The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

friolento

allegro120 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

HSBC
I couldn't withdraw in the app, went online and withdrawal worked fine.

Ooh yes, this worked! Thank you 👍

Stargunner

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 

PloughmansLunch

allegro120 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

HSBC
I couldn't withdraw in the app, went online and withdrawal worked fine.

I thought I'd have to wait until tomorrow to withdraw but this worked like a charm, thanks

Kim_13

Hattie627 said:

OrangeBlueGreen said:

Hattie627 said:

I've been doing RS's since 2016 and currently have 51. So I kind of understand how it works. Not sure though I want to go as low as £50 a month, even for 8%. YVMV

And there was me thinking I had too many at ....6!  :-)

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 that case such an account would likely be more popular if it was a 12 month rather than a 6 month version, and could be used to push interest into the next tax year and be accounted for in that year’s PSA. For those on PAYE who prefer to switch to an ISA as soon as the £500 is accounted for, the extra effort is minimal unless the provider make requests for ID and the customer can’t seamlessly upload a photo ID, either because they don’t have one or the provider want certified copies etc. From experiences recounted in the thread, Saffron and Principality have been less hassle for £50 savers than YBS.

I suspect the inspiration for £50 Regular Savers came from Help to Save, though.

Bobblehat

Hattie627 said:

WillPS 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.

There is nowhere else you could have earned more on those £50s. You're in the wrong game if you want to see single chunky maturity payouts, even on the more generous accounts - it's all about the amount of interest you earn in total and the effective interest rate that represents.

Anything that moves the needle on that blended interest rate upwards, however slight, is a job well done.

I've been doing RS's since 2016 and currently have 51. So I kind of understand how it works. Not sure though I want to go as low as £50 a month, even for 8%. YVMV

Premier League 

crumpet_man

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.  

jifmoose

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!

ashteadgirl

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

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.