Reg Saver S/O question

With several Reg Savers I have opened the account later in a calendar month and then switched the Standing Order payments to the first of the month in order to take maximum advantage of the high interest rates on offer.

What happens to bonuses & qualification for the top interest rate if, as a result, you make 13 payments in the first year of the account even though you are only making one S/O payment per calendar month?

Do any disqualify you and pay you a pittance for 13 "monthly" payments in the first year?

I am particularly interested in

Bath
Halifax
Ipswich
Leek Utd
Skipton
West Brom
Yorkshire BS (On YBS I need to know today.)

Sorry if this is a repeat request.
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Comments

  • Sillychuckie
    Sillychuckie Posts: 1,208
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    It depends on the account.
    Some will not mind (and will pay you a few days pittance) on the 13th payment before 'sweeping' the 3k elsewhere.
    If the account you have allows for money to build up above the 3k (e.g. YBS), then it is no problem at all.

    The one you have to worry about though is Halifax.
    If you pay a 13th payment, they then sweep it (into your nominated savings account), you are then at a 0 balance on the first month of the following years regular saver.
    You aren't allowed to deposit again that month (1 per month only), and you'll find the next years reg saver will only end up with a balance of 2,750 max (which hurts the income).
    You need to adjust the 13th payment date (make it later) so that it falls after they do the sweep. You can then put it back to the 1st again for the 14th payment and on....
  • bristolleedsfan
    bristolleedsfan Posts: 12,045
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    With several Reg Savers I have opened the account later in a calendar month and then switched the Standing Order payments to the first of the month in order to take maximum advantage of the high interest rates on offer.

    What happens to bonuses & qualification for the top interest rate if, as a result, you make 13 payments in the first year of the account even though you are only making one S/O payment per calendar month?

    Do any disqualify you and pay you a pittance for 13 "monthly" payments in the first year?

    I am particularly interested in

    Bath
    Halifax
    Ipswich
    Leek Utd
    West Brom
    Yorkshire BS (On YBS I need to know today.)

    Sorry if this is a repeat request.


    Reg Posters on here have asked a number of Building Societies over a period of time, all of whom have said fine to the "13th payments", the ones weve asked have tended to be "ongoing" regular savers which includes Yorkshire BS. ;)

    Bath BS Regular Saver ( The issue that we have) is now only paying 6.4%. :(
  • margaretclare
    margaretclare Posts: 10,789 Forumite
    I don't know, but you could phone YBS and ask. 0845 1 200 100 is their main switchboard.

    Ooooooops, not today, Mon - Sat. Sorry - you said it had to be today (Sunday). Can't help then.
    [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Æ[/FONT]r ic wisdom funde, [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]æ[/FONT]r wear[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]ð[/FONT] ic eald.
    Before I found wisdom, I became old.
  • Milarky
    Milarky Posts: 6,352
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    I agree with Sillychuckies's reply - the Halifax's 13th S/O payment needs to be adjusted to the date after the anniversary - it's a pain, but there you are. Because of this, an account opening date (which you can't change!) is actually better late in the month rather than earlier!

    But I wasn't previously aware of this:
    Set up a monthly standing order from your bank account - you can make other deposits too, as long as the total per month doesn’t exceed £250
    .....under construction.... COVID is a [discontinued] scam
  • baby_boomer
    baby_boomer Posts: 3,880
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    Thanks for all the replies, especially Sillychuckie.

    Of course you are right that there's little point (or worse) making a 13th payment on the accounts which end after 1 year due to the lost interest in transit, and sometimes in the first few days following deposit.

    Thanks for clearing up the situation at Yorkshire BS and alerting me to the Halifax trick, which hadn't occurred to me at all.
  • butterfly72
    butterfly72 Posts: 1,222
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    The one you have to worry about though is Halifax.
    If you pay a 13th payment, they then sweep it (into your nominated savings account), you are then at a 0 balance on the first month of the following years regular saver.
    You aren't allowed to deposit again that month (1 per month only), and you'll find the next years reg saver will only end up with a balance of 2,750 max (which hurts the income).
    You need to adjust the 13th payment date (make it later) so that it falls after they do the sweep. You can then put it back to the 1st again for the 14th payment and on....


    Mines just matured and I didnt change the date. That means I'll end up with a balance of £2750 as stated. Ummm... what should I do now then?
    £2019 in 2019 #44 - 864.06/2019
  • Special_Saver2
    Special_Saver2 Posts: 1,404
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    To butterfly72, I am afraid there is nothing else you can do. Just wait until next month and keep paying £250 from next month, maximum £2,750 for the year.

    Actually, there is one thing you can do... you can close your current Halifax regular saver account and open a new one, then make the first deposit by the 28th of this month. Be careful though - I just did this and the account was not ready to accept a deposit on the day it was opened - it took 1 business day. See my updated entry in post 4 in this long-running thread of mine.

    I fell into the Halifax problem myself in the past. I tried to make 2 payments in the month of maturity but it did not work. I made a payment on 1st November, my account matured on 9th November (sweeping out £3,250 plus interest with it), I tried to make another £250 deposit but it got swept straight back into my current account (where the payment had come from).

    I stopped using my old Halifax regular saver last November and have recently opened a new one so that it will sweep the money out just in time for the new ISA year.

    This seems like quite a useful thread so I am going to put a link to it in the list at the beginning of my own regular savings thread.
  • butterfly72
    butterfly72 Posts: 1,222
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    Thanks Special Saver2,
    I think I might close it and open another. My current account is with the halifax so transfer times are quick and it shouldn't be too much bother to sort out (well, shouldn't be!). I'm sure my Leek Utd account is maturing soon.. i'll have to check that out!
    £2019 in 2019 #44 - 864.06/2019
  • LongTermLurker
    LongTermLurker Posts: 1,996
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    This isn't to do with 13 payments, but the Abbey Fixed Rate Monthly Saver has a painful catch if you inadvertantly pay in more than £250 in a month:

    "Fixed Rate Monthly Saver (Issue 7) offers you a really high 7.25% gross p.a./AER fixed for 12 months as long as you pay in between £20 and £250 a month by standing order. If you pay in less than £20, miss a payment or make any withdrawals, the rate drops to 0.10% gross p.a./AER on the total savings balance for that month only. If you pay in more than £250 in a calendar month the rate drops to 0.10% gross p.a./AER on the total savings balance for the remainder of the term."

    Ouch!
    You've never seen me, but I've been here all along - watching and learning...:cool:
  • EalingSaver
    EalingSaver Posts: 365 Forumite
    The one you have to worry about though is Halifax.
    If you pay a 13th payment, they then sweep it (into your nominated savings account), you are then at a 0 balance on the first month of the following years regular saver.
    You aren't allowed to deposit again that month (1 per month only),...

    Thanks. Useful. I had something niggling at the back of my mind on this when I opened the account and set up s/o from external account. But had forgotten it. This assumes of course that they automatically open a following years one for you. Hadn't realised they did that either.

    By the way, this may be covered on another thread, but do we know whether Halifax is going to allow you to take out both their new reg saveer product and maintain the existing one?

    Oops, forget this second part...I've just noticed the whole subject is done to death on the appropriate thread....
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