5 ms·

My checking / current account pays less than 1% and that's only on the first £2500 (I think), after that the interest is zero. I'd love a checking account, wit

by LandR 8y ago

My checking / current account pays less than 1% and that's only on the first £2500 (I think), after that the interest is zero. I'd love a checking account, with no fees that pays 3% on the whole balance. My average balance on my current account is around £20k. My interest would be £600 a year at 3%, as opposed to £25 or so I get now.

ansible 8y ago
What's stopping you from opening up similar accounts with other banks?
- dec0dedab0de 8y ago
  They don't exist
- LandR 8y ago
  Most banks that will give you a current account will want to see £xxxx deposited every month (e.g, your salary) to earn any interest (if they even offer interest, it's rare on a current account). I could open multiple, but then every month I'd need to spend time transfering money to each to earn the interest. Im not sure that would even count towards deposited every month, they might want to see a direct debit that is actually a salary. I'm not sure. Further, I have an ISA (which is the UK tax free saving accont), that earns under 1% too and I'm limited to £20k a year into that account. I have another account that pays ~2.x% per year, but on that one I'm limited to £250 a month. Interest rates are abysmal right now in the UK.
  - ansible 8y ago
    Some workplaces can split your direct deposit from payroll into multiple accounts. _If_ you can hit the deposit limits that way. The bank doesn't need to know it is not your entire salary.
  - vidarh 8y ago
    The time isn't an issue - you can set up standing orders yourself with most UK online banking sites. If they require a direct debit that's another matter.
    - AdamGibbins 8y ago
      You can use something like https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity small cost to you, but probably worth it if you're getting sufficient return.
  - SyneRyder 8y ago
    > Im not sure that would even count towards deposited every month, they might want to see a direct debit that is actually a salary. I'm not sure. For what it's worth, here in Australia they have similar offers. At one bank, I said I wasn't interested because of the regular 'salary' deposit requirement, and that bank offered to set me up with two accounts and a regular automated transfer between them to meet the minimum monthly deposit requirement. Though honestly, the fact they offered to do that concerned me even more.
  - IneffablePigeon 8y ago
    As you say there's a few current accounts that will give you decent rates on smaller amounts but you'll have to set up the minimum pay-ins as standing orders (which works on almost all of them, I've had a fair few). You can also do the whole switching-for-bonuses thing which is much easier than it used to be and will give you an OK return but is more work than most people are willing to put in. However, if you're looking for something slightly better than what you've got now there are currently a fair few 1.5%ish easy access accounts available that you could just dump your savings in and make a fair bit more than you're currently getting. You can get 2-3% if you're willing to lock some up for a year+. ISAs are irrelevant for most people since the personal savings allowance came in - if you're earning less than £500/£1000 per year in interest (depending on income) then you won't pay tax anyway. moneysavingexpert.com has excellent round ups of this sort of thing.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    As a mortgage payer with no residual income "interests rates are fantastic in the UK right now", any reason I'm wrong it that framing?
  - C1sc0cat 8y ago
    1.4 is about the best easy access cash ISA at the moment -BTW for non UK types you don't pay interest on any income in an ISA.
  - AdamGibbins 8y ago
    > I could open multiple, but then every month I'd need to spend time transfering money to each to earn the interest. This is a 30 second job setting up a free ongoing standing order, one to deposit then one to move the money elsewhere the day after every month automatically. This is sufficient to meet the pay-in requirements of all the banks. > they might want to see a direct debit that is actually a salary Salaries aren't paid by direct debit, that's something else - an agreement that allows a company to withdraw a variable amount from your account. Some banks have a requirement that you have x direct debits setup (normally 1 or 2), you can work around that with something like https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity Cash ISAs serve minimal purpose with the new personal savings allowances. If you're a higher rate tax payer you get £500 tax free, £1000 if you're a lower rate cash payer. I'd question why you're holding so much cash if you're getting a return higher than that, there's often better places for your money. Check https://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/ https://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
benj111 8y ago
Unless your monthly turnover is massive you could probably afford to lock some of that away for a year and get higher interest rates. Or look into an offset mortgage. Even bog standard instant access accounts are above that, and have the added benefit of not potentially losing all your money when you debit card gets nicked.

by LandR 8y ago

ansible 8y ago

What's stopping you from opening up similar accounts with other banks?

dec0dedab0de 8y ago
They don't exist
LandR 8y ago
Most banks that will give you a current account will want to see £xxxx deposited every month (e.g, your salary) to earn any interest (if they even offer interest, it's rare on a current account). I could open multiple, but then every month I'd need to spend time transfering money to each to earn the interest. Im not sure that would even count towards deposited every month, they might want to see a direct debit that is actually a salary. I'm not sure. Further, I have an ISA (which is the UK tax free saving accont), that earns under 1% too and I'm limited to £20k a year into that account. I have another account that pays ~2.x% per year, but on that one I'm limited to £250 a month. Interest rates are abysmal right now in the UK.
- ansible 8y ago
  Some workplaces can split your direct deposit from payroll into multiple accounts. _If_ you can hit the deposit limits that way. The bank doesn't need to know it is not your entire salary.
- vidarh 8y ago
  The time isn't an issue - you can set up standing orders yourself with most UK online banking sites. If they require a direct debit that's another matter.
  - AdamGibbins 8y ago
    You can use something like https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity small cost to you, but probably worth it if you're getting sufficient return.
- SyneRyder 8y ago
  > Im not sure that would even count towards deposited every month, they might want to see a direct debit that is actually a salary. I'm not sure. For what it's worth, here in Australia they have similar offers. At one bank, I said I wasn't interested because of the regular 'salary' deposit requirement, and that bank offered to set me up with two accounts and a regular automated transfer between them to meet the minimum monthly deposit requirement. Though honestly, the fact they offered to do that concerned me even more.
- IneffablePigeon 8y ago
  As you say there's a few current accounts that will give you decent rates on smaller amounts but you'll have to set up the minimum pay-ins as standing orders (which works on almost all of them, I've had a fair few). You can also do the whole switching-for-bonuses thing which is much easier than it used to be and will give you an OK return but is more work than most people are willing to put in. However, if you're looking for something slightly better than what you've got now there are currently a fair few 1.5%ish easy access accounts available that you could just dump your savings in and make a fair bit more than you're currently getting. You can get 2-3% if you're willing to lock some up for a year+. ISAs are irrelevant for most people since the personal savings allowance came in - if you're earning less than £500/£1000 per year in interest (depending on income) then you won't pay tax anyway. moneysavingexpert.com has excellent round ups of this sort of thing.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  As a mortgage payer with no residual income "interests rates are fantastic in the UK right now", any reason I'm wrong it that framing?
- C1sc0cat 8y ago
  1.4 is about the best easy access cash ISA at the moment -BTW for non UK types you don't pay interest on any income in an ISA.
- AdamGibbins 8y ago
  > I could open multiple, but then every month I'd need to spend time transfering money to each to earn the interest. This is a 30 second job setting up a free ongoing standing order, one to deposit then one to move the money elsewhere the day after every month automatically. This is sufficient to meet the pay-in requirements of all the banks. > they might want to see a direct debit that is actually a salary Salaries aren't paid by direct debit, that's something else - an agreement that allows a company to withdraw a variable amount from your account. Some banks have a requirement that you have x direct debits setup (normally 1 or 2), you can work around that with something like https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity https://littledebits.co.uk/Direct-Debits-and-Charity Cash ISAs serve minimal purpose with the new personal savings allowances. If you're a higher rate tax payer you get £500 tax free, £1000 if you're a lower rate cash payer. I'd question why you're holding so much cash if you're getting a return higher than that, there's often better places for your money. Check https://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/ https://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk/
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

benj111 8y ago

Unless your monthly turnover is massive you could probably afford to lock some of that away for a year and get higher interest rates. Or look into an offset mortgage. Even bog standard instant access accounts are above that, and have the added benefit of not potentially losing all your money when you debit card gets nicked.