Reglar saver or deposit a/c,which produces best actual return

Having deposited 750 euro for a month in a halifax regular saver at 7.00% my net return is 325.26.
Would i actually have been better off putting 9000 in Northern Rock or similar a/c up front?
Basically are the regular saver accounts a marketing gimmick?

Bear in mind, you only had 750 in the regular saver account in the first month, 1500 in the second, etc.
You're only getting interest on what you have lodged each month.

With a lump sum account you're putting 9000 away up front.
So you can't compare the two directly.

The best return is simply indicated by the interest rate.

If you want to maximise your return on a lump sum, put it into a lump sum account like NR, then drip-feed it to the regular saver each month.
Note - you need to watch the interest rate on regular savers - e.g. Halifax have recently dropped their rates on accounts taken out before a date in Oct 2006 - so your account may no longer be competitive

Thanks John I have already closed my hellifax a/c since the interest rate collapse!
As for the protracted closure process....hence the hellifax!

If you dripfeed from NR for example are you getting the lower interest rate from them?
As far as I can see I would have got a better return by putting 9000 euro with NR for a year.

If you have the 9k up front of course it will earn more interest over a year because you have that full amount invested for the full year. With the regular saver you are increasing the amount you have invested each month up to the value of approx 9k.

falcon7xs said:

Thanks John I have already closed my hellifax a/c since the interest rate collapse!
As for the protracted closure process....hence the hellifax!

If you dripfeed from NR for example are you getting the lower interest rate from them?
As far as I can see I would have got a better return by putting 9000 euro with NR for a year.

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You are focusing on the interest earned on one account you need to look at your total interest earned. For example if you have 12K deposited in a lump sum account with an interest rate of 5% it would earn €600 a year. However, if you dripfeed a regular savers account (assume the interest rste on this account is 7%) with say 1K per month your balance in your lump sum account would gradually decrease and so would your interest relative to what you could have earned if you didn't withdraw any money. BUT as your balance in your regular savings account increases so would your interest in that account. So based on the same example if you dripfed a regular savings account you would earn €275 interest in your lump sum account BUT you would also earn €455 from your reglular savings account. Thats a total of €730. So overall you're better off.

Of course this only works if you're paying into a regular savings account which has a higher interest rate than the lump sum account