The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

clivep

s71hj said:

BestSeagull said:

s71hj said:

BestSeagull said:

mattojgb said:

Principality maturity instructions

There seem to be two options on the Principality website that will potentially open a new RS account upon maturity. Which are people choosing and are known to work or not work?

One option is to take some money out and move the rest to a new savings account (and in the next step there is an option to open an RS4 and specify an amount to be used to open the account).

Or there is an option to take out all your money and open a new RS (RS4 being one of the available options).

@mattojgb, I spent most of last weekend discussing the same question on this thread. I'm still not sure if there is a definitive answer.

Calling the options, option 2 and 4;  I think I have in the past chosen option 2 both times and have been refused both times.

I thought that choosing option 4 would be the answer but some who have chosen option 2 have been successful.

Another variable is where you choose for the rest of the money to go. I've always chosen a Principality account then I transfer out myself. (Helps me keep track of the interest more easily) I think most people go for transfer to nominated account.

The other theory we are actively working on is to apply on a Saturday, wearing a green shirt (the green shirt may or may not have some relevance!)

What does seem to be universal is; if your choice triggers a message to them, then manual intervention results and you are likely to be refused.

If you make your choice, then check your sent messages and nothing has gone off to them, then you are in a so far, so good situation.

My plan is to choose option 4, and transfer money out to nominated account. I'll do this on Saturday but I'll probably be wearing blue!

It's a Sunday and green shirt. You see this is what people get wrong! 

I've edited my post as this is surely the secret missing variable and I do not wish to misinform!

Fwiw I chose option 4. Got a letter in post yesterday confirming and giving new account number which was signed but not hand signed. Will do exactly the same for my wife Sunday afternoon and we'll see. I'm unlikely to be wearing a green shirt so we may be able to rule out that variable at that point! 

Principality:

We chose option 2 and the confirmation letters arrived today. I now understand that by using option 2, the new RS4s keep the old a/c numbers (wish I knew that before deleting them as payees!).

Consequently, the confirmation letters just refer to the existing a/c numbers. They don't confirm £200 will be left in new RS4s and only say that they have actioned our requests and the funds will be transferred to our nominated accounts on the maturity date.

35har1old

Bridlington1 said:

jifmoose said:

Dumb question that doesn't deserve it's own thread: are monthly limits on Regular Savers generally calendar months, or are do they apply from the monthly anniversary of when the account was opened? For example, if I opened an RS on the 18th of August and payed in in August, can I now pay in for September - or do I have to wait until after the 18th?

The majority of the time they operate on a calendar month basis but there are some notable exceptions, e.g. First Direct, Zopa, Santander etc.

The listings on page 1 of this thread state whether the account runs on a calendar month or account monthly basis.

Santander terms may say that but my first payment was on the 28th and the second on the 11th but it was excepted 

Speculator

35har1old said:

Bridlington1 said:

jifmoose said:

Dumb question that doesn't deserve it's own thread: are monthly limits on Regular Savers generally calendar months, or are do they apply from the monthly anniversary of when the account was opened? For example, if I opened an RS on the 18th of August and payed in in August, can I now pay in for September - or do I have to wait until after the 18th?

The majority of the time they operate on a calendar month basis but there are some notable exceptions, e.g. First Direct, Zopa, Santander etc.

The listings on page 1 of this thread state whether the account runs on a calendar month or account monthly basis.

Santander terms may say that but my first payment was on the 28th and the second on the 11th but it was excepted 

I wrote about this last month....

"I opened a Santander Monthly saver on 14/8/24 and made my first deposit on 19/8/24.

Then I paid in another £200 in error on the 2/9/24. The £200 was not automatically returned as an overpayment.

I then paid £200 by S/o on the first working day of each month until I reached £2400 on 1/7/25. Yesterday I received £68.48 in interest as expected."

fuzzzzy

Bridlington1 said:

chris_the_bee said:

Bridlington1 said:

jifmoose said:

Dumb question that doesn't deserve it's own thread: are monthly limits on Regular Savers generally calendar months, or are do they apply from the monthly anniversary of when the account was opened? For example, if I opened an RS on the 18th of August and payed in in August, can I now pay in for September - or do I have to wait until after the 18th?

The majority of the time they operate on a calendar month basis but there are some notable exceptions, e.g. First Direct, Zopa, Santander etc.

The listings on page 1 of this thread state whether the account runs on a calendar month or account monthly basis.

And Coventry

Though it depends on the account in question, many of Coventry's accounts run on an account month basis, others, e.g. the FHS, do not. 

As ever always check the Ts&Cs of the account in question.

Yes my Coventry loyalty seasonal saver is annoyingly on an account month basis. I should pay in on the 2nd of the month but I have lost count of the number of times I have paid it in on 1st of the month along with all my other regular savers and had it bounced back.

Born2Save_3

gt94sss2 said:

Born2Save_3 said:

Of the new accounts available only the Loyalty Mortgage Saver (2) is appealing at 4.8%.  Does anyone know if the Coventry are sticklers over actually having a mortgage or is entering genuine details of a mortgage necessary ? 

If Coventry's records don't show you have a mortgage, they won't let you open an account.

Thanks.  Better to know in advance than having a wasted application.

kermchem

Bridlington1 said:

The listings on page 1 of this thread state whether the account runs on a calendar month or account monthly basis.

Note that the T&C's for the Principality 6 month RS Bond say "To make sure we receive the standing order payments by the end of each month you should ensure they leave your bank or building society account by the 20th of the month".

And the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver has "You can save £25 to £400 every month by one standing order or a bank transfer. This needs to reach your account before the 25th of the month".

My experience is that neither of these is true, irrespective of whether there are 28, 30 or 31 days in the month, for both accounts late afternoon on the last working day of the month works as a deadline, and perhaps even weekends.

Born2Save_3

roked said:

Born2Save_3 said:

Manual Transfers using Nationwide Current Account

One of the greatest pains on the 1st of the month is selecting the correct predefined payee from a list and being certain it is the correct one.  As Nationwide do not allow duplicates of "Own Description", in my list of the order of payments and the amount, I have recorded the text string for "Own Description" for the payee.  On the Nationwide website when it comes to selecting payee I used the browser find function and copy pasted "Own Description".  It worked very well, almost too well, yet being first time I still checked it hadn't got the wrong payee.  This really speeded up the process and took away manual search for payee which I really dislike.

After 2 hours of being logged in Nationwide will force you off.  Also they seem to randomly require extra verification for some existing payees.  Further I've noticed that after doing over around 40 manual transfers they may not let faster payments go through immediately and they won't let you see the status of recent faster payments.

I prefer to do manual payments as it gives me more flexibility and certainty.

I have wondered if there was a current account and website that would allow complete transfers to be stored and edited as need be.  So when it comes to doing transfers you can select and go.  I guess this may be similar to the way transfers for payroll are done.

I've talked to Nationwide about making changes to their website and adding functionality but there was no interest or prospect.  I guess most retail customers don't do 50+ transfers on one day every month.

Use the app. I had the same frustrations as you and they updated the app 3 months or so ago and its a lot easier. It has its own inbuilt search option for payee, using description as you said, it filters it then in a couple of chars and only shows the ones relevant with the full details of the bank details visible.

Alternatively, all the info is in list of payees too without having to click each one like you do on the website. I also like that it has the last 5 paid at the top, so you can easily see for when you have that inevitable 'did I do that one' moment 

Extra verification is also quick as it just prompts you for 3 of your passnumbers (rather than the calculator online) or you can set up biometrics if you prefer. It does still occasionally prompt for the calculator, mainly for new payees.

I cant comment on the fast payments one, I am only doing 30 odd a month currently, so not seen if that is an issue with the app.

I now fly though these payments on the 1st (compared to before), simply going down my spreadsheet and doing a few clicks on the app each time. 

Thanks.  All good to know.  I will try out the app,  Having to unexpectedly do the calculator shuffle is a real PITA; really affects my transfer flow...

Nationwide seem to have been suspicious of my actions for a day after too, as transfers on the 2nd also resulted in the blue border "Your payment is in progress".  Well they are better than others that just block everything and make you jump through multiple hoops over the telephone. I shudder at how responsive others may be at 3am on the 1st.

Bobblehat

So am I right in thinking that looking at the messages above, we should ignore the T&C's and play roulette with the deposits?

A line from the Dirty Harry movie comes to mind .... guess which one :-)

Born2Save_3

Bobblehat said:

chris_the_bee said:

Bridlington1 said:

jifmoose said:

Dumb question that doesn't deserve it's own thread: are monthly limits on Regular Savers generally calendar months, or are do they apply from the monthly anniversary of when the account was opened? For example, if I opened an RS on the 18th of August and payed in in August, can I now pay in for September - or do I have to wait until after the 18th?

The majority of the time they operate on a calendar month basis but there are some notable exceptions, e.g. First Direct, Zopa, Santander etc.

The listings on page 1 of this thread state whether the account runs on a calendar month or account monthly basis.

And Coventry

Isn't it a mixed bag with Coventry, some calendar monthly, some account monthly?

Santander is account monthly.

Bridlington1's page 1 is your friend here!

Edit: Bridlington1 beat me to it!

Has anyone had any negative feedback or actions from putting all in with Santander on the 1st ?

clairec666

Bobblehat said:

So am I right in thinking that looking at the messages above, we should ignore the T&C's and play roulette with the deposits?

A line from the Dirty Harry movie comes to mind .... guess which one :-)

Some accounts have T&Cs which they don't bother enforcing. I've been playing roulette with my Natwest deposits for the last couple of months. They specifically say that you can't pay in more than £150 per month, and if you repeatedly pay in more they will close your account. I've been taking money out to fund other regular savers and putting a lump sum back in on payday. It seems that Natwest don't even notice this, as long as your balance doesn't increase by more than £150 each month.