Maximising Lump Sum Returns - Regular Saver Products Attractive Again

L

Lightning

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Maybe I'm saying the obvious but the best strategy for maximizing return for lump sums is arguably changing again.

For the last 2 years or so, if you wanted an instant access account, for a lump sum, it was clear that you got the best rate by choosing a non-domestic offering such as Trade Republic or Trading212 or Advanzia rather than using regular saver products.

The situation has somewhat flipped again. Many domestic regular saver products pay more than the likes of Trade Republic. And will lock in your rate for a year, and still offer instant access, which you won't get with Trading212 nor Advanzia, which is a nice feature in a declining rate environment.

Specifically, the BoI Supersaver that pays 3.00% AER Fixed for year 1 up to 2,500 EUR per month.

And the EBS Family Saver that pays 3.00% Fixed up to 1,000 EUR per month for the first year.

I.e. If anyone wants to maximize their return on a lump sum and lock in 3.00% one strategy is:
- Feed 2,500 EUR per month into BoI SuperSaver for 1 year. 3.00% Fixed.
- Feed next 1,000 EUR per month into EBS Family Saver for 1 year. 3.00% Fixed.
- Any remainder into 3.40% Advanzia (but rate might drop after 3 months and variable thereafter) or 3.00% variable with Trading212 or 3.00% variable with a AIB regular saver (1,000 EUR per month and you can open 4 accounts, resets in a cycle after 1 year).

The BoI Supersaver product is particularly attractive right now.

No need to be earning less than 3.00% on lump sums in most cases.
 
The kicker is the annual interest, although AIB seem to pay annually "in April" so you could get that interest presumably in a month and a half
 
Yeah, Irish banks are very old-fashioned in terms of payment frequency of interest. Making customers wait a year to get paid is not ideal.

In contrast, Trading212 pay daily, a lot of money market products pay daily, Bunq pays weekly and most other pan-european offerings pay monthly.
 
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I think the other big issue is that as supersaver is regular saver only, with no lump sums - is that with a monthly contribution of 2500 per month (30K per year), your average balance is only 15K across that full year - so you'll be getting 3% of that.
And then the interest falls to 2% on a max of 30K after that.

Vs 2.75% on 50K from Trade Republic (which will fall as the ECB drops rates of course).
 
What would be considered the best option for the following:

1. An irish bank, partner averse to anything else in spite of my efforts to persuade otherwise.

2. Joint Deposit account.

3. Lock away a lump sum of €30k for at least 1 yr.

What is the best product/rate? Apologies in advance if its already spelled out elsewhere.

Ps: I detest AIB/BOI etc for a few reasons mainly customer service (or lack thereof) and antiquated processes (seemingly we both have to go into aib branch for a pre arranged meeting to set up a deposit acc. Presumably so they can try sell us something.)

Thanks.
 
@jim There are many here who don't have much time for AIB and BOI after the way they conducted themselves over the last 25 years and the amount they cost the taxpayer. However if you are looking for a decent fixed term deposit with an Irish bank and rule both of these out there isn't much left. Apart from PTSB who give the other two a good run for their money in the awfulness league. You could also look at EBS however they are part of AIB and so far as I know they don't do fixed term. Or modern banking.

The full list of what's available is here. You can pick out the Irish ones pretty easily. Currently for 1 year PTSB are offering 2.75%, AIB 2.25% and BOI 2%.

You'll probably have to hold your nose and deal with one of these or consider changing your criteria. In any event given that you're interested in Fixed Term products the amount of interaction should be minimal.
 
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Both BOI super saver and AIB online saver can be set up over the phone without a Bank account with either.
With BOI, you will have only phone support, but that is good. A direct debit from your accounts occurs on a set date paper month.

With AIB you have mobile app access. You need to set up a deposit account first, and automatically the money moves into online account (up to 4) on a set day.

I've never banked with either, but setting these up were pain free.
 
I was told by aib the we would have to make an appnmnt and go into bank to set up a joint save acc. We both have current accs already. Mad stuff
 
@jim we encountered the same with AIB; it required to visit the branch to open a bog standard joint deposit account, despite both of us already having current and deposit accounts and online banking profiles with AIB. It appears that “joint anything” requires a trip to a branch, presumably a result of the lack of functionality in their systems. All very 1995.
 
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