What is the Highest Interest Rate / Cashback / Rewards You Can Get?

Special_Saver2
Special_Saver2 Posts: 1,404
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edited 7 May 2017 at 9:50PM in Savings & investments
People keep asking what is the highest interest rate you can have using a combination of current accounts and regular savings accounts if you are really dedicated and happy to move your money around between current accounts to meet their funding requirements (and where necessary have a few direct debits or standing orders on the current accounts). It is clogging up my Regular Savings thread so I am starting a separate thread to reduce the number of posts about this on the Regular Savings thread.

If you are a single adult, willing to open multiple current accounts that do not have a monthly charge, and do not happen to live near a building society that offers a particularly good regular savings account that is available to locals only, then the best combination is below. I have also calculated the amount of gross interest per year. If you do not understand the gross interest calculation on the regular savings accounts then look at the explanation in Martin's Regular Savings Accounts page. I have used the calculator on this page to do the interest rate calculations.

Cashback (non-taxable) and Rewards (taxable)

Free £48 per year plus up to £18 per year for free for making debit card payments... Co-operative Bank Current Account with Everyday Rewards
(£800 does not need to stay in the account, can be transferred immediately in and out again as long as you have 4 direct debits, remain in credit (or within your overdraft limit), log in to Online Banking or the Mobile Banking app at least once during the month, and remain opted in for Paperless Statements).

Free £48 per year... Barclays Blue Rewards (£800 does not need to stay in the account,
can be transferred immediately in and out again as long as you have 2 direct debits too and you'll get an extra £3 a month off them if you use Barclays for home insurance and another £5 if you have your mortgage with Barclays/Woolwich. There are also a few other lures: 1% cashback on purchases from certain 'Smartspend partners' (Quoted as "GAP, Boots, Waterstones, Toys R Us and many more") and 7% off Expedia bookings). Thanks to Maelwys for this information.

Free £36 per year... Halifax Reward current account (£750 does not need to stay in the account, can be transferred immediately in and out again as long as you have 2 direct debits too)

Free cashback if you pay more than £1,200 per year on household bills by direct debit... NatWest Reward Current Account paying 3% cashback for a £3 per month fee (you need to pay more than £1,200 per year on household bills before you make back the £36 annual fee, assuming you are not paying any tax on NatWest's reward payment; you will have to spend more if it is taxed)

Interest


5% on... £1,500 per month (£483.86 interest)... Nationwide Flexclusive Regular Saver account (£500 per month, earns £161.29 per year),
First Direct Regular Saver account (£300 per month for 12 months, earns £96.77 per year gross interest), Marks and Spencer Bank Monthly Saver (£250 per month for 12 months, earns £80.64 per year), HSBC Regular Saver (£250 per month for 12 months, earns £80.64 per year), Santander Regular eSaver (£200 per month, earns £64.52 per year). You could also use the Nationwide FlexDirect account to get 5% on £2,500 lump sum but that only lasts for the first 12 months, so I have not counted it here. (Additional note: posters on pages 225 and 226 of my regular savings thread have informed us that despite the terms and conditions of this account, they have been able to continue getting 5% on this account after 12 months by downgrading and upgrading the account. Click on the 225 link in the last sentence to see more details.)

4% on... £250 per month (£64.61 interest)... Norwich & Peterborough BS Gold Savings account (£250 per month, earns £64.61 interest)
.

3% on... £7,500 lump sum
plus £400 per month (£302.65 interest)... Tesco Bank current account (can open two of these, £6,000 lump sum total, earns £180), Club Lloyds Monthly Saver (£400 per month, earns £77.65 per year interest), TSB Classic Plus current account (£1,500 lump sum, earns £45 per year)

If you are part of a couple then some of these options allow joint accounts too (such as the Santander 123 account) in addition to an account each in sole names. If anybody wants to calculate this for a couple with joint accounts then feel free to do so and I can incorporate that into this post.

It is also worth noting that applying for current accounts with overdrafts can affect other applications for credit (e.g. credit cards) in the short term. It may be best to space out such current account applications by a few months each.

If you are not sure how this all works then read through the posts in this thread which contain specific questions and answers that should clarify matters.

SS2
«13456730

Comments

  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 17,532
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    Good post but you've missed out the Halifax reward account. Add that in with tsb and you get 12.5% gross on £1000.
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • TheTracker
    TheTracker Posts: 1,223
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    Missed the HSBC RS?
  • YorkshireBoy
    YorkshireBoy Posts: 31,541
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    Reg saver interest figures are incorrect. :)

    Rather than divide by 2 you need to divide by 12 and multiply by 6.5.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,597
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    Valiant attempt on getting everything into one place. And apologies for clogging up your RS thread - you are quite right, I should have refrained from debating the virtues of cash ISAs vs best interest rates in that thread.

    A couple of points that haven't yet been raised about your summary:
    1. you refer to "posts above", "post number x" that aren't in this thread
    2. for FTBs, the Halifax HTB ISA should figure on the 'best rates' menu
  • kangoora
    kangoora Posts: 1,193
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    You could look at this tool/website but it doesn't take into account regular savers however.

    http://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/
  • YorkshireBoy
    YorkshireBoy Posts: 31,541
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    Can hold 3 BoS Vantage.
  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 17,532
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    kangoora wrote: »
    You could look at this tool/website but it doesn't take into account regular savers however.

    http://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/
    It also seemed out of date with tsb accounts that are now only 1 each not 2.
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • gt94sss2
    gt94sss2 Posts: 5,614
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    TheTracker wrote: »
    Missed the HSBC RS?

    I can see it in the 4% list but there is also the 6% version for Advance and Premier customers.

    Regards
    Sunil
  • Jsscmm
    Jsscmm Posts: 147
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    BoS vantage should be 15k from 3x accounts at 5k each.
  • Special_Saver2
    Special_Saver2 Posts: 1,404
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    edited 7 December 2015 at 12:15AM
    jimjames wrote: »
    Good post but you've missed out the Halifax reward account. Add that in with tsb and you get 12.5% gross on £1000.

    Thanks, I have added that in now. The gross amount is £75 per year and the £750 paid in does not have to stay there for more than a few seconds, so I have just counted it as a free £75 per year. Do you know if it is still possible for people to sign up for 2 of these accounts? If so then that is £150 for free.
    colsten wrote: »
    Valiant attempt on getting everything into one place. And apologies for clogging up your RS thread - you are quite right, I should have refrained from debating the virtues of cash ISAs vs best interest rates in that thread.

    A couple of points that haven't yet been raised about your summary:
    1. you refer to "posts above", "post number x" that aren't in this thread
    2. for FTBs, the Halifax HTB ISA should figure on the 'best rates' menu

    I had mentioned that I was cross-referencing to posts in my Regular Savings thread but to keep things simple I have now removed all the references. I have now mentioned the Halifax HTB ISA.
    Can hold 3 BoS Vantage.

    Thanks, I have added that in now.
    gt94sss2 wrote: »
    I can see it in the 4% list but there is also the 6% version for Advance and Premier customers.

    Regards
    Sunil

    Sorry, I had forgotten that Advance accounts are now free, have used the 6% version now.


    Wow! Looking back at post 1, you can stash quite a lot of cash in these accounts!
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