The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

surreysaver

ForumUser7 said:

7sefton said:

SH88SH88 said:

Good news ... a new RS ! ... bad news, restrictions galore and a lowish rate.

Saffron BS have a new Braintree branch, to celebrate they've launched the Braintree RS. Branch only for opening (specifically the Braintree branch) .. 36 months (unusual), account can be managed by phone/webchat/post/branch ... max £250 per month,  rate 4% . 

How did you find about this launching so quickly, apparently it only opened this morning?

Can’t speak for OP, but Saffron emailed me

Me too ...

TheWoodler

And out trot the usual sniffy comments about branch access only and the rate - the ‘joke’ about residents being well-heeled, ie they’ll have filled all the RS at a better rate before touching this one, was in rather poor taste IMHO. 

Braintree is a nice little market town, but like many of its ilk, has suffered the loss of in-person banking and has pockets of deprivation. Sure, perhaps local residents would like a better rate, but I’d rather say good on Saffron for investing in their community and a community asset, which will also bring more footfall to that asset.

Branch-only restrictions are first-world problems for those of us on here and I was rather shocked at recent noise around trying to get into some recent branch-only offerings by other means. Not great, and the ‘number of RS’ thread also ended up looking rather boastful. I play the RS game too, to my profit, and I’m very grateful to some of the really good and knowledgeable members on here, but I also sometimes wish *some* posters realised how some of this comes across. 

happybagger

It is quite funny how they trumpet this RS as a celebratory product though, surely you have to concede that?
Whether local or not, branch visitor or not, their products have become pretty naff over the last year or so.

surreysaver

TheWoodler said:

And out trot the usual sniffy comments about branch access only and the rate - the ‘joke’ about residents being well-heeled, ie they’ll have filled all the RS at a better rate before touching this one, was in rather poor taste IMHO. 

Braintree is a nice little market town, but like many of its ilk, has suffered the loss of in-person banking and has pockets of deprivation. Sure, perhaps local residents would like a better rate, but I’d rather say good on Saffron for investing in their community and a community asset, which will also bring more footfall to that asset.

Branch-only restrictions are first-world problems for those of us on here and I was rather shocked at recent noise around trying to get into some recent branch-only offerings by other means. Not great, and the ‘number of RS’ thread also ended up looking rather boastful. I play the RS game too, to my profit, and I’m very grateful to some of the really good and knowledgeable members on here, but I also sometimes wish *some* posters realised how some of this comes across. 

Trouble is, if it's a 'branch only' account, and it can be opened by other means, it's not really a branch only account.

alfred64

Regular savers are not known for being the most ethical. They abide by the 'greed is good' philosophy.

Sepulveda

Funding Santander Monthly Saver by electronic transfer from an external account, rather than SO from a Santander current account - does anyone know if its possible to do that? 

I know that setting up a SO from a Santander current account is in the T&Cs, but is it enforced? For example the TSB regular saver lets you fund from external accounts so I've been doing that for the past year (despite it saying in the T&Cs that a SO from TSB current acc is required). Does Santander allow that too or do they enforce the rules?

Just thought I'd check. My Santander current account currently has £1 in it!

Section62

TheWoodler said:

And out trot the usual sniffy comments about branch access only and the rate - the ‘joke’ about residents being well-heeled, ie they’ll have filled all the RS at a better rate before touching this one, was in rather poor taste IMHO. 

Braintree is a nice little market town, but like many of its ilk, has suffered the loss of in-person banking and has pockets of deprivation. Sure, perhaps local residents would like a better rate, but I’d rather say good on Saffron for investing in their community and a community asset, which will also bring more footfall to that asset.

Branch-only restrictions are first-world problems for those of us on here and I was rather shocked at recent noise around trying to get into some recent branch-only offerings by other means. Not great, and the ‘number of RS’ thread also ended up looking rather boastful. I play the RS game too, to my profit, and I’m very grateful to some of the really good and knowledgeable members on here, but I also sometimes wish *some* posters realised how some of this comes across. 

I regard myself as a relative local to this new branch, and will certainly be using it from time to time.

But I don't think the 'well-heeled' comment was intended as a joke.  More a statement of fact.  4% wouldn't be impressive as an instant-access account.  And whilst 4% could look quite good towards the end of the three-year term (vs instant access rates) this new account is variable rate, so may well track down as other Saffron products have previously done.

Finding Saffron's latest offering poor doesn't equate to not supporting Saffron in their efforts to expand their branch network.  We can say 'good on Saffron' for investing in this community, whilst being unimpressed with their marketing suggesting this product is 'special' and somehow doing members a favour.

clairec666

TheWoodler said:

And out trot the usual sniffy comments about branch access only and the rate - the ‘joke’ about residents being well-heeled, ie they’ll have filled all the RS at a better rate before touching this one, was in rather poor taste IMHO. 

Braintree is a nice little market town, but like many of its ilk, has suffered the loss of in-person banking and has pockets of deprivation. Sure, perhaps local residents would like a better rate, but I’d rather say good on Saffron for investing in their community and a community asset, which will also bring more footfall to that asset.

Branch-only restrictions are first-world problems for those of us on here and I was rather shocked at recent noise around trying to get into some recent branch-only offerings by other means. Not great, and the ‘number of RS’ thread also ended up looking rather boastful. I play the RS game too, to my profit, and I’m very grateful to some of the really good and knowledgeable members on here, but I also sometimes wish *some* posters realised how some of this comes across. 

I tend to agree - if there's a new account that doesn't interest me, I don't see the point in making judgemental comments about it, I'll just say "nah, not for me" and move on.

And I'm not a big fan of trying to find ways around opening branch-only accounts, and I find it a bit disrespectful towards the staff of these smaller building societies who are having to respond to people's requests. I would rather have an account that pays 0.25% less.

It's a bit of a strange offering from Saffron though, and unlikely to create much more footfall, whereas a 6% rate or higher might have enticed people into the branch.

s71hj

Well.. A massive vote of thanks is in order to the collective knowledge of this forum that led me to print 2 generic application forms and post them to the Stone branch for the Hanley branch regular saver. Accounts now show in both mine and my wife's Hanley apps. 

flaneurs_lobster

Section62 said:

Finding Saffron's latest offering poor doesn't equate to not supporting Saffron in their efforts to expand their branch network.  We can say 'good on Saffron' for investing in this community, whilst being unimpressed with their marketing suggesting this product is 'special' and somehow doing members a favour.

Would it not be more supportive of its local community to offer 6-7% as a branch-only product? Perhaps limiting it further by insisting on a CM6 postcode? 

There's a branch of the Nationwide 300m from the Saffron BS branch, their RS pays 6.5%.