Regular Savings Accounts Article Discussion

harz99

beegee757 wrote: »

Help!

We have made the big decision to send our little one to private education - we are looking for a good savings account where we can maximise our regular monthly savings, but that allows us to withdraw the cash 3x per year in order to pay school fees (NB will require interest to be applied monthly, rather than annually).

Does anyone have any thoughts?

And the school fees will be how much each time they are paid?

eskbanker

beegee757 wrote: »

Help!

We have made the big decision to send our little one to private education - we are looking for a good savings account where we can maximise our regular monthly savings, but that allows us to withdraw the cash 3x per year in order to pay school fees (NB will require interest to be applied monthly, rather than annually).

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Yes, this thread is in place to discuss the MSE article linked from the first post, in which the leading regular saver accounts are listed in a convenient format, showing which of them allow withdrawals and on what terms.

It doesn't explicitly mention exactly when interest is payable but I believe that the majority only pay at year-end - this wouldn't affect how much interest you'd earn though as it'll be calculated based on daily balances.

Edit: see also the 'unofficial' thread at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/608697

Vortigern

beegee757 wrote: »

We have made the big decision to send our little one to private education - we are looking for a good savings account where we can maximise our regular monthly savings, but that allows us to withdraw the cash 3x per year in order to pay school fees (NB will require interest to be applied monthly, rather than annually).

Most regular savers pay interest annually on maturity, so you'd need 3 with start and end dates carefully chosen to match your fee payment dates. Depending on the amount of the fees you may find a high interest current account more convenient.

harz99

Vortigern wrote: »

Most regular savers pay interest annually on maturity, so you'd need 3 with start and end dates carefully chosen to match your fee payment dates. Depending on the amount of the fees you may find a high interest current account more convenient.

Quite, hence my earlier question.

Dird

The drip feed calculator is broken somewhere: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts#dripfeed

http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=104877

Surely keeping the extra £250/month in current account would mean the normal savings earning slightly more than otherwise

polka.dot

Dird, that was the point I raised earlier in this thread. It seems a bit erratic - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!

beegee757

Thanks Harz - fees go up each every couple of years, staring at c. 6,500p.a. (4yrs old) up to c. 12,000p.a. (16yrs old). Apparently we can get a 1.5% reduction if we pay for the full year in advance (as opposed to paying 3x per annum) - so potentially would only need 1 withdrawal per year.

apt

The Nationwide Flexclusive Regular saver pays 5% and allows unlimited withdrawals. Has a limit of £500 per month and 1 year term. Would be fine for the first year, but I can't see the 5% still being around next year. The 5% is flexible, but I don't think Nationwide has ever changed the interest rate for existing fixed term regular savers, only for new versions.

Jim02

Apologies if this question has already been asked and answered; it's a long thread!

I have done HSBC's regular saver a couple of years ago, I'm currently two months away from finishing First Direct's equivalent.

Can I open another HSBC regular saver, or is it a one-time-only deal?

Wondering whether to slowly drip feed my ISA savings into three of these (HSBC, FD, M&S)

Thanks
J

KTF

When one FD or HSBC regular saver matures you can open a new one.