The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Bridlington1

s71hj said:

friolento said:

s71hj said:

friolento said:

akh43 said:

No it doesn't really appeal, I have a 6.50% Nationwide, 6.25% Skipton and 5.74% Coventry and decided to drop to 3 RS for a while unless something higher than I have appears, which I doubt.  Not closed the Virgin EA I transferred the money out for now so its showing zero.  I don't really want to wait until September so maybe I should actually close the EA account to see if that generates the last bit of interest. Strange way of doing it giving the final interest so long after maturity.

All I have left with Virgin is the current with pennies in, the M Saver again with pennies in and the other 2 accounts at zero, hence why looking to get rid as have had many issues with Virgin over the past few years.  I only opened in the first place to get a good rate ISA several years ago and have never really used the current account, just used for savings.

6.5% is better than 5.74% and 6.25%, no? 

If your 10% Virgin RS was full, you should receive something in the order of £22 interest for July.

You would be in good company if you kept a cost- and maintenance-free dormant VM current account, as it might serve as a pre-req  for interesting accounts, such as their ISAs and Regular Savers. The 6.5% gives those with historic VM accounts essentially two (some people even three) 6.5% Nationwide RSs. Who knows what other gooddies and opportunities might appear. 

What are these 2 or even 3 Nationwide 6.5% RS of which you speak?! 

Some of us have the now NLA Nationwide 6.5% RS. Those lucky enough having two VM current accounts with different sort codes can have one 6.5% VM RSs, one against each of the current accounts. As VM is owned by Nationwide, that makes 3 Nationwide RSs.

Reinforces my increasing view that I should totally close pretty much nothing account wise

As a counter-argument though some banks have been known to exclude existing customers from their switching offers (Virgin being among them). Many grabbed their 25% cashback on certain spending switching offer in 2022. Those who later switched out became eligible for the 12% interest on the current account switching offer last year, those who kept their current account were excluded on the grounds that they were an existing customer.

Moreover you'll often get some accounts which wouldn't be competitive in the future, e.g. accounts that have matured into very poor EA accounts so closing some of them can be handy to free up some of your funds for better paying accounts.

Aside from the accounts I use, I generally keep an account with each bank/building society (oldest if possible, particularly with YBS) that I keep for ``loyalty purposes" and those that I think might become useful in the future, but the rest I'll get rid of as I can afford to be selective.

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

Gers

Bridlington1 said:

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

HMRC agent told me earlier this year that I had 70 accounts. I then closed nine and have subsequently opened another nine. Like above, I keep one YBS account with only £1.00 to ensure membership. 

On Friday I closed my Nationwide RS3 a month early and then was able to open their RS6, still at 6.50% though now variable. 

My Coventry First Home Saver matures later this week but I was able to open a new one despite the T&Cs saying that only one can be held. I transferred across for the first deposit.

On a different note - I've had great customer service from a very patient and helpful agent at Suffolk Building Society when I got myself in knots between their online and branch RSs. 

trickydicky14

Gers said:

Bridlington1 said:

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

HMRC agent told me earlier this year that I had 70 accounts. I then closed nine and have subsequently opened another nine. Like above, I keep one YBS account with only £1.00 to ensure membership. 

On Friday I closed my Nationwide RS3 a month early and then was able to open their RS6, still at 6.50% though now variable. 

My Coventry First Home Saver matures later this week but I was able to open a new one despite the T&Cs saying that only one can be held. I transferred across for the first deposit.

On a different note - I've had great customer service from a very patient and helpful agent at Suffolk Building Society when I got myself in knots between their online and branch RSs. 

I second that, Suffolk CS is very good.

clairec666

Bridlington1 said:

s71hj said:

friolento said:

s71hj said:

friolento said:

akh43 said:

No it doesn't really appeal, I have a 6.50% Nationwide, 6.25% Skipton and 5.74% Coventry and decided to drop to 3 RS for a while unless something higher than I have appears, which I doubt.  Not closed the Virgin EA I transferred the money out for now so its showing zero.  I don't really want to wait until September so maybe I should actually close the EA account to see if that generates the last bit of interest. Strange way of doing it giving the final interest so long after maturity.

All I have left with Virgin is the current with pennies in, the M Saver again with pennies in and the other 2 accounts at zero, hence why looking to get rid as have had many issues with Virgin over the past few years.  I only opened in the first place to get a good rate ISA several years ago and have never really used the current account, just used for savings.

6.5% is better than 5.74% and 6.25%, no? 

If your 10% Virgin RS was full, you should receive something in the order of £22 interest for July.

You would be in good company if you kept a cost- and maintenance-free dormant VM current account, as it might serve as a pre-req  for interesting accounts, such as their ISAs and Regular Savers. The 6.5% gives those with historic VM accounts essentially two (some people even three) 6.5% Nationwide RSs. Who knows what other gooddies and opportunities might appear. 

What are these 2 or even 3 Nationwide 6.5% RS of which you speak?! 

Some of us have the now NLA Nationwide 6.5% RS. Those lucky enough having two VM current accounts with different sort codes can have one 6.5% VM RSs, one against each of the current accounts. As VM is owned by Nationwide, that makes 3 Nationwide RSs.

Reinforces my increasing view that I should totally close pretty much nothing account wise

As a counter-argument though some banks have been known to exclude existing customers from their switching offers (Virgin being among them). Many grabbed their 25% cashback on certain spending switching offer in 2022. Those who later switched out became eligible for the 12% interest on the current account switching offer last year, those who kept their current account were excluded on the grounds that they were an existing customer.

Moreover you'll often get some accounts which wouldn't be competitive in the future, e.g. accounts that have matured into very poor EA accounts so closing some of them can be handy to free up some of your funds for better paying accounts.

Aside from the accounts I use, I generally keep an account with each bank/building society (oldest if possible, particularly with YBS) that I keep for ``loyalty purposes" and those that I think might become useful in the future, but the rest I'll get rid of as I can afford to be selective.

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

NatWest excluded existing current account holders from their latest switching deal, which ruled me out, whereas Nationwide went in the opposite direction and only offered the switching deal to their existing members. Nationwide are generally pretty good to their loyal customers, with the fairer share payouts as well, so I'll always keep an account with them. Skipton also offer good loyalty accounts.

Aidanmc

Gers said:

Bridlington1 said:

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

HMRC agent told me earlier this year that I had 70 accounts. I then closed nine and have subsequently opened another nine. Like above, I keep one YBS account with only £1.00 to ensure membership. 

On Friday I closed my Nationwide RS3 a month early and then was able to open their RS6, still at 6.50% though now variable. 

My Coventry First Home Saver matures later this week but I was able to open a new one despite the T&Cs saying that only one can be held. I transferred across for the first deposit.

On a different note - I've had great customer service from a very patient and helpful agent at Suffolk Building Society when I got myself in knots between their online and branch RSs. 

Just wondering why a HMRC agent told you that. Were you having a HMRC inspection or something?

Gers

Aidanmc said:

Gers said:

Bridlington1 said:

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

HMRC agent told me earlier this year that I had 70 accounts. I then closed nine and have subsequently opened another nine. Like above, I keep one YBS account with only £1.00 to ensure membership. 

On Friday I closed my Nationwide RS3 a month early and then was able to open their RS6, still at 6.50% though now variable. 

My Coventry First Home Saver matures later this week but I was able to open a new one despite the T&Cs saying that only one can be held. I transferred across for the first deposit.

On a different note - I've had great customer service from a very patient and helpful agent at Suffolk Building Society when I got myself in knots between their online and branch RSs. 

Just wondering why a HMRC agent told you that. Were you having a HMRC inspection or something?

No - I rang HMRC to talk about my tax coding and unpaid tax on savings interest. All very pleasant actually.

exel1966

Aidanmc said:

Gers said:

Bridlington1 said:

I've still ended up with well over 100 accounts though, quite a large minority are regular savers.

HMRC agent told me earlier this year that I had 70 accounts. I then closed nine and have subsequently opened another nine. Like above, I keep one YBS account with only £1.00 to ensure membership. 

On Friday I closed my Nationwide RS3 a month early and then was able to open their RS6, still at 6.50% though now variable. 

My Coventry First Home Saver matures later this week but I was able to open a new one despite the T&Cs saying that only one can be held. I transferred across for the first deposit.

On a different note - I've had great customer service from a very patient and helpful agent at Suffolk Building Society when I got myself in knots between their online and branch RSs. 

Just wondering why a HMRC agent told you that. Were you having a HMRC inspection or something?

It's good to speak to HMRC occasionally if you have multiple reg savers. Tax codes are not only based on actual interest earnt, but also estimated interest which they take from previous years so it's good to update them on estimates and closed accounts so you don't initially overpay. If you don't it will eventually balance out on its own however that can take a couple of years.

OrangeBlueGreen

I wonder how long we’ll have to wait to get our closing Virgin interest if their systems were down on Friday and of course the 10% will have attracted a lot of customers in the first place so I imagine the queue to be very long. 

They really should update their systems so customers can close accounts themselves, it is 2025. The zero balance thing may make sense internally, but it’s not customer friendly at all and nonsensical. Though now Nationwide has bought them, they won’t care. Hopefully Nationwide will soon merge everything into their own systems, getting rid of double profiles and the mess that was never ironed out when they merged the 2 old Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks. 

I don’t mind Virgin as a bank and their products, but it does feels that behind the scenes it’s very old school like a telephone exchange with cables and connections between a multitude of systems that do not make for a good customer experience.

Edit: Really they should just have it so that final interest is paid when a regular saver matures and it would save customers from having to do all of this.

ColdIron

OrangeBlueGreen said:

They really should update their systems so customers can close accounts themselves, it is 2025.

You can do this already in online banking if you have 2FA enabled

Choose 'More' at the top, then 'Close Account' and follow the instructions

Section62

OrangeBlueGreen said:

...Though now Nationwide has bought them, they won’t care. Hopefully Nationwide will soon merge everything into their own systems, getting rid of double profiles and the mess that was never ironed out when they merged the 2 old Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks. 

This won't be happening soon.  Virgin is operating as a separate wholly-owned subsidiary with its own banking licence.  That needs to be changed before individual's profiles are merged - assuming Nationwide does this, rather than keeping VM as a (renamed) separate entity.

Nationwide's own systems also have their own issues and archaic aspects - such as use of a card reader for some app functions, and not being able to pay cheques in by app.  Supposedly Nationwide are developing an entirely new banking platform... but there seems to be little information about how this is progressing.  It sounded ambitious.

If I were a betting person, I'd put money on the new Nationwide platform (when it eventually arrives) being first launched on the VM side of the business, with some (then all) VM customers being migrated onto it as guinea pigs.  If the new platform turns into a TSB-style disaster then it would be better PR-wise for that to happen with the brand which is due to vanish, rather than the core Nationwide brand.  Also, my personal feeling is the VM systems are in greater need of replacing than the Nationwide ones... although that might not be the Nationwide way of thinking.