Llyods current account paying 4% catch?
Llyods current account paying 4% catch?
Author
Discussion

Yuxi

Original Poster:

649 posts

205 months

Sunday 30th January 2011
quotequote all
Thinking of moving my current account from Santander (old AL account) because the month they decide to stop paying interest on my current account they start advertising for new customers saying they will pay them £100 to join.

This account http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/vantage_... says it will pay 4% on balances between £5000 and £7000, and no interest on any amount over £7000. So I could put £6000 in, get my salary paid in every month, get 4% on £7000, nothing on the balance over £7000, towards the end of the month the balance would aproach £6000.

I cannot see anything about a limit period for the 4%, its seems better than the Halifax account where they pay you £5 a month. I am not bothered about any overdraft facilitys.

This seems too good to be true, whats the catch?

Thanks for reading

993Targa

867 posts

255 months

Sunday 30th January 2011
quotequote all
There is no catch, had Vantage for about 12months now.

onomatopoeia

3,512 posts

233 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Yup, no catch, provided you keep 7k in you get about £18 in interest each month.


Yuxi

Original Poster:

649 posts

205 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
OK, thanks.

I dont understand why people would put money in an ISA paying 2.85% when they could do this instead?

fido

17,853 posts

271 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Yuxi said:
OK, thanks.

I dont understand why people would put money in an ISA paying 2.85% when they could do this instead?
is the 4% tax-free?

Deva Link

26,934 posts

261 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
..and £7K limit.

Crazycraig

485 posts

247 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
and 4% only on the £2,000 between £5,000-£7,000.

Yuxi

Original Poster:

649 posts

205 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
No, 4% is not tax free, the £18 a month mentioned above is after tax at 20% (actualy 18.66) the ISA at 2.85% is 16.62 a month.

I read the T and Cs as you get 4% on the whole balance if you have between £5000 and £7000 in there, if you have more you get 4% on £7000, nothing on anything over.

Still looks good to me.

Edited by Yuxi on Monday 31st January 12:48

onomatopoeia

3,512 posts

233 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Crazycraig said:
and 4% only on the £2,000 between £5,000-£7,000.
If the balance is over £5000 you get 4% on the first £7000 of the whole balance.

That's my personal experience. I get ~£18/month interest, (7000*0.032)/12 = 18.67 (the length of a month varies and depends on whether the month end falls on a working day) so that seems about right.

No point putting it in the offset or the cash ISA when it's making 3.2% net.

Yuxi

Original Poster:

649 posts

205 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
onomatopoeia said:
If the balance is over £5000 you get 4% on the first £7000 of the whole balance.

That's my personal experience. I get ~£18/month interest, (7000*0.032)/12 = 18.67 (the length of a month varies and depends on whether the month end falls on a working day) so that seems about right.

No point putting it in the offset or the cash ISA when it's making 3.2% net.
Thank you, I think I will go for it.

worsy

6,250 posts

191 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Yuxi said:
No, 4% is not tax free, the £18 a month mentioned above is after tax at 20% (actualy 18.66) the ISA at 2.85% is 16.62 a month.

I read the T and Cs as you get 4% on the whole balance if you have between £5000 and £7000 in there, if you have more you get 4% on £7000, nothing on anything over.

Still looks good to me.

Edited by Yuxi on Monday 31st January 12:48
And to some people the value of banking with someone decent is more important than £2.04 net per month smile

jj333

442 posts

175 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
Would the first direct 1st account be a better option than this? Pays £100 to switch to them (but no interest on current acount) & gives access to a regular saver paying 8% on a max of £300 p/m

Dave_ITR

835 posts

213 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
I have my savings account with HSBC and whilst it now pays me naff all interest (the 1st 12 months were pretty good) I am reluctant to change it as I am happy with the service.

I will however look at their ISA's when I get around to it.

AyBee

10,911 posts

218 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
Is there anything stopping someone having numerous current accounts? There seems like there is a bit of money to be made if you can be bothered with the hassle of setting it all up...! For example - I have 2 accounts at the moment. Transfer one of them to santander - pick up £100 + 5% interest on balances under £2500 (requires £1000 to go in every month), leave the other as an account at Lloyds (with a balance between £5,000 and £7,000), add Vantage to that (requires £1000 to go in every month). Is there anything to stop that same £1000 being pumped around the accounts by standing order so that each account receives the required £1000 per month and therefore qualifies for the £100 from Santander and a minimum of 3.2% interest after tax?

Ok, so it would require a bit of work to set them both up to work that way but there's a reasonable amount of money (£300+) to be made for setting those up and leaving it like that for a year considering I'm getting nothing from either account at the moment...!

Would anyone recommend against doing this? It would involve losing the account I use most at the moment (i.e. not the Lloyds one) but I think I could cope with that.

993Targa

867 posts

255 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
AyBee said:
Is there anything stopping someone having numerous current accounts? There seems like there is a bit of money to be made if you can be bothered with the hassle of setting it all up...!
I suppose it will probably depend upon the T&C's, is it not the case that most of these types of accounts are looking for a salary to be paid in (Lloyds Vantage being slightly different). Thus a credit from yourself may not comply?

mblade123

533 posts

208 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
They have limited it to 3 accounts only. Ive had 3 for over a year now.
All you need to do is move a thousand pounds from 1 account to another and then back again.

AyBee

10,911 posts

218 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
mblade123 said:
They have limited it to 3 accounts only. Ive had 3 for over a year now.
All you need to do is move a thousand pounds from 1 account to another and then back again.
So sounds like it does work. Now...how do I transfer an account without closing the original scratchchin I quite fancy keeping the account I normally use but that would have to be the one I transferred to Santander frown

mblade123

533 posts

208 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
quotequote all
AyBee said:
So sounds like it does work. Now...how do I transfer an account without closing the original scratchchin I quite fancy keeping the account I normally use but that would have to be the one I transferred to Santander frown
Well I started off with one but there is no reason you cant open 3 in one go. If you have the funds put 7k into 2 accounts and 8k in one. Then just set up a standing order from the 8k account to the 2nd and then the 3rd and finaly back to the first. That way you comply with the TCs of 1k per month going into the account. Dead easy if you do internet banking.

AyBee

10,911 posts

218 months

Thursday 3rd February 2011
quotequote all
mblade123 said:
Well I started off with one but there is no reason you cant open 3 in one go. If you have the funds put 7k into 2 accounts and 8k in one. Then just set up a standing order from the 8k account to the 2nd and then the 3rd and finaly back to the first. That way you comply with the TCs of 1k per month going into the account. Dead easy if you do internet banking.
Is there a way of tranferring without completely closing an account? You can only get the £100 from santander by transfering but my Natwest account also has a credit card attached which I've just got so would rather not close it completely - happy to transfer my income to the santander account...! Haven't got enough to keep that much in 3 accounts yet but would be planning on keeping the lloyds one above £5k with income going into the santander one and then transfering £1000 through to the lloyds account and back to santander once a month until my £2.5k balance is reached in the santander account since the better interest rate is also on the santander account.

Sorry for the thread hijack OP! boxedin

Tino

1,948 posts

299 months

Thursday 3rd February 2011
quotequote all
Thanks for the tip OP, I've just opened 1, and will open up the 2 others in the next couple of days(only allowed to open 1 per day)
Painless over the phone, nice and easy....