savings account

[mags5kids]

hi. i'm hoping someone can help. i opened a co-op cash minder bank account but i need to open a savings account for car tax, maintenance, school uniform etc. the co-op offer an isa but i just want a basic savings that i can get to when its needed. the only ones i can find have to have a certain amount of money paid in each month. obviously i'm only looking at paying in a litle. does anyone know of a savings account suitable for me. thank you

[rayb]

Hi,

You could try Natwest - they are pretty good. (as long as they are not one of your creditors)

I know as crazy as it sounds it seems to be very hard to open a savings account with alot of banks as they do a credit check for some unknown reason

[plasticdaft]

I think a few on here have opened a 2nd cashminder account for the purpose of putting money away.

[sunkendrailer]

How much realistically are you allowed to save?
If I had a particularly good month where I scrimped and saved - could I put that all into a contingency savings account or would I need to pay it into the IVA.
Most of the time it would end up being perhaps £50-75 per month - but if I have a couple of weeks off and end up not having to pay about £100 on fuel - that would give me a better month money-wise.
Would it be OK to put that into savings as it's a one-off or would that need to be paid into the IVA?
I assume because there will be a set monthly payment, anything over and above that (within reason of course) can be saved without needing to pay into the IVA.

[MRBLUESKY]

the coop have a smart saver account,that you can manage online with your cashminder account.

[plasticdaft]

Whatever you manage to save is yours to save sunkendrailer. We are the same if we have a week off work we are better off fuel wise.

Paul

[kallis3]

Whatever savings you make are yours.

I'm looking forward to Easter when I can have a week off and not have to buy any extortionately priced fuel!

[johnB]

I managed to save about £200 to £300 per year in my IVA, and had no problems with this (saved from cutting cost on somethings and contingency not used) DFD told me I could save all the contingency for the whole 5 yrs if I wanted to..

I have a savings account with Co-op (an ISA) and a savings account with local building society and an account with NS&I (had no problems with opening any of them)

[MelanieGiles]

A savings account is a must when you are in an IVA to help with money management, and if you do manage to save a bit out of your allowances then good luck to you all. You still have to have a life to look forward to, even when you are in debt.

[johnB]

Very well put Melanie.

I found it all to easy for the first year of my IVA to be so overwhelmed by what had happened to me (Amex credit card, massive overdraft, loans etc. and to then have nothing and have to put myself in an IVA) to even consider saving money or putting something aside for a rainy day. Now it is second nature.

I personally started off saving in a credit union (no credit checks) and then used a prepaid card to save money.

[Shining]

Excellent post Melanie, it's always good to have a bit behind you in case of emergencies and if you save the money it's yours x