The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

clairec666

francoghezzi said:

clairec666 said:

Timing has to be considered alongside interest rate, because you want to have your money earning a high rate for the maximum possible amount of time, and minimise the time it spends sitting in a lower rate easy access account.

For myself, I only have regular savers at 6%+ and quite often I'm not able to fully fund them. So the downside of Principality only lasting 6 months has less of an effect on me than it might on others; when it matures, I'll be able to pump it straight back into other high playing accounts.

Even if you have to stick the matured Principality funds in EA for a while, I still maintain that Principality is the better option to the tune of about £5. We may have done our number-crunching in slightly different ways though.

You got my point. There is a downside with a clear effect on those not funding a lot of Regular Savers. That was what I wanted to highlight after weeks, if not months, of posts that glorified the product that is not, by far, the best on the market and not even between the 10 best by any means unless you are lucky enough to have a good number of Rs already open and well funded. And this, I think, changes a bit the matter

I got your point from the start, just disagreed with your some of your numbers. A lot comes down to personal circumstances, funding levels, etc.

And you make a good point about fixed rates and whether the same rates will be available in 6 months time. I guess that's down to each individual to make their own judgement call, as they would when choosing how long to fix an ISA for. Principality have offered a good rate on the 6 month regular saver for quite a while now. Fair chance it will have dropped to 7% or similar by the time it comes up for renewal. Or they might pull it altogether. There are some providers out there whose regular savers are consistently on offer without much rate variation (Nationwide and Co-op come to mind), others that come and go and you have to grab them while you've got the chance. All things to weigh up when choosing accounts.

jameseonline

francoghezzi said:

SORRY, BUT ...
Hundreds of posts on Principality and then you do the math. 26 pounds interests in 6 months, that means 52 in a year opening again the same account. If I deposit the same amount of money in a Lloyds 6.25% (£400 every month for the first 3 months equal 1200) I got 70 pounds in interests at the end of the same year (£20 more than Principality) keeping 'invested' the same amount of money. So, what ? I will go for a 12 months Rs all my life, not to mention higher Rs paying more than Lloyds ...
Where and how am I wrong?

Simply put people will already have Club Lloyds etc therefore people need other accounts to gain max interest.

Principality let people have several of the same account through maturity options only.

Section62

francoghezzi said:

Section62 said:

francoghezzi said:

Eco_Miser said:

francoghezzi said:

But you're NOT investing the same amount of money for the same time. Two consecutive  6 month accounts use only half the money*time a 12 month account does. So you can put the extra in an easy access account, or spread it over multiple RSs

....

So it really depends on what actual rates are available.

Everything interesting, but where it is written that after the first 6 months you'll still have a Principality Rs paying 7.5%?

For that matter, where is it written that Lloyds won't close your Club Lloyds RS after 6 months, or sooner?

None of us know for sure what might or might not happen. We can only make decisions based on what we know now, aided by gut feel on which option might work out best.

I'd rather open a Principality RS @ 7.5% and 'bank' it while it is available, than miss out and regret it. Other people's circumstances will vary though.

Club Lloyds Rs has a fixed interest rate for 12 months. The Rs could be pulled, but those having it will have the same interest rate guaranteed for the whole of the year till maturity. It is the only fixed (at those levels) with Zopa and Fd, with the Zopa one already pulled (it is now a variabile 7.1%) and Fd that pays the rate only to those who don't take the money out before the end (plus a minimum deposit of £25 monthly while Lloyds is totally free)

You missed the point.  Lloyds could decide they don't want you as a customer any more and give notice to close your account(s).  There's no 'guarantee' you will get a whole year's benefit from the account.

This is probably somewhat less likely than there being no 7.5% Principality RS in 6-months time, but if we are playing a game of 'what if?' then it remains a possibility to consider.  Meanwhile, "we can only make decisions based on what we know now"....

Confused_Dog

It is notable that with the exception of Nationwide, the providers offering the rates above 6% are the smaller providers like Darlington, Principality and Monmouthshire.   That says something. 

It is also worth remembering that there are several types of customers, those who just want one account to save up for a house deposit or a big purchase like a car, those who are happy with a fixed term account so they can use the money for the annual holiday or pay for Christmas, and those of us opening multiple accounts to try and maximise returns and not have all their eggs in one basket.

Those who need a "vanilla" regular savings account for medium/long-term savings,  I don't think are catered for very well by the current regular saver market.  My first regular saver was a "Bonus Saver" account from Nationwide in 1999, which was top in the best buy tables in the newspapers at the time and although there were rules about missing deposits in an account year or the number of withdrawals you could make to ensure your bonus it was open ended; no "after 12 months it will convert to an easy access account" clause". Interest rate in 1999 was around 6% including the bonus, much better than instant access at the time.

It helped me save up enough as a lump sum for the deposit to rent my first flat and for a washing machine and computer.

If one of  the providers offered an account like that now, they might be onto a winner, especially with those starting out in working life.

jameseonline

Even if Principality decide to close the maturity loophole, which they may or may not do, I've still got a Monmouthshire at 7% I can fund at £1000 a month. (No restrictions on taking money out)

I don't have access to the Zopa one, I don't want to tie myself to First Direct (upto £300 per month, no easy access to funds, poor interest rate if I close early)

All about personal circumstances at the end of the day, so what do you have access to?, how much spare money have you got to fund regular savings each month?, etc etc.

Club Lloyds is a decent current account to have, free Disney Plus & access to Club Lloyds Regular ( you can also have the standard Regular if you want/need) , you can also take out money out with no restrictions.

Sadly for me the Club Lloyds isn't worth it for me as a main regular saver anymore due to Monmouthshire, Virgin, Nationwide etc, so I can only really use it as an overflow going forward.

I've gradually taken money out of Club Lloyds to fund better rates, I expect it will be pretty much empty within the next month or so.

I don't have ID for example, I live in Wales, again personal circumstances.

I have access to most banks, building societies etc though & have put the time in to get the initial current account, keep at least 1 account to build up loyalty etc.

trickydicky14

I will be sooo glad when a new topic comes along. I'm going to lay down in a dark room until it goes away.

poolboy

Principality Xmas maturity options received, yesterday in post and today on app (14 days to maturity).  Option 4 rollover into new rsa taken, I d be mad to refuse.  

Bridlington1

trickydicky14 said:

I will be sooo glad when a new topic comes along. I'm going to lay down in a dark room until it goes away.

I would imagine Scottish BS'll come to your rescue at some point then, when I spoke to them they said they were hoping to launch their online RS either this week or next week.

jameseonline

I wonder when Principality will launch issue 5 of their 6 month?😏🤔

trickydicky14

Bridlington1 said:

trickydicky14 said:

I will be sooo glad when a new topic comes along. I'm going to lay down in a dark room until it goes away.

I would imagine Scottish BS'll come to your rescue at some point then, when I spoke to them they said they were hoping to launch their online RS either this week or next week.

Thanks Bridlington but I've applied for the postal version so I can't now get excited about the upcoming online one as I can only have the one, unless you know different you old boundary pusher.