The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82195317#Comment_82195317

until everyone follows the same advice

Unlikely to be a significant problem. There's always a plentiful supply of neophiles anxious to be the first.

slinger2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82195297#Comment_82195297

At the start of 2026 my minimum was 5%. Interest rates seemed more likely to go down than up. That was before the war in the Middle East. As a basic rate taxpayer paying tax on the interest I'll be losing abut 0.25% when the 24% rate comes in. 0.25% base rate rise already and probably 0.5% more coming in the next few months. So for me it's now 6%.

dealyboy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82195297#Comment_82195297

When I do have the funds … It's the level above the best instant access easy saver
And when I don't … the easy saver goes first and then the regular savers bottom to top … leaving a pound for manners

Hattie627

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82195297#Comment_82195297

I have a PSA of only £500 and a tax liability of 44% (from April 2027) on savings interest above the PSA. Currently have over 50 RS's but I've started to cull them ruthlessly. At the moment I'm closing everything under 6% (if allowed without penalty), starting with 5% and 5.25%. Aim is to "early close" everything under 6.5% by the end of March, if allowed without interest penalty and if not matured before then. The remaining ones will be left to run to maturity in the new tax year. I won't be opening anything below 7%. Funds released now are mainly going into low coupon gilts (at the moment TG31) and also topping up premium bonds holding. Funds released in Feb/March will be retained in EA for ISA allowance in the new tax year. Possibly some released funds will go into my discretionary managed GIA (have a meeting arranged for next week on this, set up before the current market turmoil). The Budget savings interest tax rate rise has been a long overdue wake-up call for me, and no doubt others. I should have changed my cash savings strategy a couple of years ago when I became HRTP.

Bridlington1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82195361#Comment_82195361

RS Target Rates:

I generally take the same sort of approach, though with caveats. I like to have a pool of capacity in slightly lower rate RSs for months where I have a lot of funds being made available from maturing RSs. Everything's always under review so I've no one size fits all when it comes to thresholds.

6% is the minimum rate I actively fund at the moment with the exception of Cambridge BS's 6% offering owing to the withdrawal restrictions involved, but in the last couple of months I've ended up funding RSs right down to 5.15% owing to a temporary surge in funds in late October, then emptied all the 5.5% and below RSs to fund everything at 6% and above in early October. As things stand I should end up having everything below 6% emptied by early December.

I've deliberately held off funding the Skipton BS Members Regular Saver Issue 7 though as it has a November 2027 maturity date and will probably end up being used temporarily to house a load of funds from maturing RSs in October 2027 as you can catch up on unused deposits in future months, though if the rate rises further I'll consider funding it actively.

When emptying RSs I tend to pick on the lowest rates that are still available first to refresh them, though it depends on how I anticipate cashflow to be and the (often speculated) interest rates involved.

There's also the Beverley BS trio of RSs that have been offered in the last year or so at 5.5%. I've taken the decision to cull these, issue 1 has been axed already, issue 3 never got funded and Issue 2 has had minimal funding since opening so will get closed in early January to ensure I keep hold of the bonus rate.

I'm taking the view that there's a pattern I've observed in RSs, which is if a RS is open ended, especially with a large maximum monthly deposit limit, it tends to not hold its rate over time and settles at a poor rate. To take examples Mansfield BS's RS 30 Day Notice accounts, Loughborough's RS Issue 1, Hanley's Online RS etc have all been decent enough in their day but settled on lower rates once NLA.

Needless to say you can probably see why I never submit a figure for "Min % for new RS" in the RS League table thread, there's too many variables involved for me to come to any one figure.