The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

flaneurs_lobster

mhoc said:

Its very interesting that in July we were all in a flap about maturing Principality savers and how many new Principality six month savers issue 3s we could open.

Six.

The next thing I am pondering is about Nationwide 6.5% fixed which is due to mature at the end of September - whether to close and start a new Nationwide 6.5% variable - is there any benefit.
Or just to hang on until October and assume that Nationwide will still have a 6.5% saver.

My next one to consider is a Skipton Member RS 7% maturing tomorrow 04/08. Do I immediately open the current Member RS at 6.25% var - struggling to fund all my RS's >= 6% (the answer's "yes").

WillPS

mhoc said:

Its very interesting that in July we were all in a flap about maturing Principality savers and how many new Principality six month savers issue 3s we could open.
Then having sorted them all out it all went calm and serene again until Virgin and Monmouthshire sprung new regular savers on us this week causing far more issues than Principality ever did    

The next thing I am pondering is about Nationwide 6.5% fixed which is due to mature at the end of September - whether to close and start a new Nationwide 6.5% variable - is there any benefit.
Or just to hang on until October and assume that Nationwide will still have a 6.5% saver.

Also pondering about the LLoyds and Halifax savers if they need to be renewed - maturity dates in May 2026.

No cash flow issues just keen to keep the best rates for as long as feasible.
Bank of England have another meeting  this week and mid September - numerous rumours floating around regarding another rate drop this year and the thinking is September. ....

I'd suggest if Nationwide were preparing for a rate drop in the next 2 months the Virgin Regular Saver wouldn't have been pegged at the same rate.

Remember all are technically variable rates and could drop at any time (they just seem to be very stubborn).

Lloyds I'd be less certain of personally, their rate matched the Natwest one which has recently dropped (and it's fixed).

clairec666

flaneurs_lobster said:

mhoc said:

Its very interesting that in July we were all in a flap about maturing Principality savers and how many new Principality six month savers issue 3s we could open.

Six.

The next thing I am pondering is about Nationwide 6.5% fixed which is due to mature at the end of September - whether to close and start a new Nationwide 6.5% variable - is there any benefit.
Or just to hang on until October and assume that Nationwide will still have a 6.5% saver.

My next one to consider is a Skipton Member RS 7% maturing tomorrow 04/08. Do I immediately open the current Member RS at 6.25% var - struggling to fund all my RS's >= 6% (the answer's "yes").

Worth noting that Skipton's member regular saver starts the year term from the date of your first deposit, so you could open it now to be on the safe side but hold off from funding it immediately.

Re Nationwide - they've consistently had a good regular saver available for quite a few years now, I can't imagine they'll suddenly stop offering one.

pedrodelgado

clairec666 said:

pedrodelgado said:

Question. Would it be more beneficial to open say 4 regular savers from different providers and put the maximum allowed in each one for say the first couple of months then a nominal amount to keep them open for the remaining months, thus having a bigger overall sum for 11 or 12 months than you would have had if opening one and saving monthly into that? Any thoughts?

Depends on your situation. If you've got a lump sum of, say, £1000 to put in now, you'd have to spread it over a few regular savers, because most have a monthly limit. So your £1000 would be earning high interest rates from day 1, and you can put deposit the minimum amount in future months (some accounts don't even require a deposit each month). The slight downside is that all your accounts will likely mature at the same time, so you'll be looking a new home for your money again in a year's time.

I'm sure @Bobblehat can rustle up a good spreadsheet to come up with the best strategy!

Yeah I'm thinking of co op, club Lloyds, virgin and Skipton. This would amount to £1050 in the first month and the same in the second month then the minimum if any for the other 10 months, giving around £130 total interest for investing £2100. You'd get less if putting the same amount spread over the full 12 months in a single account, even if drip feeding from a instant access saver at 4%. Just a thought.

flaneurs_lobster

clairec666 said:

Worth noting that Skipton's member regular saver starts the year term from the date of your first deposit, so you could open it now to be on the safe side but hold off from funding it immediately.

Good point, although the maturity will yield £3k+ and my best-paying EA stash with room is paying 4.75% so it's very tempting to just fund a new 6.5% immediately.

Kim_13

flaneurs_lobster said:

mhoc said:

Its very interesting that in July we were all in a flap about maturing Principality savers and how many new Principality six month savers issue 3s we could open.

Six.

The next thing I am pondering is about Nationwide 6.5% fixed which is due to mature at the end of September - whether to close and start a new Nationwide 6.5% variable - is there any benefit.
Or just to hang on until October and assume that Nationwide will still have a 6.5% saver.

My next one to consider is a Skipton Member RS 7% maturing tomorrow 04/08. Do I immediately open the current Member RS at 6.25% var - struggling to fund all my RS's >= 6% (the answer's "yes").

Mine matures later in the month and I’m wondering whether to try the loophole to get both Skipton RS’s. Having both Dudley and Monmouthshire at 6%, I sort of feel I won’t need one that’ll probably be 5.5% by next week given it’s pegged to the base rate.

chris_the_bee

mhoc said:

Its very interesting that in July we were all in a flap about maturing Principality savers and how many new Principality six month savers issue 3s we could open.
Then having sorted them all out it all went calm and serene again until Virgin and Monmouthshire sprung new regular savers on us this week causing far more issues than Principality ever did    

The next thing I am pondering is about Nationwide 6.5% fixed which is due to mature at the end of September - whether to close and start a new Nationwide 6.5% variable - is there any benefit.
Or just to hang on until October and assume that Nationwide will still have a 6.5% saver.

Also pondering about the LLoyds and Halifax savers if they need to be renewed - maturity dates in May 2026.

No cash flow issues just keen to keep the best rates for as long as feasible.
Bank of England have another meeting  this week and mid September - numerous rumours floating around regarding another rate drop this year and the thinking is September. ....

I think Nationwide 6.5% fixed is not fixed but variable. quote:-
We pay one of two different interest rates on your account, the higher interest rate and the lower interest rate. Which interest rate we pay depends on how many times you take money out of your account. Both interest rates are variable, meaning they can go up or down

PRAISETHESUN

pedrodelgado said:

Question. Would it be more beneficial to open say 4 regular savers from different providers and put the maximum allowed in each one for say the first couple of months then a nominal amount to keep them open for the remaining months, thus having a bigger overall sum for 11 or 12 months than you would have had if opening one and saving monthly into that? Any thoughts?

I'm of the view that you should always aim for the highest interest rate you can achieve now. If you have a lump sum earning say 5%, it would make sense to feed it into multiple RS accounts if they are paying more then that as it will earn more interest in the long run. The alternative would be to drip feed from your lump savings into a single RS over several months, but then more of your savings spend a few months at the lower rate rather  than the higher RS rate. At the end of the day the difference is usually marginal (~1-2% for a few months) but it's not zero, and worth the effort for some.

PRAISETHESUN

surreysaver said:

allegro120 said:

s71hj said:

Quick question about Natwest and RBS. In order to continue to meet the criteria for the associated current account you have to pay in £1250 a month . Myself and wife have sole and joint. Would a payment into the joint one count as meeting that criteria for both of us on all 3 accounts? 

I don't think it will cover other 2 accounts.  In my understanding it is £1250 per account, not per person, but I might be wrong.

According to a poster who corrected me on this issue, it does 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6616817/natwest-reward-account-how-quickly-can-i-take-the-1250-payment-out/p2#latest

I can also confirm this. I've got multiple Reward accounts with both NatWest and RBS. I pay £1250 each month into one account at each bank and it qualifies me for all my Reward accounts.

s71hj

PRAISETHESUN said:

surreysaver said:

allegro120 said:

s71hj said:

Quick question about Natwest and RBS. In order to continue to meet the criteria for the associated current account you have to pay in £1250 a month . Myself and wife have sole and joint. Would a payment into the joint one count as meeting that criteria for both of us on all 3 accounts? 

I don't think it will cover other 2 accounts.  In my understanding it is £1250 per account, not per person, but I might be wrong.

According to a poster who corrected me on this issue, it does 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6616817/natwest-reward-account-how-quickly-can-i-take-the-1250-payment-out/p2#latest

I can also confirm this. I've got multiple Reward accounts with both NatWest and RBS. I pay £1250 each month into one account at each bank and it qualifies me for all my Reward accounts.

So do you pay into a joint account and it counts for both of you? (as is often the way with these things I've probably spent as much time typing these queries as it would take to make 4 payments as opposed to 2, but sometimes there's a satisfaction in discovering a new loophole😂)