Savings FAQ: READ ME BEFORE POSTING

Welcome to the Savings & Investment Board

A lot of questions crop up time and time again, so I'm bringing together some of the more common questions together in this thread. Please check that what you want to know isn't located in one of Martin's articles or in one of the threads below before posting.

Regular posters - if you think there's something that should be on here, or something on here that is no longer relevant please PM me.

For questions on ISAs please see the ISA board.

***Under development***

Interest & Tax
Included in this section are topics such as Monthly v Annual interest, how do I calculate interest, what is the difference between AER and gross, Can I receive interest without tax, how do I go about receiving interest without tax?
AER v Gross
Calculating Interest
How to Calculate interest earned?
Registering for Gross Interest (R85)
Becoming a taxpayer
What happen's to R85s?
Annual v Monthly Interest
Annual Interest v Monthly Interest
interest - monthly or annual
Monthly or Annual interest

Children & Teenagers savings
Information on the Government's Child Trust Fund, alternatives to the CTF and where can teenagers save.
Child Trust Fund Discussion 1 (thread locked - please use discussion 2 to post)
CTF Discussion 2
Children's Savings
7.25% for people receiving Child Benefit
A&L Slash Child Account Rates and Name and Shame: Alliance & Leicester
Childrens Savings Account Freebies
Stakeholder Pension - for a child
Savings Accounts for 16-18 year olds

Commonly discussed Accounts
A&L Online Saver
First Direct e-saver
Halifax Regular Savings

Useful websites
Links to comparison sites, forms for gross registration and other useful sites
MoneySupermarket* - Compare Savings accounts
Bank and Building society interest - A guide for savers HMRC leaflet on Savings, the £100 childrens rule, the 10% starting rate and more.
Claim Your Tax Back (Official government site) - get your R85 and R40 forms here.
Official Child Trust Fund site.