Savings account advice for a Newbie

ObsidianBlackbirdMcKnight

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the information and members' expertise! I'd really appreciate some advice on a savings question I'm grappling with. We have a pot of £45,000 that that we've borrowed to do some work on our house. At the moment it's in an HSBC Bonus Saver account, linked to my current account, which pays decent interest if we don't make any withdrawals. However once the work starts we're likely to need to make regular, unpredictable withdrawals, so I think we need to move it to an instant access savings account, but would obviously still like to get the highest interest rate possible. I'm not averse to moving my current account in order to open a linked savings account, and would want to continue adding to the pot anyway on a monthly basis. I've looked at various options, from app based banks like Monzo to building society savers, and I'm not closer to making a decision! I don't have the time or energy to keep switching or track interest rates, so would like a fairly simple, low risk solution, which I recognise might not lead to the highest possible interest rates. I also have two kids, who I would like to open linked accounts for, if that's relevant. If you were in my situation, what would you do? Let me know if you need any more info to help give me the best advice. Thanks 🙏🏻

Mark_d

I don't have a separate account for easy access savings.  In my opinion is much easier to manage if the whole amount sits in my Kroo current account where I get 3.65% interest.

Middle_of_the_Road

Opening a Chase current account would be your best option. New customers get a boosted savings rate of 5% for six months.
https://www.chase.co.uk/gb/en/saver-boosted/
Really easy to open these accounts, and they don't do a hard credit search.
Instant transfers from savings to current account using their app.

Edit:
No need to move your HSBC account, just open one with Chase. Always advisable to have a second current account for when systems go down like the recent Barclays problems.

jimjames

ObsidianBlackbirdMcKnight said:

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the information and members' expertise! I'd really appreciate some advice on a savings question I'm grappling with. We have a pot of £45,000 that that we've borrowed to do some work on our house. At the moment it's in an HSBC Bonus Saver account, linked to my current account, which pays decent interest if we don't make any withdrawals. 

I use a Tandem savings account that pays 4.4% at the moment. Very easy and instant to move money back to my current account as and when needed. If you don't have an ISA at the moment then £20k could go into that short term as well.

ObsidianBlackbirdMcKnight

Thanks for all the advice - much appreciated! Would there be any advantage in splitting the money between an ISA and the Chase Instant Access Saver, if we think we'll have spent most of it within 6 months to a year? 

Middle_of_the_Road

Depending on your income and and any other savings, it could save you a couple of hundred pounds in tax. For simplicity, you might prefer the convenience of the Chase accounts.