Continue with regular saver or transfer to savings and switch bank account for reward

savvysavings2024

Hi
I currently have 2 regular savings accounts - one with Nationwide which pays 6.5%, has a max monthly limit deposit of £200 (which I contribute each month), currently has £1000 in with another 7 months before maturity.

The other is with First Direct, paying 7% with a max monthly deposit of £300 (which I pay in each month) - currently has £1500 with another 7 months to go before maturity.

Both regular savings accounts need the account holder to have current accounts with them.

My query is, would I be better or worse off by switching both current accounts to new banks paying £180/£200 respectively as a switch incentive - and thus closing the 2 regular savings accounts and depositing the £2500 into my Chase Savings account currently paying 4.75% (boosted)? I would then open new regular savings accounts with the 2 new switched to bank accounts (one paying 5% and the other paying 5.25%).

Please take into account the £380 current account switching incentives - I think I'm better off as I'm sure the existing regular savings accounts only pay £85/£135 respectively after the full 12 months so I'm getting more from the switching incentives alone without adding on the interest from the Chase account on the existing £2500 in the regular savings accounts so far - but am I missing something?

refluxer

Many people open 'dummy' current accounts for getting the switching incentives - doing so would allow you to keep your existing Regular Savers. 

You'd need to read the switching reward T&Cs to see what the requirements are before you go down that route though - you may find, for example, that you need to switch a couple of Direct Debits to the dummy accounts first, if the bank paying the switching incentive requires a couple of DDs to be switched to them to quality for the reward.

Catplan

Plus 1 to what refluxer said, keep both current accounts and RS, you mention chase, this is a good source for extra bank accounts. The banking section of the forum has lots of tips for generating dummy accounts and DD’s if needed.

clairec666

Bear in mind that if you close the First Direct regular saver you'll get a very low rate of interest for the time the money was in the account.

Kim_13

First Direct would be the bigger loss, given the 7% is fixed rate - and wouldn't they pay interest to date at some insulting Easy Access rate if the current account were closed? They do if the Regular Saver is closed early.

If you absolutely had to switch one of them, switch Nationwide - the RS should run until maturity, you just wouldn't be able to replace it. Even if they decided to close it, there would be no punitive way of calculating interest.

ih8stress

As others have suggested, it would be better to open a 'dummy' current account for Switching purposes.

You could try getting a second current account from both Nationwide and First Direct to use, or alternatively try Chase (I have just opened my first Chase account this week and created a second one for switching).

If you DO open a Chase account, make sure that you ALWAYS keep at least ONE account open (and create further ones for switching as you need them), otherwise you will probably be unable to have any future accounts with them.

Also bear in mind with Nationwide that as long as you follow the criteria, you may be eligible for future 'Fairer Share' Bonuses - see the thread from this year:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6609663/nationwide-fairer-share-free-100-bonus-confirmed-for-2025-heres-who-will-get-it/p1

First Direct also get good reviews - I will be trying to Switch to them in the future - and a lot of people seem to stick with them once they apply.

You could also try going via topcashback or quidco when you apply for new accounts.