Account Armageddon - TSB, Llloyds, BoS, Halifax

[chickenboy]

As per previous posts and Martin...
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/b ... rom-4-to-2

To summarise:

• Halifax's Reward and Ultimate Reward current accounts will pay £3/mth rather than £5/mth from next February.
• Bank of Scotland's Reward and Ultimate Reward accounts will also pay £3/mth rather than £5/mth from next February.
• Club Lloyds current account will halve its headline interest rate from 4% to 2% in January.
• TSB Classic Plus current account will pay 3% on amounts up to £1,500 from January, down from 5% on up to £2,000. AND they will change TSB Plus to Enhance accounts for people with more than 1 plus account
• Santander - already gone to 1.5% and £5/month

BUT what does this leave? No news (yet) on...
BOS Classic Vantage (3%)
Tesco (3%)
Nationwide FlexDirect (5% for 1 yr)

2-3% the new normal? All shifting to P2P?

[planteria]

i don't think we are going to see a lot more than 2-3% cb..
and good question.. my thoughts are to focus more on Investing than 'Saving'..by which i mostly mean taking advantage of Cash account deals. but perhaps P2P is the wise home for Stoozepots??

[joker]

I use p2p. Quite a bit. But I have 3-4x the amount in Fscs backed accounts. Whilst I may increase p2p a bit it won't cover finding a home for all the accounts which no longer pay their way.

That said, my mortgage works out as the same as 2.3% in a savings account, so whilst the opposite of stoozing it may make sense to get that below a key threshold to reduce the interest there.

[chickenboy]

Bank of Scotland haven't mentioned their Classic Vantage, AND they have recently introduced the 2 Direct Debit rule - I wonder if that means that is all they plan to change - in which case a few more BoS Vantages (5K each at 3%) might be in order.

Also, the Nationwide FlexDirect deal is very clear that its 5% for 12months - so just locked in another of these

[joker]

That 12 month rule seems a little flexible... according to MSE ... not quite sure on the details but worth a read.

[chickenboy]

It probably is a bit flexible, but I'm going to have a lot to move around from all my soon-to-be duff TSB accounts...

[YorkshireBoy]

I'm going to have a lot to move around from all my soon-to-be duff TSB accounts...

Me too. Best case (if we keep them all) is £8.5K. Worst case (if they cut to one each plus joint) is £29,500.

[Sarah]

Tesco Bank have a new offer 2500 points for switching a current account - probably invite only and might also vary from one customer to another (received an e-mail earlier today). Hope that I can switch into an existing account as I already have the max 2 accounts.

[YorkshireBoy]

Hope that I can switch into an existing account as I already have the max 2 accounts.

I haven't had the email myself, but the one I've seen reproduced elsewhere seems to say you can switch into an existing account.

[planteria]

interesting.. i reckon i would take £25worth to collapse soon. TSB in mind in a few short months. and i wonder about bothering to maintain Halifax Reward accounts.