The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Dizzycap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028201#Comment_82028201

It didn't need to be because there was never a gap between one Members Loyalty RS release and the next each June, so membership was continuous. Now there is a 2 month gap between the last release and the new in September. As I use the SBS RS as a compounding interest RS which works for me, I would like to be able to continue to hold one. I would also like the benefit of having membership in case any future products become available that may be of interest to me. As I've always held £1 in an EA account there was never an issue in the past. However, if Saffron decide to uphold £100 as a potential minium to be held over a 12 month period to access and for Saffron to potentially limit access, then I'll take it. It's no different to the Cambridgeshire BS requirement of holding £100 for a minimum of 12 months to access regular reward products and 3 years to have access to Extra rewards products. Each to their own……

ForumUser7

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028282#Comment_82028282

The bit that confuses me for Saffron is that (as far as I recall) their initial members loyalty rs a couple of years ago did not require £100 holdings either. So it’s not like they all naturally followed on.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028282#Comment_82028282

The point is "there is no £100 new clause" - none of us know exactly what the qualifying criteria will be for any member's product launched later in the year, if there is one at all. Whilst keeping £100 saved with Saffron is a good idea if people are concerned, it would be unfortunate if forum members started believing they absolutely must keep £100 with Saffron to be eligible. We just don't know.

Turning to someone who might know, this is what Saffron emailed out at the end of May -

We’re getting in touch with an update on our popular Members’ Month celebration. This year, Members’ Month will take place in September (rather than June).

This also means our Members’ Month exclusive product will be launching in September too. If you have a Members’ Month product that’s approaching maturity, you’ll be eligible for our loyalty products that can be found via the link below. Or we’ll contact you with your maturity options 14 days before it’s set to mature.

We’ll be in touch nearer the time with full details on Members’ Month, including how you can get involved and any member-only offers, events and rewards we’ll be running throughout.

- There is no mention of needing to keep £100 saved with them during the 'gap'. The 'gap' exists because Saffron are changing the timing of Members' Month.

Therefore, if Saffron launch a Members' Month RS in September and say I'm not eligible because I didn't have £100 saved with them between June and September then I'll be making a complaint. Their email - in my opinion - would fail the "Fair, clear and not misleading" test. If they intend to apply a continuous £100 condition in the new product terms then this email should have stated that, or at least reminded members they had to keep at least £100 saved with Saffron to qualify for membership purposes.

But I don't think that will be necessary. Saffron would be nuts to launch a member exclusive product that long-time loyal members were ineligible for simply because Saffron had moved the product launch date. Excluding exactly the kind of members the product is intended to reward would be a brave business decision in this social media world. Although I acknowledge they are fully entitled to do so if they want.

But as janusd pointed out (if the terms remain the same) the loss of interest if we do miss out is only £26. This is unlikely to be a product which makes any of us wealthy.

clairec666

Saffron can set whatever terms they like. If their regular saver is being offered as a nice gesture to longstanding members (rather than as a loss-leader to attract new customers) then they might not have much time for people who've kept a token £1 in to keep membership. Same goes for Nationwide's fairer share bonus - their criteria are intended to identify people who are genuinely using their account, although it's easy to "play the system" and just shunt a bit of money around for a couple of months to make sure you qualify.

I probably won't qualify for anything Saffron produces in members month, having only been a member for a few months having grabbed their 4.5% ISA when it was available.

Reg_Smeeton

Re: Saffron BS

IIRC there were multiple reports on here last year of users testing the parameters of the rules in order to try and qualify for loyalty and refer a friend products, then raising complaints in the hope of compensation if Saffron wouldn’t let them.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Saffron are looking to tighten eligibility this year as a result, it must have been more hassle for them than it was worth in 2025

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028360#Comment_82028360

Saffron

I've got June 2023 as my first Member Loyalty Reward account. At that time the standard Saffron RS account was paying 4%, increasing to 4.8% that month.

Which for the time wasn't a bad rate - so a lot of us would have had £100+ in the standard account when the new Member Loyalty Reward account came out.

The difference now is the other Saffron RS accounts aren't worth keeping £100 in them, unless for retaining member rights and benefits.

Edit: 'Loyalty' not 'Reward'

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028393#Comment_82028393

Same goes for Nationwide's fairer share bonus - their criteria are intended to identify people who are genuinely using their account, although it's easy to "play the system" and just shunt a bit of money around for a couple of months to make sure you qualify.

Off topic, but no. Their criteria are designed as an easy way to filter out 'x' million current account customers, where 'x' * £100 equals the sum of money set aside for the promotion. Nationwide's own words refer to having a 'deeper relationship' with the building society.

(happy to expand on this in the right thread)

bristolleedsfan

Accidently sent Teachers B.S deposit from wrong account, did not bounce back automatically on 3rd, phone call received today to say will be returning deposit.

edinburgher

We are recent converts to RS. Rates seem to have dropped quite a bit since we opened our 7%+ Principality accounts last year and I note that the top couple of "what we'd go for" accounts in the MSE article are variable rate. How common is it for variable rate account interest rates to drop before the term is reached? I don't fancy tucking away £500/mth (for example), if the rate could tank at any time.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028813#Comment_82028813

Talking of Edinburgh, the last variable rate account I recall dropping their rates with a bump was Scottish BS, dropped from 6.5 to 6% after a 25bps reduction by the BoE, 2 months after launching the account.