The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

crumpet_man

ashteadgirl said:

crumpet_man said:

Another big thank you to Bridlington1 for the tip on Monmouthshire branch saver postal applications, I sent one on Friday 5th September and it has been opened today and is in my app.  

Crumpet man  did you send first class or with MBS prepaid envelope???? Sent mine before then and still not heard anything

Second class stamp.  I think I have been lucky and maybe mine was at the top of the pile yesterday or this morning.

Kim_13

jifmoose said:

Hattie627 said:

I do wonder how low the monthly payment and how high the interest rate could reach before people lose interest (pun intended). The next marketing wheeze might be a 10% interest with a £25 monthly limit. Yes, you won't get a better rate for those chunks of £25 while it lasts, but when does the effort of opening, managing, closing and keeping records for tax purposes outweigh the benefit? Particularly when you're paying tax at 40%. 

In my case I'm probably at the extreme end of this spectrum: I'm much more "interested" in getting a volume of cash socked away than I am in optimizing the interest rate. This makes the MonBS the real winners for me: I was much more pleased that would allow saving an extra £1,500 a month at a decent rate than the exact rate itself: 7% is nice, but I would be happy if the rate was 6% or even 5.5%.

This is because (if you'll excuse me while I get out my violin, the world's smallest) is that I have more coming in at the moment than I can otherwise save. ISA maxed out, mortgage payed down, pension healthy and retirement a long time off. I've blown my PSA for both this year and next (thanks to MonBS maturing next summer), so minor differences in rate are less than they appear, as 40% of that will eventually go to HMRC.

For me the consequential questions are actually: do I (i) focus on tax efficiency, as that 40% blows all these differences out the water, e.g. using Premium Bonds (chancy, lackluster) or more exotic approaches e.g. gilts (complex, investment of time) or (ii) expose myself to more risk from the stock market, as really that's where the gains are.

Small differences in yield are a distraction from these questions which, if I'm putting in any effort at all, are the ones I really should be thinking about. No criticism implied: as I enjoy thinking about and planning the RSs as much as the next person, it's fun, and I totally get why it would be a good use of time for other folks.

So low effort, OK yield that takes care of some of this "problem" is fine by me: in many ways, this makes the rolling Natwest RS (which even though 5.5% never matures, now I've fed it just sits and pays me ~£20 each month with no effort) perfect for me. Rather than a £25/10%, I wish there were more like that!

Do you have the Melton Building Society Issue 5? £5,999.99 at 5% that never matures, also Stafford Building Society that will take £1,000 per month at 4.4%? They periodically allow up to an extra £12,000 to be paid in on top and recently sent me such an offer as an existing customer.

jifmoose

Oh wow, no I don't and that's a great tip - thanks @Kim_13! I'll look into those for sure

allegro120

exel1966 said:

BestSeagull said:

friolento said:

Stargunner said:

poshrule_uk said:

My HSBC regular saver finishes today. Will it be quicker to get my funds if I message them today to close my account?

My HSBC RS matured today Checking in the app this morning it has become a PREF REG SAVER paying 1.3% interest. The £115 interest had been added and I transferred all the funds to my HSBC Advance account and then withdrew them.
I will use the online chat later today to close the account. 

Mine has also turned into a PREF REG SAVER but I am unable to transfer anything out of this account

Transfer to your current account and then out from there? I actually found I had to set up a new payee from the current account, I'm sure I must have transferred out in the past so perhaps it's a security measure.

Ditto, for some reason my 2 payees had disappeared and I had to set up a new one. Holding off now for another 7%er during savings week hopefully.

I've noticed HSBC automatically delete payees if they haven't been used for a long period of time.  The same happens with Nationwide and may be some other banks.

allegro120

Stargunner said:

exel1966 said:

BestSeagull said:

friolento said:

Stargunner said:

poshrule_uk said:

My HSBC regular saver finishes today. Will it be quicker to get my funds if I message them today to close my account?

My HSBC RS matured today Checking in the app this morning it has become a PREF REG SAVER paying 1.3% interest. The £115 interest had been added and I transferred all the funds to my HSBC Advance account and then withdrew them.
I will use the online chat later today to close the account. 

Mine has also turned into a PREF REG SAVER but I am unable to transfer anything out of this account

Transfer to your current account and then out from there? I actually found I had to set up a new payee from the current account, I'm sure I must have transferred out in the past so perhaps it's a security measure.

Ditto, for some reason my 2 payees had disappeared and I had to set up a new one. Holding off now for another 7%er during savings week hopefully.

I transferred to my current account and my payee was still there, so I transferred it out..
I have been on online chat and closed the Pref Reg Saver.
Will wait now and see if they launch anything during savings week, as the current 5% RS is not very appealing 

Precisely.  If they launch RS at higher rate you will have to close the existing 5% in order to be eligible for opening it and the existing sum will earn a very low rate.  I'm not going for 5% RS, not a good time to do it.  I'll wait until the end of "savings week" and look at it again if they don't come up with a better rate, it's unlikely that they will reduce the rate for this product in near future.

pecunianonolet

Hattie627 said:

Yorkshire BS £50 Regular Saver

Opened on the first day of issue last year (10/09/24). Interest of £27.06 now credited (0200 hours, 9th September 2025). Account closed at £627.06 and funds moved out (due in current account on 10th).

Although the rate of 8% was impressive, the return is less than exciting after a year's saving. Still, every penny counts.

I had £27.16 credited but can't see a way of moving the entire balance out. It does say product will mature in 1 day in the app. Do I need to wait until tomorrow?

schiff

clairec666 said:

Hattie627 said:

Yorkshire BS £50 Regular Saver

Opened on the first day of issue last year (10/09/24). Interest of £27.06 now credited (0200 hours, 9th September 2025). Account closed at £627.06 and funds moved out (due in current account on 10th).

Although the rate of 8% was impressive, the return is less than exciting after a year's saving. Still, every penny counts.

Just think of it this way - each £50 deposit was earning a better rate than it could elsewhere.
 
Everyone's got their own criteria for whether a regular saver account is "worth it" compared to the admin involved. If I wasn't already a YBS customer I'd probably forego another 8% offering (if they offer it!) and sacrifice 1/8 of the interest to put it into Monmouthshire instead (which I'm unlikely to be able to fully fund each month). As I'm not a new YBS customer, admin will be minimal so I'll probably snap up anything they offer if it's over 7%.

I'm not a new  customer either having three or more open and working accounts for several years but every time I apply for a new account I'm overwhelmed with ID verifications. Every time. So much so that I've abandoned applications, unfortunately including that 8% RS. Even written a complaint letter to the CEO. And my mother was born in Sheffield lol

CuparLad

pecunianonolet said:

Hattie627 said:

Yorkshire BS £50 Regular Saver

Opened on the first day of issue last year (10/09/24). Interest of £27.06 now credited (0200 hours, 9th September 2025). Account closed at £627.06 and funds moved out (due in current account on 10th).

Although the rate of 8% was impressive, the return is less than exciting after a year's saving. Still, every penny counts.

I had £27.16 credited but can't see a way of moving the entire balance out. It does say product will mature in 1 day in the app. Do I need to wait until tomorrow?

No you don't. Go online (not the app) and close the account. You'll get the full balance in the linked account tomorrow.

pecunianonolet

CuparLad said:

pecunianonolet said:

Hattie627 said:

Yorkshire BS £50 Regular Saver

Opened on the first day of issue last year (10/09/24). Interest of £27.06 now credited (0200 hours, 9th September 2025). Account closed at £627.06 and funds moved out (due in current account on 10th).

Although the rate of 8% was impressive, the return is less than exciting after a year's saving. Still, every penny counts.

I had £27.16 credited but can't see a way of moving the entire balance out. It does say product will mature in 1 day in the app. Do I need to wait until tomorrow?

No you don't. Go online (not the app) and close the account. You'll get the full balance in the linked account tomorrow.

Thanks, that worked and could close the regular saver now. I am so used of doing things in apps that I keep forgetting that more functions are available in the online banking portal. 

schiff

Nobody has mentioned the weird new HSBC app. I'm reserving judgement but I hate it so far. I've withdrawn the full proceeds of the RS having initially left £250 in for the new one. But seeing the 5.00% rate for the next one I've withdrawn that too. I'll take my chances in Savers' Week.

Regarding First Direct. Though nothing at all is showing for the matured RS (today) I've successfully opened the new one at 7.00% Fixed.