Being nosey... How many Regular Saver accounts do you have?

clairec666

francoghezzi said:

SH88SH88 said:

Has anyone who does the payments manually ever had problems with payments being blocked by the Fraud dept ? ... some of the banks/BS's Fraud teams/algorithms seem overly keen so I would've thought many manual payments in a short timeframe would attract attention.

Stay far, far away from Co op. I had my payments blocked 3 times in 2 months and without a single phone call or message from them. The money sent to Skipton just disappeared from my account and the first time I spent an entire night wondering if I had sent my payment to someone else only to find out the day after that had been blocked. Never ever again with these people. I had to wait 40 minutes to talk to someone and spent almost an hour to repeat again and again that no one was asking me to move my own money. They need a therapist, a good one.

Another vote for avoiding Coop.

Never had any problems with Natwest or Nationwide, although Natwest are a bit of a pain because you can't set up multiple saved payees with the same account number but different reference number. So not very useful for sending money to the likes of Skipton and Principality.

Kim_13

I haven't had any blocked yet, but I do try to minimise current account to current account moves as far as possible. Skipton Member Bonus Saver pays into two separate current accounts, where it usually needs to stay or is sent to a RS via that account.

I hope I don't get blocked when MHBS matures, as I nominated Halifax since I didn't have a crystal ball to realise the Rewards would have stopped and the account downgraded as a result. Anyone know if the nominated account can be changed without too much hassle?

Bobblehat

DRS1 said:

Bobblehat said:

DRS1 said:

As someone who recently had to ask Google how to subtract cell B from cell A in a spreadsheet can I say "hats off" to @clairec666.

In answer to a question in one of her other posts I fund all my RSs by standing order.  Which makes it easy to forget that I have some.  I just had to look at my Nationwide accounts for a maturing bond and found I had a Flexclusive Saver (paying 1.35% - so my 2.45% RS isn't my worst!).  I took the opportunity to open another Nationwide RS paying a somewhat higher rate. but I did not close the old one just reduced the monthly input.

So I now have 5 RSs monthly contribution £1700.  Lowest interest rate down from 2.45% to 1.35%  Maybe I should move that to a 95 day notice account? 

Out of interest(!), which 5 Regular Savers do you have? It would be good to know the exact name of the Bank/BS and account name of each as I'm a little confused by the interest figures you are quoting. The figures in the region of 1.35% to 2.45% sound more like matured accounts that have been converted to some sort of Easy Access accounts!

Regular Saver enthusiasts on here are more used to figures like 7%, 6% and getting down to the lower end, 5%? 

Well as I say the old Nationwide account calls itself a Flexclusive Saver though I used to have it noted as a Flex Regular Saver.  It has probably been going for 4 years or so and don't ask me for a history of interest rates but it must date from the era of low rates.

I now have the Nationwide Flex Regular Saver paying 6.5%

The other new one is the Manchester Regular Saver at 5.5%

Of the old ones the one with a moderately respectable interest rate (5%) is at Santander and survives because it auto renews every year.

The 2.45% one is at YBS (sorry @Kim_13).  It is called Access Saver Plus and again dates back years.  This one probably has changed because all the accounts with that name at YBS seem to be easy access accounts (but don't ask me what it was called before). Anyway it is still getting a standing order each month.  In my defence all I can say is that the money would earn less interest if it just stayed in the current account.  But I should really start redirecting some of those old standing orders.

I think the Flexclusive Saver is just as I suspected ... it looks like it was a Regular Saver that has matured and is no longer a RS. This doesn't stop you adding money in monthly, like a RS, but at the interest rate you quoted, there are far better true RS's available to put any spare money in monthly!

Likewise, the Yorkshire Access Saver Plus, looks like just a savings account, not a Regular Saver. As with the Flexclusive Saver, it doesn't stop you treating it like a RS by adding money monthly, but like I mentioned above, there are many true RS accounts that pay far more than either of these two, as you have discovered with the 3 true RS's you already hold, Nationwide Flex RS, Manchester RS & Santander RS.

Have a look here for other opportunities that could replace those two if you wanted to ....

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts/

and here on Bridlington1's main Regular Saver thread page 1...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6576962/the-top-regular-savers-discussion-thread/p1

SH88SH88

francoghezzi said:

SH88SH88 said:

Has anyone who does the payments manually ever had problems with payments being blocked by the Fraud dept ? ... some of the banks/BS's Fraud teams/algorithms seem overly keen so I would've thought many manual payments in a short timeframe would attract attention.

Stay far, far away from Co op. I had my payments blocked 3 times in 2 months and without a single phone call or message from them. The money sent to Skipton just disappeared from my account and the first time I spent an entire night wondering if I had sent my payment to someone else only to find out the day after that had been blocked. Never ever again with these people. I had to wait 40 minutes to talk to someone and spent almost an hour to repeat again and again that no one was asking me to move my own money. They need a therapist, a good one.

Thanks for the info, coincidentally I've recently (last few days) opened a Coop basic current account... solely to be eligible for a Coop RS. Fortunately,  I have a few current accounts elsewhere that I'm happy with, so, I'll just be occasionally bouncing £2 through the current account to keep it active/semi-active .

solartom

As of today 48 Regular Saver with monthly funding of £9875 and a cash holding of £63000 all funded manually other than Zopa. It is a hobby that helps to fund my early retierment.

clairec666

Quick update for you @Bobblehat - now up to 20 regular savers. All my own, no partners involved. Monthly funding remains at around £4500, although most of it isn't "new" money, it's from previous years' accounts maturing. I won't update my total holdings as it's likely to fluctuate a lot over the coming months.

ninaluna754

SH88SH88 said:

francoghezzi said:

SH88SH88 said:

Has anyone who does the payments manually ever had problems with payments being blocked by the Fraud dept ? ... some of the banks/BS's Fraud teams/algorithms seem overly keen so I would've thought many manual payments in a short timeframe would attract attention.

Stay far, far away from Co op. I had my payments blocked 3 times in 2 months and without a single phone call or message from them. The money sent to Skipton just disappeared from my account and the first time I spent an entire night wondering if I had sent my payment to someone else only to find out the day after that had been blocked. Never ever again with these people. I had to wait 40 minutes to talk to someone and spent almost an hour to repeat again and again that no one was asking me to move my own money. They need a therapist, a good one.

Thanks for the info, coincidentally I've recently (last few days) opened a Coop basic current account... solely to be eligible for a Coop RS. Fortunately,  I have a few current accounts elsewhere that I'm happy with, so, I'll just be occasionally bouncing £2 through the current account to keep it active/semi-active .

I'm also grateful for this heads up about the Co-op!
I opened a current account with them a few days ago (in order to access the RS) when I tried to register for online banking the website told me I had entered the wrong info (it was correct) and I'm now blocked from trying again for another 24 hours. 😳

janusd

francoghezzi said:

SH88SH88 said:

Has anyone who does the payments manually ever had problems with payments being blocked by the Fraud dept ? ... some of the banks/BS's Fraud teams/algorithms seem overly keen so I would've thought many manual payments in a short timeframe would attract attention.

Stay far, far away from Co op. I had my payments blocked 3 times in 2 months and without a single phone call or message from them. The money sent to Skipton just disappeared from my account and the first time I spent an entire night wondering if I had sent my payment to someone else only to find out the day after that had been blocked. Never ever again with these people. I had to wait 40 minutes to talk to someone and spent almost an hour to repeat again and again that no one was asking me to move my own money. They need a therapist, a good one.

I tried to open a Cashminder with them on the 20th (as I think someone in this thread mentioned it was an easier way to get to the RS) - sadly, I had Equifax CreditLock enabled on my credit report (they could have done a soft search, but not a credit reference check) - a week later, I got a letter in the post from them about that suggesting to unlock it and try again... I did, but 2 days later got an email that CreditLock was still in place - incompetent buffoons, it definitely isn't and for that second application, they definitely didn't do any query to the Experian credit file... they seemed to have just assumed that because it was in enabled the first time, it still was... sighs... no point in making a third attempt, or bothering with a full current account - having read the horror stories here and on trustpilot, I feel i've dodged a bullet... no great loss not to have their RS.

I took the opportunity to open a Club Lloyds current account, their 2 regular savers and their Ultra card - whole thing took 10 mins in the app.

allegro120

Hi @Bobblehat. This is my October update. Number of RSs - 57. Deposits - £15350. Minimum - 5.15%. 

n15h

clairec666 said:

n15h said:

Thanks to everyone that answered my queries - it helped me to better understand the Principality RS.
I've now opened:

• Progressive Online Regular Rainy Day Saver Account - 7% (£300pm)
• Principality 6 Month Regular Saver - 7.5% (£200pm)

Total now is 4 RSs (in addition to RSs with Nationwide and Virgin).
At the start of 2025 I had only 1 RS. Looks like I've caught the bug!

Welcome I predict you'll have another few before the year is out...

Your prediction came true!
Since my post above, I've also opened the Principality BS Christmas 2026 Regular Saver 6.5%.
That brings my total to 5 RSs.
Am also looking at the Hanley 1 Year Online Smart Saver (6.5%)