Advice on where to save

MoneyWorry

I have already posted about my full situation on the "Anything Else Money Saving" Board, but I would like some specific advice on here. I have accounts all over the place, but am not sure if I'm doing things very efficiently.

Abbey National Toisa £3000
Northern Rock Isa £6000 (previous years)
Ing Instant Access £4000
Ing Isa £1250 (current year, but I don't save into it on regular basis)
Egg Internet £1250
Alliance & Leicester £1200 (opened 2 months ago)

Just opened the Halifax 10% A/c saving £25 per month
Other than this I only have about £35 per month to save.
Any advice would be helpful. Sorry to say I haven't a clue what to do with the Toisa so have just left it where it is.

Lokolo

Are you a taxpayer? If so you are greatly losing out.

Fill up your ISA asap. Then go around with other savings account.

Also do you need that many? A few ISAs and an instant access and maybe a fixed is enough. Which ones earn the best interest? Why have the others open?

[Deleted User]

1. As you're probably already aware, in general, ISA's are a good place to start:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...gs-without-tax
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=401374

You may want to consider transferring your other ISAs to a better rate ISA as discussed in the above articles.

For the Toisa I'd suggest reading this article:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/ask-an-expert/savings/article.html?in_article_id=419875&in_page_id=111

2. Again as you're already aware regular savings accounts are good too:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...vings-accounts
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=608697

Regular savings accounts are generally a good place for new money e.g. monthly pay cheques, however if for example you have £3k in a 6% high-interest bank account drip-feeding into a 10% regular savings account then you're essentially getting 8% interest on average for your £3k which beats most fixed rate products - albeit with a bit more work.

3. If you want something with a little less work then fixed rate savings accounts are a good option:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...interest#fixed
and http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-...&in_page_id=50

4. One other thing you might like to consider is getting a decent instant access savings account:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest
and http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/best-savings-rate/article.html?in_article_id=394164&in_page_id=50

MoneyWorry

So would I be best to transfer the Toisa and Northern Rock Isa and is that a lot of work?

Then combine two of the internet instant access accounts into one.

Or would I be better to close one of the internet accounts and transfer it into the ING Isa.

I'm assuming it would also be best for the extra £35 to be put into the Isa first.

(Have just discovered that I also have £500 in a very old Scottish Widows 60day notice account so am going to close this one first)

As you can see, I'm not very organised!!!

[Deleted User]

MoneyWorry wrote: »

So would I be best to transfer the Toisa and Northern Rock Isa and is that a lot of work?

Without knowing interest rates I'd probably assume yes. If you can find out the rates it'll help decide if it's worth it or not.

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Then combine two of the internet instant access accounts into one.

Again without knowing the interest rates I'd probably assume yes. If you can find out the rates it'll help decide if it's worth it or not.

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Or would I be better to close one of the internet accounts and transfer it into the ING Isa.

Yes, I'd suggest filling up your cash ISA allowance of £3600 first, then look into regular savings accounts, fixed rate savings accounts and instant access savings accounts (in that order)

MoneyWorry wrote: »

I'm assuming it would also be best for the extra £35 to be put into the Isa first.

This depends if you choose to move money from one of your previous savings accounts into the ISA or not and whether the ISA accepts unlimited deposits.

MoneyWorry wrote: »

(Have just discovered that I also have £500 in a very old Scottish Widows 60day notice account so am going to close this one first)

As you can see, I'm not very organised!!!

At least you're sorting it out now though

MoneyWorry

I think I've found all the interest rates so here goes:

Abbey National Toisa 3.80%
Northern Rock Isa 4.45%
ING Instant Access 4.75%
ING Isa 5.25% (still in bonus period)
Egg Internet 4.75%
Alliance and Leicester 6.5% (still in bonus period)
Scottish Widows 4.54%

Even in my muddled state, this doesn't look as though I'm doing things right!!

[Deleted User]

MoneyWorry wrote: »

I think I've found all the interest rates so here goes:!!

Abbey National Toisa 3.80%
Northern Rock Isa 4.45%
ING Isa 5.25% (still in bonus period)

These rates aren't great, for ISAs you could typically expect 6 - 6.25% AER or more.

As mentioned above have a look at:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...gs-without-tax
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=401374

MoneyWorry wrote: »

ING Instant Access 4.75%
Egg Internet 4.75%

These rates aren't great, for instant access accounts you could typically expect 6 - 6.5% AER.

As mentioned above have a look at:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sav...-best-interest
and http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-...&in_page_id=50

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Alliance and Leicester 6.5% (still in bonus period)

This a decent rate however there are better accounts with better guarantees out there e.g. the above links.

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Scottish Widows 4.54%

Not a great rate...

As mentioned above I'd suggest filling up your cash ISA allowance of £3600 first, then look into regular savings accounts, then fixed rate savings accounts and finally instant access savings accounts (in that order)

MoneyWorry

Well, have bitten the bullet today and sorted out the transfer on the Toisa. Very quick and easy.

The Scottish Widows account is going to be closed and that money transferred to my Ing Isa.

Just got to decide what to do with the Northern Rock account because that's where the majority of my savings are based and where to save the £35 - £40 each month.

[Deleted User]

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Well, have bitten the bullet today and sorted out the transfer on the Toisa. Very quick and easy.

The Scottish Widows account is going to be closed and that money transferred to my Ing Isa.

I appreciate some ISAs won't allow Toisa transfers and that you've already got an ING ISA however if you stick with the 5.25% ING ISA (let's assume this won't go up and down... And let's assume you fill it completely on day 1) then the interest will be, after 1 year, £3,789.00. If however you transfer it to a 6.25% ISA your interest will be £3,825.00, £36 more...

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Just got to decide what to do with the Northern Rock account because that's where the majority of my savings are based and where to save the £35 - £40 each month.

Are you planning on transferring your Northern Rock ISA too?

Are you planning on combining your Instant access savings accounts into one paying around 6.5% as detailed in the above articles?

Regarding the £35 - £40 a month why not just add that to the £25 a month you're already saving in the Halifax 10% account?

MoneyWorry

I think I will transfer the Northern Rock to another account. It's a lot of money to leave languishing at under 4.5%.

I'm going to keep the ING isa and transfer the Scottish Widows money in then have decided to divide the £35 between that and the Halifax 10% one.

The only thing is now I'm really starting to think about my savings for the first time rather than just flinging money into any old account. I don't need instant access to the majority of my savings, maybe just £3000.

So maybe it would be best to put this money into a high earning instant access, then the remaining balance of the two accounts could go into a fixed interest account.

This will leave me with less accounts but running everything the right way round. Am sure I will get quite obsessed with this and in 6 months time will be moving them all round again.:o

Thank you....you've been a huge help even if I'm not doing things quite perfectly yet!

[Deleted User]

MoneyWorry wrote: »

I think I will transfer the Northern Rock to another account. It's a lot of money to leave languishing at under 4.5%.!

Glad to hear that. You should be aiming for 6 - 6.25% AER interest for an ISA.

MoneyWorry wrote: »

I'm going to keep the ING isa and transfer the Scottish Widows money in then have decided to divide the £35 between that and the Halifax 10% one.

The only thing is now I'm really starting to think about my savings for the first time rather than just flinging money into any old account. I don't need instant access to the majority of my savings, maybe just £3000.

If you don't need access to the majority of your savings why not top the ISA up now and then use the £35 for the Halifax 10% account?

MoneyWorry wrote: »

So maybe it would be best to put this money into a high earning instant access, then the remaining balance of the two accounts could go into a fixed interest account.

Sounds like a great strategy

MoneyWorry wrote: »

This will leave me with less accounts but running everything the right way round. Am sure I will get quite obsessed with this and in 6 months time will be moving them all round again.:o

Always a good idea to make sure you're getting the best rates for your money

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Thank you....you've been a huge help even if I'm not doing things quite perfectly yet!