The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Hattie627

Rich2808 said:

francoghezzi said:

Please, if we could put the subject on top of our posts this forum would become more readable. The name of the bank or building society we're talking about might be perfect

Totally agree - I gather recent posts have been about Hinckley and Rugby and Furness building societies. But it took me a bit of time to work it out.

When they are small local societies - we just need to make this clear. Big banks/national societies are intended to be mass national providers offering accounts to all UK residents - these smaller local societies mostly aren't geared up for that.

A bit old fashioned I know - but small local societies should be for locals/people in that region in my view. So if you live nearby - fill your boots. 

I think we need to be patient with small, local societies and not expect or require the sort of speed of service we might expect from (for example) the banks and national societies. For example, if payment on closure/maturity is by cheque we should accept that and not phone up asking for bank transfer. Dealing with calls like that is resource-intensive for these small organisations.

I don't agree that small local societies should "only" be for locals. If a society wants to open up a savings account to a wider market and feels that it has the resources to cope with this, this can only benefit locals of that area by bringing in money from outside the area for mortgage lending in the area.

simonsmithsays

francoghezzi said:

Please, if we could put the subject on top of our posts this forum would become more readable. The name of the bank or building society we're talking about might be perfect

I'd prefer the title of this thread to contain something like  'PLEASE STATE THE INSTITUTION YOU ARE REFERRING TO WHEN REPLYING'.

This might cut down on the amount of mind reading needed when forumites who don't.

Some don't even use the quote function!

happybagger

Hattie627 said:

I don't agree that small local societies should "only" be for locals. If a society wants to open up a savings account to a wider market and feels that it has the resources to cope with this, this can only benefit locals of that area by bringing in money from outside the area for mortgage lending in the area.

Exactly. They have the means to restrict however they wish, if they need to avoid being overwhelmed either by locals or non-locals. Vernon have introduced restrictions likely for that reason, where only those determined enough will hunt for entry points. We also know Monmouthshire have gone the other way, taking weeks of backlogged applications before they do anything about it.

surreysaver

simonsmithsays said:

francoghezzi said:

Please, if we could put the subject on top of our posts this forum would become more readable. The name of the bank or building society we're talking about might be perfect

I'd prefer the title of this thread to contain something like  'PLEASE STATE THE INSTITUTION YOU ARE REFERRING TO WHEN REPLYING'.

This might cut down on the amount of mind reading needed when forumites who don't.

Some don't even use the quote function!

I agree with this

spreadsheeterapple

Bridlington1 said:

OneUser1 said:

This WON’T get you into a Vernon Building Society 6.5% Regular Saver at the moment but might be useful information for those who take a long view.

The Vernon usually only let locals (25 miles of Stockport) open accounts although they’ve offered to anyone a rubbish bond for a while with a high minimum balance and low interest rate. However they occasionally relax things and I note currently you can open a range of accounts including a £100 minimum balance Easy Access account. But not the Regular Saver.

Like I said they change the requirements from time to time so MAYBE they will offer some future Regular Saver to locals and existing members. Or, of course, they might offer a new Regular Saver open to anyone. Or not. But they do change and change back so this could be a good time to get in if that’s your thing.

There appears to be a way of holding onto membership with £1 if you don't mind sacrificing some of your ISA allowance.

Their Regular Saver ISA is currently open to all, this requires £25 to open the account. Once open there is no minimum withdrawal amount but you must keep £1 in the account to keep it open.

The terms do reference a £25 minimum monthly deposit although it also says if you miss at least 1 monthly payment you'll lose the bonus rate of interest so one interpretation of this term could be that you can miss payments but the penalty for doing so is the loss of the bonus rate of interest (in other words you shall earn 3.15% instead of 3.8%)

re. using an ISA to obtain or hold onto existing-customer status or membership status, in hope of meeting qualifying criteria for future good regular saver offerings
- I would warn readers to beware which firms they choose to do this with, as perhaps not all the same
- check T&C for whether an ISA qualifies as a 'share' account for membership status with mutual building societies, as an ISA account does not necessarily do this. If in doubt ring the firm.

For instance I've now read elsewhere that West Brom had denied someone a while back to open a reg saver online as 'existing customer', explaining that their ISA didn't confer this status. My own West Brom reg saver application hasn't been opened into the 3rd week, supposed to be 3/5 working days, so despite the holiday non-days I think I'm past that and am going to be a reject.
- I haven't had chance to ring today, been tied up on other things; will report back if all well, but I'd just warn on not only checking T&C, but also ring firm. My particular West Brom ISA T&C don't mention either way, however other accounts such as Easy Access does have a clause stating the account will be a 'share account'; that clause wording is ominously absent from my ISA T&C !

EDIT: happybagger found ISAs should indeed be share accounts at mutual building societies, and hence confer membership; general T&C stated so. Apology for putting wind up readers, my account not being opened yet must be hung up for other reasons, will ring them when get a chance. Thank you happybagger

happybagger

Building societies cash ISAs can only be share accounts.
Deposit accounts can't be offered to individuals.

If you have a West Brom Cash ISA then it is a share account and confers membership.

See page 3 of their general terms and conditions, linked to from the ISA product detail page:

"From 21 January 1999, all accounts opened for individuals are share accounts, and corporate (business) accounts are deposit accounts. By holding a share account, you become a member of the West Bromwich Building Society and must keep to our Rules. There is a copy of the Rules on our website, or you can ask our Head Office for one"

surreysaver

Bridlington1 said:

OneUser1 said:

This WON’T get you into a Vernon Building Society 6.5% Regular Saver at the moment but might be useful information for those who take a long view.

The Vernon usually only let locals (25 miles of Stockport) open accounts although they’ve offered to anyone a rubbish bond for a while with a high minimum balance and low interest rate. However they occasionally relax things and I note currently you can open a range of accounts including a £100 minimum balance Easy Access account. But not the Regular Saver.

Like I said they change the requirements from time to time so MAYBE they will offer some future Regular Saver to locals and existing members. Or, of course, they might offer a new Regular Saver open to anyone. Or not. But they do change and change back so this could be a good time to get in if that’s your thing.

There appears to be a way of holding onto membership with £1 if you don't mind sacrificing some of your ISA allowance.

Their Regular Saver ISA is currently open to all, this requires £25 to open the account. Once open there is no minimum withdrawal amount but you must keep £1 in the account to keep it open.

The terms do reference a £25 minimum monthly deposit although it also says if you miss at least 1 monthly payment you'll lose the bonus rate of interest so one interpretation of this term could be that you can miss payments but the penalty for doing so is the loss of the bonus rate of interest (in other words you shall earn 3.15% instead of 3.8%)

If I understand Vernon's T&Cs for the easy access account, you just need to pay in £100 to open it. You can then withdraw £99 of that, as the T&Cs state you just need to have a balance in the account to prevent it being closed.
I've opened an easy access account with them and shall close my 35 Day Notice account I opened with them last year, as that's got £500 sitting in it not doing much 

Essex123

This is my understanding too.  Indeed some building societies who had individual depositors back in 1999 offered the option of converting those accounts to share accounts.  I bagged a couple of building societies through this back door route - maybe you did too Happybagger? 

happybagger

surreysaver said:

Bridlington1 said:

OneUser1 said:

This WON’T get you into a Vernon Building Society 6.5% Regular Saver at the moment but might be useful information for those who take a long view.

The Vernon usually only let locals (25 miles of Stockport) open accounts although they’ve offered to anyone a rubbish bond for a while with a high minimum balance and low interest rate. However they occasionally relax things and I note currently you can open a range of accounts including a £100 minimum balance Easy Access account. But not the Regular Saver.

Like I said they change the requirements from time to time so MAYBE they will offer some future Regular Saver to locals and existing members. Or, of course, they might offer a new Regular Saver open to anyone. Or not. But they do change and change back so this could be a good time to get in if that’s your thing.

There appears to be a way of holding onto membership with £1 if you don't mind sacrificing some of your ISA allowance.

Their Regular Saver ISA is currently open to all, this requires £25 to open the account. Once open there is no minimum withdrawal amount but you must keep £1 in the account to keep it open.

The terms do reference a £25 minimum monthly deposit although it also says if you miss at least 1 monthly payment you'll lose the bonus rate of interest so one interpretation of this term could be that you can miss payments but the penalty for doing so is the loss of the bonus rate of interest (in other words you shall earn 3.15% instead of 3.8%)

If I understand Vernon's T&Cs for the easy access account, you just need to pay in £100 to open it. You can then withdraw £99 of that, as the T&Cs state you just need to have a balance in the account to prevent it being closed.
I've opened an easy access account with them and shall close my 35 Day Notice account I opened with them last year, as that's got £500 sitting in it not doing much 

... which is pretty much what I said yesterday, although I suggested the EA account stay with the £100 balance so not to make it too obvious (as I said the opportunity cost about £2) And Yes @Essex123 bagged a few by opening larger balances then getting the decent account, can't ever recall having any "deposit" accounts though, only ever Share accounts

WillPS

happybagger said:

surreysaver said:

Bridlington1 said:

OneUser1 said:

This WON’T get you into a Vernon Building Society 6.5% Regular Saver at the moment but might be useful information for those who take a long view.

The Vernon usually only let locals (25 miles of Stockport) open accounts although they’ve offered to anyone a rubbish bond for a while with a high minimum balance and low interest rate. However they occasionally relax things and I note currently you can open a range of accounts including a £100 minimum balance Easy Access account. But not the Regular Saver.

Like I said they change the requirements from time to time so MAYBE they will offer some future Regular Saver to locals and existing members. Or, of course, they might offer a new Regular Saver open to anyone. Or not. But they do change and change back so this could be a good time to get in if that’s your thing.

There appears to be a way of holding onto membership with £1 if you don't mind sacrificing some of your ISA allowance.

Their Regular Saver ISA is currently open to all, this requires £25 to open the account. Once open there is no minimum withdrawal amount but you must keep £1 in the account to keep it open.

The terms do reference a £25 minimum monthly deposit although it also says if you miss at least 1 monthly payment you'll lose the bonus rate of interest so one interpretation of this term could be that you can miss payments but the penalty for doing so is the loss of the bonus rate of interest (in other words you shall earn 3.15% instead of 3.8%)

If I understand Vernon's T&Cs for the easy access account, you just need to pay in £100 to open it. You can then withdraw £99 of that, as the T&Cs state you just need to have a balance in the account to prevent it being closed.
I've opened an easy access account with them and shall close my 35 Day Notice account I opened with them last year, as that's got £500 sitting in it not doing much 

... which is pretty much what I said yesterday, although I suggested the EA account stay with the £100 balance so not to make it too obvious (as I said the opportunity cost about £2) And Yes @Essex123 bagged a few by opening larger balances then getting the decent account, can't ever recall having any "deposit" accounts though, only ever Share accounts

What's wrong with 'being obvious'? Plenty of people leave a token minimum amount in a building society to maintain membership, it's not at all improper.

Nottingham BS even encouraged that we should consider doing this if we needed to draw down an account.

I'm not sure why they'd have any reason to object?