Does anyone use bank accounts as savings accounts?

[cookiemunster]

I have about £12k to save, and will save another ~£12k over the coming year. I'd like to put it in in one or more current accounts to maximise interest, eg TSB 5%, Santander 123 3%, Club Lloyds 4%.

Does anyone else do this? The main thing I'm wondering is how many accounts it is sensible to open in a short space of time, as presumably it affects your credit rating? I don't have any major loan applications coming up for another 2 years (mortgage renewal due), but still don't want a big hit on my credit file.

I use the Santander account, it is my main current account but I keep it at a level to maximise interest.

Do you bank with any of those bank atm? If so would an application for one of these account mean a credit check anyway?

Not sure whether opening a couple of new bank accounts would impact negatively?

No I only bank with Natwest at the moment, and they don't have any good products. I think I would need to open four new accounts to maximise savings. Alternatively I could just open one (Santander), but would lose out on ~£110 interest in the first year.

Hi, we're in the same situation, we have 3 bank of Scotland accounts, a tsb account and a nationwide account. I don't know about credit ratings, but we get just under £10 for each a month and we would much rather have that at the minute.

Don't those current accounts with benefits normally require a minimum monthly income?

We've opened accounts with other banks for this very reason. We were cycling money between two accounts as well (standing orders) on advice of a bank manager to maximise the interest.

I don't think it has impacted our credit rating.

How many accounts do you have Norm, and how quickly did you open them?

Bike, they usually just require you to deposit a certain amount each month, but it can be a transfer from another account rather than a paycheck.

Yes - got the TSB 5% account and in the process of opening the Nationwide one. It does take some juggling of Standing Orders but it's worth it I think.

yes, me and thousands of others with cash savings. it is the only way to get vaguely decent interest. Inflation is NOT zero! There are people with 20 plus current accounts.

you don't need an income of the required pay-in amount. You just set up the accounts and move the same cash round by standing order. No effect on credit rating, although if you are opening several on the same day it can flag up checks so spread it out a bit.

5%: TSB Classic Plus, Nationwide (1 year only)
4% LLoyds and the associated saving account
3% Santander, Bank of Scotland, Tesco

Yes, between us DH and I have 5 of the TSB accounts and a Santander one. The same £500 makes its way from one to the other, to the other, to the other etc every month via standing orders. DH is self employed so we use it to keep the tax money until it has to be paid.

Is this legal ? What's to stop you having 50 accounts?

God, what a headache it would all be.

Oh, I see, it's a minimum amount / month account, but also a maximum amount overall.

I still maintain that this is a huge pain. Surely you could make more £ doing something else, rather than spending time doing this?

At last count maybe five or six current accounts. Opened over a period of a few years, but the Lloyds a Bank manager certainly had no problem with me opening two accounts for this purpose - with our salaries paid into another bank entirely.

He then set up standing orders to move the money between the accounts each month to meet the minimum monthly deposit criteria for the extra interest rate.

Wasting, once you've set the SO up (which takes minutes) it's no bother at all, honestly. But everyone has to do what's right for themselves - for me I enjoy doing it, because we were in debt for so long it's still a novelty to have savings

And yes, it's totally legal although the banks limit how many of each account you can have.

Thanks Hey , I had no idea that people do this.

Thanks all!

I have been known to have to admit I don't know whether I have an account with a particular bank or building society because we have done this with so many accounts for years.

Banks want you to have them as your main current account but as long as you meet the criteria of monthly deposits or DDs there is no reason why you can't have multiple current accounts.
It sometimes requires careful organisation (DH has big spreadsheet) but with interest rates as they are it's worth putting the effort in.

it is perfectly legal.

yes, of course you make more money working, but if you have cash savings (which everyone should) they need to get enough interest to at least stay ahead of inflation. With savers seen as dirt for years now, these games are essential to keep savings worth anything.

inflation is not zero as the government would have you believe. It runs about 2-3% at least unless you eat flat-screen TVs and i-phones and buy nothing else.

there are no other ways in the UK of getting interest on cash.