Are Cahoot Simple Savers closeable at weekends?

EthicsGradient

Ideally, I'd like to close my Cahoot Simple Saver account on April 5th and get the interest for it then, and then use the money to open an account with a different provider, who pay interest on the account anniversary, on the 6th April - pushing the future interest into the 27-28 tax year.

But … April 5th is Easter Sunday. So the previous working day is Thursday April 2nd (and I may or may not be able to open the new account on Monday 6th).

Has anyone tried to close a Cahoot account at a weekend - can it all happen automatically, or do they make you wait until a working day where a human finalises something (and does that happen quickly, or would it be a good idea to put in the request to close it on Wed 1st April just in case they take their time)?

janusd

You can still close via secure message but that requires human input at their end to close the account for you - calling them might be quicker, but I have never done that to close an account.

an automated alternative might be to upgrade it to a later SS issue or SDS, it should be up/downgraded immediately with accrued interest paid next day… assuming annual interest? that should get you your interest and then you can close or empty it as you see fit.. I don't think they enforce the £1 balance min after it has been funded.

EthicsGradient

@janusd - good idea about the upgrade. Yes, the Simple Saver is currently annual interest. Are you sure the upgrade process is automatic and can happen on a non-working day (and that the interest can get paid on a non-working day)?

janusd

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922328#Comment_81922328

an interesting question - I had always assumed it was automatic, but have no proof either way… the upgrade is immediate, so that part must be - but no guarantees on the paperwork and interest being so.

I can tell you I last did an upgrade on Thursday 5th March and received the interest the next day…. but i've got a vague recollection of doing one on a Saturday and not getting the interest until the Monday, but that might have been after a maturity occurred, so possibly slightly different.

if getting the interest on the 5th is important, then calling them is your only option, but I don't know if they can do a schedules closure - no guarantees a secure message would be replied to quickly (especially considering end of tax year / Easter etc); otherwise, upgrading last week of March → April 1st, should get you your interest by the 2nd… then I guess you could either withdraw it all, or leave it earning a few pence in interest at 4.05% until the 6th and move then.

are you intending to move the balance to Cynergy? if so, I think they have to manually confirm account openings (e.g they are not automatically approved) - now that usually occurs within an hour of applying, but if you were thinking of opening one on Easter Monday (6th), then it might not get approved until the 7th.

EthicsGradient

Yes, the plan is to open a Cynergy account in the new tax year - if that can't happen until the 7th, well, there's not much I can do about that.

I think I may end up withdrawing the money for Cynergy in the week before, and upgrade the last £3,000 then too, to make sure the interest already built up is received this tax year - the one day delay between upgrade and interest received does hint at a possible manual intervention. And thus lose a few days' interest, but know I'm getting it in the tax year that I want.

janusd

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922591#Comment_81922591

if you're talking about the Cynergy EA account that pays 4.22% AER, then it might be useful for you to know that it's terms states that interest is paid "on the anniversary of your funds having been first paid into the account and on account closure."

Interest

We pay interest on a variable rate. This means your interest rate may go up or down while you have the account.

We pay interest into your account.

We pay interest once a year. We pay it on the anniversary of your funds having been first paid into the account and on account closure.

We calculate interest daily at 7.00pm on the cleared balance on your account.

The law requires us to tell HMRC the amount of interest you receive. We do this at the end of each tax year.

so it's not paid on the anniversary of opening the account, but on the anniversary of the first deposit - which should mean you can open the account this tax year(in case it gets pulled), make your first payment on the 6th April and then the interest should become payable in the 27/28 tax year.

you need to deposit within the first 14 days, so i'd leave opening the account until after 24/25th March and then you should be good to go next tax year with the initial deposit.

as you have some time before you need to do this, it might be an idea to check with Cynergy that i'm right on this - but the terms seem pretty clear to me. 👍️

nottsphil

I'm just curious as to why the OP wants to avoid receiving either lot of interest in 2026-27.

surreysaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924150#Comment_81924150

Possibly to avoid having to open or renew accounts which will be maturing in 2027/28, as they will be subject to an extra 2% tax if a basic rate tax payer.

I will be doing the same with some of my accounts. Also it means I can use the proceeds of such accounts to fill up flexible ISAs this tax year, to allow those ISAs to be used to soak up the maturities of some high paying accounts in the summer

EthicsGradient

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924150#Comment_81924150

Because my personal circumstances mean that I should be able to receive interest in 2027-28 without paying tax on it, while the effect of the interest I've built up over this tax year is to use up my PA, in either this tax year or in 2026-27, and thus increase the amount I pay on dividends. And that's 2% more in 2026-27 than this year.