The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

mon3ysav3r

t1redmonkey said:

Just wanted to check, can you definitely hold the Monmouthshire App Exclusive Regular Saver alongside the Monmouthshire Branch Exclusive Regular Saver 

Yes, many of us do

Born2Save_3

t1redmonkey said:

Just wanted to check, can you definitely hold the Monmouthshire App Exclusive Regular Saver alongside the Monmouthshire Branch Exclusive Regular Saver or is it one or the other you have to choose?  Wording on the product pages sounds like you can have both, just wanted to check here though to be certain!

After unsuccessfully trying to activate my second Regular Saver Issue 8, opened by post, by requesting a signature form, I was informed by Charlie that the the new exclusive regular savers were available.  I specifically asked if there were any restrictions on having both the App and Branch Exclusive regular savers and was told that there is not.  The Branch exclusive RS has a maximum deposit of £500 a month.  I was told it cannot be opened by post.

MonBS has some agencies in England near Bristol, at Clevedon and at Portishead.  There are Mon BS branches close to the Wales end of both the Severn bridges at Chepstow and Caldicot.

I'm tempted to have a cheap coach day trip to Wales as the interest on the Branch Exclusive RS may be over £200.  Better than going to Gravesend for another Kent Reliance RS at 5.1%..

If any one has any suggestions or workarounds on opening branch only accounts when not that close, please do share.

WillPS

There's also a MonBS agency in Hereford.

allegro120

pecunianonolet said:

To clarify, I have not with any word said that people not consider taxes and it makes also perfect sense to discuss the details of it at the appropriate places. 

All I was trying to say was that I felt the conversation can be, at times, one dimensional and some get "picked on" when they share reasons why they not open or not fund regular savers. 

I am a higher rate tax payer. I have just withdrawn the full 5k of my RBS/Natwest regular savers and put them into my ISA with CMC. I just didn't have the funds early in the year so it is time to shift funds into my ISA and have stopped funding many or withdrawn from them. 

You probably know this, but I will mention it anyway - funds with CMC are not protected by FSCS.  The risk is very low, but still worth to bear this in mind.  I have only 4% of my ISA funds in CMC, but it's just me being  overly risk-averse.  I am going to increase it though, now the dust has settled it's the time to transfer 4.1% Tembo out, CMC will get a fair proportion of it. 

Bridlington1

FishInGlass said:

What @pecunianonolet says makes perfect sense for those who are higher rate tax payers. I don't fall into that bracket and am a 20% tax payer with the £1000 PSA limit.  The vast majority of my regular savers are currently paying at least 6%. I would need to be earning an equivalent 4.8% on any Cash ISA to match that so it makes sense for me to fund these regular savers even though I will earn over the PSA limit this financial year.

In addition there's also the scenario of someone having no income and thus being able to earn £18,570 in savings interest without paying tax, in this case you'd need to have a 6-figure sum in regular savers before you need to start paying tax on the interest and it makes sense to look at the top rate irrespective of whether it's an ISA or not.

pecunianonolet

allegro120 said:

pecunianonolet said:

To clarify, I have not with any word said that people not consider taxes and it makes also perfect sense to discuss the details of it at the appropriate places. 

All I was trying to say was that I felt the conversation can be, at times, one dimensional and some get "picked on" when they share reasons why they not open or not fund regular savers. 

I am a higher rate tax payer. I have just withdrawn the full 5k of my RBS/Natwest regular savers and put them into my ISA with CMC. I just didn't have the funds early in the year so it is time to shift funds into my ISA and have stopped funding many or withdrawn from them. 

You probably know this, but I will mention it anyway - funds with CMC are not protected by FSCS.  The risk is very low, but still worth to bear this in mind.  I have only 4% of my ISA funds in CMC, but it's just me being  overly risk-averse.  I am going to increase it though, now the dust has settled it's the time to transfer 4.1% Tembo out, CMC will get a fair proportion of it. 

I do but good shout to point out again. I deem the risk of being assulted or driven over while out on a walk higher nowadays. 

Theleak250

So the conclusion is if you are a higher rate tax payer the savers are not much worth it??

wmb194

Theleak250 said:

So the conclusion is if you are a higher rate tax payer the savers are not much worth it??

You have to put your cash somewhere. It's up to you to decide whether or not you want the best net return.

Kim_13

With a £500 PSA, roughly £1,000 into Regular Savers per month are tax free (obviously this will need adjusting if you expect to qualify for a Nationwide Fairer Share payment.) If your income is close to the Child Benefit limit or the Additional Rate threshold the same applies, as you would lose more than you gain in interest (and therefore taking a lower interest rate or parking excess funds into a current account paying no interest would be better.)

masonic

Theleak250 said:

So the conclusion is if you are a higher rate tax payer the savers are not much worth it??

They will still be more valuable than an easy access savings account or fix paying a lower rate if all it costs you is higher rate tax. Though there are tax traps in the system that make it better to have 100% of nothing than 60% of something, as pointed out above.