Do you find features like Save the Change/pennies useful?

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Legacy_user
Legacy_user Posts: 0 Newbie
in Savings & investments
Hey. Wondering if others here find the Save the Change/pennies feature useful - when you make a payment from an account, and then the bank rounds it to the nearest £ and puts it in a savings account? Doesn’t have to be your only means of saving, obviously . I’m thinking of adding the feature to one of my accounts. Anyone saved a lot of money in this way ? And what do you personally do with this money saved, or do you just let it build up?
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  • Alexland
    Alexland Posts: 9,653 Forumite
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    This type of brainless auto penny saving is nonsense. It doesn't create any more money than you would have anyway.

    People should plan their money to know how much they can afford to put away and make decisions on the most suitable savings and investment wrappers.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,597 Forumite
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    It's such a good scheme that all banks are offering it......oh, wait a minute......
  • veryintrigued
    veryintrigued Posts: 3,843 Forumite
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    It's not 'saving' it's wasting money that could be saved easily and at a better rate elsewhere.

    Institutions love lazy schemes like this that give the customer a warm feeling but in affect are costing them money!
  • AnotherJoe
    AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite
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    Id say I n general, it's a bad idea because those who use it most likely are fooling themselves they are "saving" and because of that don't actual take the hard decisions to plan how much to save / invest a realistic/ useful amount , instead they geta nice warm feeling they are doing something and put off doing something that makes a difference.

    If you really are making those hard decisions and are saving useful amounts then this isa pointless distraction. Just don't bother and save an extra £15 a month a month anyway, that will likely approximate what you'd be accumulating (eg one transaction a day)
  • PRAISETHESUN
    PRAISETHESUN Posts: 3,722 Forumite
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    It's probably better for people who have trouble saving and make multiple smaller transactions over the course of a month, where the rounding up for each transactions will put aside considerably more than a smaller number of higher value transactions. I agree that it doesn't actually generate more money, but for some people having that money set aside from the main balance might help them to save, even if it is only a few quid a month
  • aj23_2
    aj23_2 Posts: 1,155 Forumite
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    edited 13 December 2018 at 2:55PM
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    No because online I use a credit card and in premises I use cash.

    I don't really see the point of it, because without using it the money stays in your account anyway. Why bother with getting the bank to transfer a few pennies to a bog standard account.
  • OldMusicGuy
    OldMusicGuy Posts: 1,758 Forumite
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    Can only agree with the others here. It gives the illusion of "saving" and makes people feel they are doing something when in reality it's going to generate very little. If you genuinely want to save serious amounts of money, you need to do a detailed budget, cut down on unnecessary spending and commit to saving a certain amount each month. Get that paid to a proper savings account/put it in a pension/ISA by direct debit, then live on the rest.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
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    Given the low rate of saving in this country. Anything which helps people to manage their money better is welcome. However small. With a small budget to work with building up reserves is usefull.

    Remember when I bought my first that interest rates rose 4% in 4 months. To budget , the monthly shop was done with a calculator walking round Sainsburys. No credit cards. Just hard cash. No cash no spend. Discipline is key.
  • Flobberchops
    Flobberchops Posts: 1,279 Forumite
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    Personally, no.



    I can see the use to somebody who is brand new to savings and requires any incentive to get in the habit. But once you've established that habit, it's much more effective and reliable to just set up a standing order after you get paid.
    : )
  • YorkshireBoy
    YorkshireBoy Posts: 31,541 Forumite
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    PRAISETHESUN wrote: »
    It's probably better for people who have trouble saving and make multiple smaller transactions over the course of a month...
    Many of these people could save (as in actually save) a whole lot more by not making such multiple smaller transactions...which in a great many cases will be a £3 sandwich here and a £2.50 coffee there.
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