LL's Frugal February 2016

Thrifty tips, ideas, news & experiences on anything around the home to shopping to re-cycling etc.
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by lancashire lass »

Freeranger wrote:That's the type of thing I meant, LL. If yours isn't a Plus account, you can just ask for it to be changed


From the TSB website:

Classic Plus Account

Our most popular account with a high 5% AER variable interest on balances up to £2,000 and no monthly fees

To earn interest (which is paid monthly) just pay in a minimum of £500 a month and register for Internet Banking, Paperless Statements and Paperless Correspondence .

You must log on to Internet Banking through a desktop or a mobile browser within 12 months to read your inbox messages.

Plus, until 1 December 2016 you can earn 5% cashback on your first £100 of contactless payments every month.


that actually looks do-able (the minimum £500 covered by monthly salary, and up to (read that as less than) £2000 is not a problem) I do use online banking a lot and am comfortable with it. Plus I have to confess paper statements are rarely looked at. It's just the paperless correspondence that concerns me - I've been tricked before now from receiving an e-mail that looked genuine enough to find it wasn't my bank. As it happens I sussed it enough not to respond but it's too easy for me to accidentally mistake something (I once got conned into something over the telephone because I thought I was talking to someone else and before I knew it had given my credit card details over and set it up. Luckily it was just signing up to something I didn't want (meaning, I thought I was signing for one thing with a company I was already dealing with but the caller lied over the telephone when I asked if they were the people) but it could have been far worse - and this is before all the scams you hear about) But if it just means reading the messages online after I've signed in on the site, then it should be okay.

Freeranger wrote:Another alternative (the option 2 I was talking about) is to open another account like yours with another bank

Does that make sense?


... I think I understand what you mean. I have done the multiple bank/savings/credit card accounts in the past but I've gradually closed them to make my finances more simple. However, I think I'd like to go down the TSB monthly saver route, at least for the first 12 months:

Monthly Saver

If you’ve got a TSB current account, you can save from £25 to £250 each month and enjoy instant access with a great fixed rate.

Get an interest rate of 5.00% Gross/AER* fixed for a year.
Interest rates are fixed for the term of the account, which is 12 months from the date of account opening.
Carry on saving - at the end of your term your account will convert to a variable rate Easy Saver Account, currently paying 1.00% Gross/AER variable including a fixed bonus of 0.80% for the first 12 months. View our Easy Saver interest rates .
Interest is paid on maturity. For this account we normally issue statements on maturity.
If you have a current account, you can save from £25 to £250 per month and enjoy instant access with a fixed rate.
Instant access to your money with no withdrawal charges.
Make as many withdrawals as you like to your TSB current account, although you can only pay in once a month by standing order and cannot replace what you have withdrawn.
Enjoy the convenience of seeing your balance online and changing your standing order with Internet Banking.
Please note - you need to have a TSB current account to apply for a Monthly Saver


I have to confess that when I first posted about my plans for Frugal February I hadn't considered changing bank accounts or signing up for monthly savings but thank you everyone, )like(
Freeranger
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Freeranger »

You may not be thanking us once you're mid faff!! Hoping you find something that suits >fi<
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Mo
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Mo »

I'm not sure about TSB, but most banks will send an email to say you have a secure message. Then you can log in (using the address that you already know).
One of the things banks say is they never send an email without something to show that they really know who you are (full name, or address or something). Whereas a scam might email on the offchance that the person had an account with that bank, and would click on their link to a fake website.

They are clever though, I've almost been caught out a couple of times too.
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by lancashire lass »

Mo wrote:One of the things banks say is they never send an email without something to show that they really know who you are (full name, or address or something). Whereas a scam might email on the offchance that the person had an account with that bank


I haven't had e-mails from this bank but another account I had (not much money in BTW) said Acc no. ending ... 234 so you could recognize it was yours. I once got an e-mail from a "TSB bank" complete with logo and even the address looking similar so it did confuse me at first, telling there was a security problem and to click on the link to go and change my password. That immediately felt suspicious but for all that it could easily have seemed like the genuine thing.
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Mo
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Mo »

Yes, exactly.
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Freeranger
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Freeranger »

I was in Santander today, and I notice that they had a leaflet on how to protect yourself from scams. Don't know if any of the others do it. Might be worth picking one up if you're worried.
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

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well I've just gone and done it, and set up a Monthly Saver (5% interest) with the bank )t' - I have been deliberating for a long while about how to do the split between paying off the loan and mortgage (that is, the newly opened monthly saver that will go towards next year's one off mortgage payment) Although the loan would be paid off quicker if I made extra payments, I won't actually make any savings on it by paying any earlier (that is, it is a fixed sum owing regardless of when it is paid rather than a variable sum with interest added each month/year unlike the mortgage) It made more sense to try and pay that off earlier if I can especially as the interest rates could go up any time. So I decided to set up the standing order for £100 a month into the monthly savings (after 12 months it matures and then moved into an e-saver with a much lower interest rate)

For now, I just want to see how I cope with my outgoings when the water rates and council tax direct debits start up again (March and April) At the moment I should be about £50 a month better off than this time last year, but as things have a habit of going up in price I just want to make sure I am not struggling financially otherwise I could end up using the credit card to bail myself out ... which we don't want {warn} If after April/May I am still in the "plus", then I'll think about making regular extra payments to the loan.

I already have a monthly standing order set up to put money aside for the car service, road tax, MOT, insurance - the problem in the past is that I had to dip into those savings quite frequently just to live off or pay off a credit card, and then I never had enough money when the time came to pay for the car - for now, we seem to be okay and on course (and the credit card is still owing £0 :-D )

Some good news - I got a letter from the mortgage building society to say that I had "overpaid" on the early repayment of the interest only mortgage (this is, despite asking not once but twice to confirm the final figure I needed to know before paying such a large sum of money) and £57 has been put back into my bank account )c( As the second figure quoted was about £140 less than the first estimate I was given, combined that means I have nearly £200 extra in my bank account than usual - I think I will squirrel that away somewhere safe for the moment.

The bad news - I overdrew on my current account for a day in January so got a £5 bank charge :oops: So stupid too, it could have been avoided - I was so eager to cream the life assurance payment plus some extra money out of my current account straight away so that I didn't accidentally spend it that I forgot to take into account a one off purchase which nudged the balance into the negative before my monthly salary arrived. What a plonker ...

I have started up a "Christmas" savings pot - it really is a jam jar where I put the money I make off selling the eggs into a jar. In the past I've used this to buy stuff for the chickens or fertilizers for the allotment but I've decided instead to keep the pot going if I can as (1) I rarely use cash to buy things for the chickens eg food or worming stuff, and (2) I bought a load of stuff from the allotment shop before it closed for the winter so am well stocked up. It would be nice to have a little extra money to spend at Christmas not that I'm expecting a lot LOL

And finally, money saved from the council tax and water rate direct debits (that is, those months when I don't pay) Well, about £70 of those savings went towards the allotment fees, and currently I have about £100 saved (I may have spent some of the rest over Christmas) I think I will combine the extra money saved so far and put them into an emergency savings pot for now.

Next task ... to see the bank about changing my current account to a current plus account for the 5% interest .....
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Mo
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Mo »

lancashire lass wrote:well I've just gone and done it, and set up a Monthly Saver (5% interest) with the bank ) So I decided to set up the standing order for £100 a month into the monthly savings (after 12 months it matures and then moved into an e-saver with a much lower interest rate)

I already have a monthly standing order set up to put money aside for the car service, road tax, MOT, insurance - the problem in the past is that I had to dip into those savings quite frequently just to live off or pay off a credit card, and then I never had enough money when the time came to pay for the car - for now, we seem to be okay and on course (and the credit card is still owing £0 :-D )

Next task ... to see the bank about changing my current account to a current plus account for the 5% interest .....

)like(
The TSB regular savings is rather good. Some don't let you take any out more than once a year without losing interest, but TSB does. You can still only pay in £250, so you can't make it up faster than that.
Is your car savings earning good interest or would it be worth combining them. And take out the car money as needed.
And the other thing you can do is look at your bank balance a few days before the standing order is due, and if you have more to spare increase the standing order, just for that month.
Though if you change to the Current Account with 5% interest it will be earning in there too.

lancashire lass wrote:The bad news - I overdrew on my current account for a day in January so got a £5 bank charge :oops: So stupid too, it could have been avoided - I was so eager to cream the life assurance payment plus some extra money out of my current account straight away so that I didn't accidentally spend it that I forgot to take into account a one off purchase which nudged the balance into the negative before my monthly salary arrived. What a plonker ...



That is so annoying - the kind of thing I do through trying to be too clever.
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
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Meanqueen
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Meanqueen »

Hi LL, Your money saving doesn't half sound complicated, I don't know how you keep up with all that moving money about lark. Glad I don't have to do that.
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by Freeranger »

Good luck with it all, LL.

I'm always paying unnecessary fees for late things - bank accounts, credit cards, HMRC forms.....so easily done. I think I paid for HMRC's christmas party last year! That's a target for me now.

I know this IS a lot of faff, but then so are some of the other frugal things that people do - and at least it's only once a year!
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KarenE
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Re: LL's Frugal February 2016

Post by KarenE »

With the interest rates so low, it pays to plan ahead and shift things around. Plus it will keep the banks on their toes, can't have them assuming they'll always have your business.

I've got a Lloyds acct which gives 5%, and a santander 1-2-3 acct plus a couple of savings accounts which I shuffle money around, as well as an ISA. I'm thinking of the TSB account as well.

I tend to fall down on things like car insurance renewal and energy providers - I should search around more to get a better deal, but usually leave it too late.

Sounds like you're getting on top of things LL )t'
Karen
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