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Online savings bond help!

jwh1977
jwh1977 Posts: 7 Forumite
Tenth Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
in Savings & investments
I opened an online bond with Barnsley expecting to be able to pay in money until the end of the 3 year term and they've just sent me an email saying that the offer has now been withdrawn and I have two days left to pay money in!!!

Have I just mis-understood the concept of a bond? I'm pretty new to this way of saving; I just want to put away as much as I can for a few years and get a reasonable rate on it. Is this standard for Bonds to close in this way? and do you have any suggestions on an alternative product I could look at that would fit my needs better.

Thanks for any advice!

Comments

  • Lokolo
    Lokolo Posts: 20,861 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts
    Fixed rate bonds come in 2 packages

    1) You can put money in until the issue finishes or

    2) You can have 1 deposit
  • Reaper
    Reaper Posts: 7,355 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    What he says ^

    Just to clarify they only open for a limited period of time until they have reached their allocation. After that they accept no new money from savers, new or existing, and it just runs with what it has until the specified date.

    It is extremely rare that they let you go on saving throughout the term, and in my opinion extemely foolish if they do. If they allowed it you could open every offer that came along with £1 just in case and if interest rates fell stick in loads, costing them a fortune.
  • jwh1977
    jwh1977 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Thanks everyone, lesson learnt there! Any suggestions of a good financial product I could turn to? I just want to save hard for a few years so I can afford a deposit. I don't need any possibility of accessing the money early.
  • rb10
    rb10 Posts: 6,334 Forumite
    If you are able to commit to saving an amount each month, then try a Regular Savings account (they limit the amount you can pay in each month to £250 or £500).

    Or, at 3.15% there's the AA.

    Or if you wanted something branch-based, just slightly behind this at 3% or 2.5% is Halifax.

    For all of these, make sure you review it after a year, as the rates generally drop after that time.
  • Mikeyorks
    Mikeyorks Posts: 10,377 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    If it's 'new money ' (ie direct from your income as opposed to re-cycled savings) ..... have a look at Regular Savers (link in blue at the top of this page).

    They tend to have a better rate than most accounts - as they limit what you can put in. But if you build up 12 months worth of deposits in one of these you can then put the matured lump into whatever is on offer at maturity time - which should hopefully be better than current term deposit (aka Bonds) rates

    (Sorry rb10 .... you weren't there when I started!)
    If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    If you have £25K +, Investec's High Five pays 3.34% at present (changes weekly to match the top 5 accounts). 3 months notice required.

    See the referrers board here for an account-opening bonus and more details.
  • atypical
    atypical Posts: 1,342 Forumite
    Mikeyorks wrote: »
    But if you build up 12 months worth of deposits in one of these you can then put the matured lump into whatever is on offer at maturity time - which should hopefully be better than current term deposit (aka Bonds) rates

    I think very few let you do this. Most will close the account and transfer the money to a common-or-garden instant access savings account they offer.
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Originally Posted by Mikeyorks viewpost.gif
    But if you build up 12 months worth of deposits in one of these you can then put the matured lump into whatever is on offer at maturity time - which should hopefully be better than current term deposit (aka Bonds) rates
    atypical wrote: »
    I think very few let you do this. Most will close the account and transfer the money to a common-or-garden instant access savings account they offer.

    Yes, but once they "close the account and transfer the money to a common-or-garden instant access savings account ", the OP can "then put the matured lump into whatever is on offer at maturity time " as Mikeyyorks says!
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