I have just had an email from M&S, just skim read it and IF you transfer your current account to them and are willing to save each month for 1 year a minimum of £25, max of £250, you can get 6% AER/GROSS… Can’t withdraw or you have to close the account.
I may do it, been with the same bank for years and they don’t give much away.
If you want to save a small amount and can afford to leave it then might be worth it… haven’t read ALL the small print yet.
When you’ve read it… is there a maximum transfer from your current account. Would I be able to transfer all my savings into my current account and then transfer to the M&S one and get 6% for a set term? Doubt it, but let me know 
Crewed a yacht in 1991 for two weeks around the French Riviera, Elba and Corsica - fantastic!
Bear me in mind Bill!! stevmk2
You’ve had such an exciting life Stevmk2, you’ve seen so many places too.
I was reading about your post on Spain. We saw the programme with properties around Costa Calida and it looked very nice. Places near Dena seem to look good too, more lush and different Nationalities living there, rather than just us Brits. Unfortunately we can’t afford a second home and could see problems in old age if we sold up. Many people have to come back to the UK when they can’t look after themselves any longer, that would be a big worry. So we’re just left with the dreams…
Cranberry, beware the maths!
Suppose you save £100 a month for a year.
For month 1, you get 1 years interest on £100.
For month 2, you get 11 months interest on £200… etc…
For Month 11, you get 1 months (ie 0.5%) interest on £1200.
So that equates to a lot less than 6% (less tax). A lot better than most, but not all that it seems and on a relatively small amount.
However, if you deposit at least £1k a month, you can get 5% on balances up to £3k. (ie. keep a min of £3k balance and get 5% on the whole amount)
Ahhh, these things are never what they seem, are they? So it looks similar to the one that Santander are offering - I think…
Think I’ll put my fiver under the mattress! 
6% on £250 isn’t worth the bother of changing accounts, there are other deals out there that could work better for you
£250 a month, Honey, but from reading more it doesn’t seem worth all the faff anyway.
Yes, I think you’re probably right - I have saved the info and will study it later. Haven’t got loads of dosh but some ISAs are paying very little, may as well get what we can…
[quote=“Diamond Lady, post: 594997”]
Count me in !! 
I may buy some Premium Bonds and keep them for 12 months, as a bit of fun. Always nice to dream each month and saves on buying Lottery tickets, not that I do very often!![/QUOTW
Welcome aboard Diamond lady, nothing too adventurous to begin with, maybe just a trip up the canals.
A very good friend of mine from when I worked at the BBC bought a place out in Spain not far from Gandia Diamond Lady and they stayed in and around Dénia at first then Deveses, both nice place to live with Deveses actually being closer to Oliva than Dénia.
Whenever we were on holiday near to them we tried to meet up with them and we even started going to the Costa Brava on his recommendation as he’d had many family holidays there as a child.
Sadly he died from cancer and to me it was like losing a brother.
The recession in Spain and losing him too ended our dreams of living out there as his wife couldn’t bear to stay when he died and we could see that happening to us some time in the future but the most important reason was my deafness.
They have great health care in Spain but it costs you a lot to get what we get on the NHS here and our income would not have been that good anyway.
We couldn’t afford a 2nd home - it would have been a total move out there.
As I said, the Costa Calida was our first choice - Los Alcazares looks quite good now from that programme but it was always a friendly place I’m told.
So is Ondara, not far from Dénia and it’s the fruit & veg capital of that part of Southern Spain - nice town too!
We had neighbours that went to live in Portugal - they’re back for good now but it’s for health reasons again - bit unfair really because technically they were not entitled to NHS care as they lived in Portugal when they came over for NHS treatment in 2012 but hundreds of Brits do that. stevmk2
Being an over 50’s forum, I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the `Saga Savings account’ which allows savings between £1K-£1m.
1.54% Gross interest and easy access.
You have to be over 50 y.o to open this account.
I recently opened mine. Online account only (I think).
http://www.saga.co.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2014/nov/online-variable-account-launch.aspx
[quote=“billclay, post: 595944”]
Canals are ok, but I like the sea - more exciting !! I did quite a bit of crewing for my dad, so I’ll pull my weight !!
[quote=“billclay, post: 595944”]
I’ve had Premium Bonds for more than 20 years but only won £50 which was my original outlay, to expect a decent win you’d have to invest thousands and of course you’re not getting interest paid so they’re not for everyone
[quote=“Honey, post: 597225”]
You’re so right you do need thousands. When we sold our property we had to go into rented accommodation for a short whilst waiting for the new one to be ready. We maxed the amount in Bonds between ourselves and a couple of family members, only over a 6 month period. We did have small wins, but only what we would have got if put in an interest bearing account.
Not sure if we’d go down that road again, even just for 12 months, as a guaranteed amount of interest, however small, is better than nothing, for us. Since we did the Bond thing there are fewer prizes now. It just crossed my mind to do it for say 12 months as ‘they’ say interest rates won’t go up for a couple of years and so tying it up for 4 to 5 years on the low rates offered at the moment is a bit daunting. ‘They’ said interest rates would go up this year, so you never know ‘they’ could be wrong and they may go up in 2016. Always a difficult call to know what to do, particularly when you’re in a position where you need to get the best possible.
I’ll leave my £50 in to gather dust always in the hope that I’ll get lucky
I used to have just a few pounds in the Bonds in the 70s - every month I’d dream about what I would do with the money (re-wire the house from memory!) - never won anything but it was always fun to dream. My OH had £1 in the Bonds when I met him, given to him by his grandparents when he was a child - he often moaned about this pound not winning anything. We cashed it in, when we moved!
Good luck, you just never know.
that’s what keeps me going!
