The Lemon Fool

automatic transfers to a linked current account?

Say I want to transfer £500 per month to my current account on the 1st of the month - that sort of thing. It would be a savings account - no overdrafts, no loans, no standing orders , no direct debits, and so on. Has anyone ever come across an account of this sort?

Hmmm....well I'm a bit of a rate tart so I've had lots of savings accounts over the years (a majority of which are still open in "dormant" mode, i.e. with only £1 in them, just to keep an a/c with that bank/b.soc open) and while I haven't looked for it I don't believe any of them have ever had that facility, not even the savings a/cs that came with current accounts.

Further, the (AFAIAA) last savings accounts to allow direct debits from them (B'ham Midshires), which would have achieved the same result, closed a couple of years back. However..........

Something you might consider is to get a notice account and put in a sequence of future dated withdrawals. E.g. open a 30 day notice account, put a chunk of money in, then put in withdrawals for, say, £500 for after 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc.

I do that, although for a different reason. I had a 90(ish) day notice account for some don't need instant access but don't want to tie up for a year money but then got a little frustrated at the delay (90 days of course) at tarting up for a better rate for it, so I put in withdrawals for a third each at 90, 120 & 150 days, and when those came up if there was a better rate around I'd shift that third to the better a/c and if not I'd cancel the withdrawal -- but in both cases I'd immediately put in a withdrawal for that third for 90 days hence.

The end effect now is that I have a third of my 90 day money available for up-tarting every 30 days, and even if I don't it means I effectively have some 30 day money (one third) at 90 day interest rates.

Chase does offer this facility between current and savings (and vice versa).

(For those who need to know, it's via "Move Money between your accounts" , "Schedule")

Kantwebefriends wrote:automatic transfers to a linked current account?

Say I want to transfer £500 per month to my current account on the 1st of the month - that sort of thing. It would be a savings account - no overdrafts, no loans, no standing orders , no direct debits, and so on. Has anyone ever come across an account of this sort?

I just use a direct debit

chas49 wrote:Chase does offer this facility between current and savings (and vice versa).

(For those who need to know, it's via "Move Money between your accounts" , "Schedule")

NatWest used to have one better. It would automatically "sweep" money between your current and savings account as needed, daily if needed depending on activity, to ensure there was always a small positive balance in the current account. Thereby maximising the amount earning interest.

A very good idea, so of course NWB scrapped it, causing me to close the savings account.

pje16 wrote:

Kantwebefriends wrote:automatic transfers to a linked current account?

Say I want to transfer £500 per month to my current account on the 1st of the month - that sort of thing. It would be a savings account - no overdrafts, no loans, no standing orders , no direct debits, and so on. Has anyone ever come across an account of this sort?

I just use a direct debit

It'd be very unusual for a savings account to allow direct debits. I have a vague memory that Tesco Bank used to support it.

In any case I doubt it would allow it to be actioned by an individual rather than an organisation.

Scott.

In any case I doubt it would allow it to be actioned by an individual rather than an organisation.

Scott.

I agree with Scott

afaik..........DDs are for corporate use and individuals use 'standing orders'

as for the OPs question but iro S/Os ??.......

mutantpoodle wrote:afaik..........DDs are for corporate use and individuals use 'standing orders'

as for the OPs question but iro S/Os ??.......

But again, typically savings accounts don't allow standing orders OUT.

IN is entirely normal.

Scott.

Swill453 wrote:In any case I doubt it would allow it to be actioned by an individual rather than an organisation.

Scott.

mutantpoodle wrote:I agree with Scott

afaik..........DDs are for corporate use and individuals use 'standing orders'

as for the OPs question but iro S/Os ??.......

DDs are for corporate use and individuals use 'standing orders

I think it depends on the reason. The charities I support all wanted us to use DD. I explained that our policy was for SO only. No problem at all.

This was at least 10 years ago and I felt more in control with SO.

Steve

pje16 wrote:

Kantwebefriends wrote:automatic transfers to a linked current account?

Say I want to transfer £500 per month to my current account on the 1st of the month - that sort of thing. It would be a savings account - no overdrafts, no loans, no standing orders , no direct debits, and so on. Has anyone ever come across an account of this sort?

I just use a direct debit

Ok, so which savings account do you have that allows you to have a direct debit from it?

mc2fool wrote:Ok, so which savings account do you have that allows you to have a direct debit from it?

OK my mistake, my 123 current account at Santander I think of it as a savings account though technically it isn't

pje16 wrote:

mc2fool wrote:Ok, so which savings account do you have that allows you to have a direct debit from it?

OK my mistake, my 123 current account at Santander I think of it as a savings account though technically it isn't

OK, and which other current account do you have that lets you set up a DD from the 123 a/c to it? There are two sides to a DD...

chas49 wrote:Chase does offer this facility between current and savings (and vice versa).

(For those who need to know, it's via "Move Money between your accounts" , "Schedule")

and chase has just annonced they will start paying 1% on CURRENT accounts too

mc2fool wrote:

pje16 wrote:OK my mistake, my 123 current account at Santander I think of it as a savings account though technically it isn't

OK, and which other current account do you have that lets you set up a DD from the 123 a/c to it? There are two sides to a DD...

Mc2, you are in danger of confusing the issue by referring to direct debits. The OP didn't ask about direct debits. He asked about automatic transfers, similar to "sweeps" as mentioned by another poster.

(Direct debits are quite different, in that they are to, and controlled by another external organisation, such as energy bills to an energy company. With a direct debit, the amount is collected by the other organisation from the current account and the other organisation has control of the debits, subject to them notifying the customer in advance of any changes).

Re the OP's question, it's quite common for an online type savings account to allow transfers to a current account with the same bank, but normally on an "ad hoc" requested basis, rather than as a regular standing order. And as mentioned by another poster, some banks' accounts allow "sweeps" from the current to the savings account (with themselves), but note from current accounts to savings accounts, NOT the other way round., or rather I don't have knowledge of any going the other way round.

richfool wrote:

mc2fool wrote:OK, and which other current account do you have that lets you set up a DD from the 123 a/c to it? There are two sides to a DD...

Mc2, you are in danger of confusing the issue by referring to direct debits. The OP didn't ask about direct debits. He asked about automatic transfers, similar to "sweeps" as mentioned by another poster.

No, I'm not confusing them at all. It was pje16 that answered the OP saying "I just use a direct debit" and I'm trying to get him to elucidate on that, indeed, 'cos I believe that he is the one that's confused!

BYW & FYI, direct debits are (or at least have not always been) "controlled by another external organisation, such as energy bills to an energy company"; it used to be quite common to be able to feed savings a/cs from current accounts using direct debits, but the last I knew of those closed last year, although apparently the Ecology BS still has that facility. viewtopic.php?p=532074#p532074

As I said in my initial reply to this thread, I don't believe I've ever seen a savings a/c that has the facility the OP wants, but I did suggest a possible method of doing it using notice a/cs, if that might fit with the OP's needs.

Kantwebefriends wrote:automatic transfers to a linked current account?

Say I want to transfer £500 per month to my current account on the 1st of the month - that sort of thing. It would be a savings account - no overdrafts, no loans, no standing orders , no direct debits, and so on. Has anyone ever come across an account of this sort?

Many years ago we set up Balanced Banking accounts with the Royal Bank of Scotland, and these are still operating. We have a Balanced Banking Current Account and a Balanced Banking Savings Account, and we nominated how much money we wished to be present in the Current Account. The Bank automatically transfers money between the accounts to maintain this figure. When we started with Balanced Banking the interest rates in the Savings Account were substantial, but interest rates have fallen sharply since those early days. However they have recently increased a little - and we are now being paid 1.66% AER in the Saving Account - and Zero in the Current Account. I don't know if these accounts are currently available. To all intents and purposes, this Balanced Banking operates like a single Current Account, with interest paid on all but the nominated amount we have sitting in the actual Current Account.

Thanks all: food for thought. Indeed, comes inspiration! It would be even better if the linked savings account could be a Cash ISA. We can but hope.

I have an HSBC savings account that does not allow standing orders to come out of it, but does allow me to set up future one-off payments. I just sit down for half an hour setting up all the ones I want for the coming 12 months. Not a brilliant solution, but it worked for me.