Better to have money in one place or spread it around?

[juneybean]

I've currently got accounts here there and every where but mostly with NatWest who I moved to last year. I'm wondering if its easier to move my ISA to them so it too is accessible on my control panel. But I'm wondering if it is best to spread your money around?

Some accounts pay better interest the more you have in them, so some advantage in putting it all together. As long as it's within the guarantee limit thingy.

Having said that, I had my post-divorce house equity in three high-paying accounts back before the crash - one was Icelandic, another was Bradford & Bingley. Luckily I closed the accounts to complete on my house about 6 weeks before they all crashed.

I think it probably depends what you're trying to do.

If you want the money where you can see it all in one place, personally I wouldn't put it all in one bank to achieve that but have some software that I used to manage my money (I use YNAB but there are lots of others).

If you want to rationalise the number of accounts you've got, that's probably a good thing as there's little value in having loads of small-sum accounts floating around indefinitely, so I would certainly close those I wasn't really using.

If you want to spread the risk, i.e. of NatWest collapsing in an Icelandic-bank stylee, I would keep some accounts with different companies.

Whilst interest rates are so low there's not a massive amount of point in moving accounts around to get the best deal, but the time will come again when it's worth it - so I personally wouldn't consolidate everything with NatWest (or any other bank) just because it's currently convenient.

Spread around in case of some system breakdown.

If you have lots more than me, you want to have no more than £85,000 in any account under the same umbrella organisation.

Ooh god no I've got nothing like that much! U can only dream of that. I guess I want it accessible and interest rates seem low across the board unless I put it in a 90day notice account (which I did and now can't access a portion of my money until April!)

I guess I will keep things as they are so that I have my isa elsewhere away from NatWest so I still have access if NatWest blow up...

I*

that is a good point, there have been many recent IT failures so you want your money accessible from more than one bank.

no need for notice accounts. Open a current account with one or more of the following and get up to 3% depending on the amount you have: Lloyds Vantage, TSB Enhance, Bank of Scotland Vantage.

no fees, you need to pay in £1000 a month to each account but you can have the same £1000 moving round them all if you set up standing orders. You can have up to 3 of each account with up to £5000 in each one. They are real current accounts with cash cards and cheque books if you want them, and all have on-line banking. You don't need to be near a branch.

if that's not enough for your cash, next one is Santander which pays 3% on up to £20000 but you pay a £2 a month fee and need two direct debits.

85,000 is the limit with one banking group for money to be safe otherwise I think for most people split between 2 is enough so if online crash, no cash points there is an alternative,

best current account is first direct has been for years 93% of customers very satisfied or better but there is a minimum which you have to credit account with each month £1000-1500

I have different types of account to spread the risk but try to keep each type to a single institution rather than duplicate it too much. So day-today banking & short-term savings with one, and things like ISA, pension, stock market stuff, with others.