance for the year, I'm looking at which RS/EA/FR/Notice accounts have the highest interest rate and work my way down the list.

Bridlington1

snow62 said:

I've never been convinced about the argument for waiting until the end of the month to open and make the initial payment to a new account.  I totally understand that this will maximise the interest on that account, but this is offset by the lower interest earned in a feeder account before opening as well not having an earlier opportunity to open a new account at maturity.  As an example, if I open and fund a new account in the middle of the month, I earn a higher rate for two weeks on that first deposit than if I wait.  In a year's time I either open a new account or I earn a further two weeks' interest on the accrued total.  Of course it can depend on each account's conditions, and a crystal ball is required to know what rates will be in a year's time, but my calculations don't indicate a benefit from waiting until the end of the month.

Depends on the circumstances. In my case most of my regular savers mature at the turn of the month and virtually all of my non-ISA funds are in regular savers. At present most of my regular savers are funded on 1st (or 1st working day) of the month using funds from regular savers that have matured within the last few days.

If I opened and funded a regular saver mid-month that has a 12 month term I'd likely have to pull money from other regular savers early to fund it, so any gain from funding early is reduced. I'd then most likely end up with a load of spare funds that I can't get into higher paying regular savers from the date of maturity till the end of that month so I'd have money sat in an EA account in the month of maturity instead.

Generally I open the account immediately to secure the account and then if it can be closed/reopened the same day I'll often fund the first one and if it's still available ``refresh" at the end of the month, as I've done with Skipton, Principality etc on a few occasions, and if the account has gone NLA I've not lost the account (as happened with YBS £50 RS which remains at 8%).

clairec666

Bridlington1 said:

snow62 said:

I've never been convinced about the argument for waiting until the end of the month to open and make the initial payment to a new account.  I totally understand that this will maximise the interest on that account, but this is offset by the lower interest earned in a feeder account before opening as well not having an earlier opportunity to open a new account at maturity.  As an example, if I open and fund a new account in the middle of the month, I earn a higher rate for two weeks on that first deposit than if I wait.  In a year's time I either open a new account or I earn a further two weeks' interest on the accrued total.  Of course it can depend on each account's conditions, and a crystal ball is required to know what rates will be in a year's time, but my calculations don't indicate a benefit from waiting until the end of the month.

Depends on the circumstances. In my case most of my regular savers mature at the turn of the month and virtually all of my non-ISA funds are in regular savers. At present most of my regular savers are funded on 1st (or 1st working day) of the month using funds from regular savers that have matured within the last few days.

If I opened and funded a regular saver mid-month that has a 12 month term I'd likely have to pull money from other regular savers early to fund it, so any gain from funding early is reduced. I'd then most likely end up with a load of spare funds that I can't get into higher paying regular savers from the date of maturity till the end of that month so I'd have money sat in an EA account in the month of maturity instead.

Generally I open the account immediately to secure the account and then if it can be closed/reopened the same day I'll often fund the first one and if it's still available ``refresh" at the end of the month, as I've done with Skipton, Principality etc on a few occasions, and if the account has gone NLA I've not lost the account (as happened with YBS £50 RS which remains at 8%).

It's all about making sure your money isn't sitting around in lower-interest accounts and spends as much time as possible earning higher rates in regular savers. It's different for everyone depending on their circumstances - for me, I have two different jobs, one paying weekly, one the last day of the month, so I'm able to top up from these, as well as other maturing regular savers. I haven't bothered with the "open at the end of the month" tactic so far, but I'm quite new to this game, so that might change!