The Do Nothing Club

john_s_2

I agree, I'm doing nothing till after Christmas at least. I took all my Kaupthing Edge savings out when they dropped the rate (I didn't like the non-FSCS status in any case). And on Friday I moved them to a Sainsbury's account I had. I later learn that Sainsbury's had dropped their rate later on in the day.

Fair enough, I thought. I knew they hadn't reacted to the recent BoE rate change, and that if they matched it (which they did) it would be lower than Kaupthing Edge. A risk I was prepared to take to come back to an FSCS protected account.

Either way I'd already decided to otherwise do nothing till after Christmas. Who knows what's going to happen to the savings rate market! I have much more cash tied up in fixed rate ISAs and NSI RPI linked bonds so this isn't too big a deal for me.

And my teachers always told me I was good at doing nothing!

magicdogsbrain

gunnaknow wrote: »

Magicdogsbrain, if you want to play things safe then maybe you should look at the Bank of Scotland's instant access savings account. It guarantees a rate of 5.8% for a year, yet you can make 4 withdrawals penalty free. Handy if interest rates rise and you wish to reinvest elsewhere. Not only this but it also allows you to make unlimited deposits, so you can dump cash into there at a later date. Handy if interest rates crash and you have unprotected funds elsewhere.

I opened this account by phone and then paid in the minimum £5000 at a branch 2 days later. Quick or what? I might never need to put any more into it if interest rates rise but atleast I now have a safe haven to dump 50K at a later date, if interest rates plummet. I'll also be able to sleep at night, knowing that I can get access to it, penalty free.

http://www.bankofscotlandhalifax.co.uk/savings/BOSinstantaccesssavingsaccountreward.asp?source=NETGOOGLSAVESA310002

This does look like a very good, flexible, albeit less rewarding deal. It’s confusing because Halifax has a similar deal but you have to have a current account funded with 1K per month. I can’t see any requirement for a current account on the BOS website.

Anyway, I think I will be staying on the sidelines for a year or so and watching what transpires.

I read the wikipedia article on the great depression. I’m not a financial expert but there seem to be so many parallels between then and now – especially the section explaining the cheap credit followed by the tightening of credit. What does one do to ride out the storm – start a far right wing political party and blame the bankers for being greedy?

gunnaknow

magicdogsbrain wrote: »

This does look like a very good, flexible, albeit less rewarding deal. It’s confusing because Halifax has a similar deal but you have to have a current account funded with 1K per month. I can’t see any requirement for a current account on the BOS website.

They are very similar accounts but slightly different. The halifax pays 0.2% extra but you have to have a current account with them and fund it with 1K per month. You don't have to have a current account with the the BOS instant access savings account, or pay in any more than the 5K minimum. I funded mine yesterday and I don't have a current account with them.

If you have large savings but don't want to lock it away, it's worthwhile using 5K of your savings to open one of these accounts. Even if you never need to put the rest of your savings into it, atleast it's there for you, just incase the rest of your savings become exposed to plummeting interest rates and you need a place for them to shelter.

I've decided to put some of my savings into the BM 6 month fixed term, instead of their 1 year term. It gives me greater options, just incase interest rates do rise in a few months. With the BOC account now open, it means that if interest rates haven't improved or have gotten even worse by the time that the BM 6 month term ends, I'll have the option of transferring the money over to my guaranteed 5.8% BOC account for another 6 months, or less if needs be.

bjorn_again

magicdogsbrain wrote: »

With savings and mortgage rates dropping there is a clamber to get on the bandwagon of fixed rate bonds.

The consensus is that interest rates are heading down and they will continue to be low for a considerable period.

The trouble with this is that now nothing will surprise me. How many times have you heard that some event would be unlikely and then it happens?

My current position is that I have an offset mortgage that is BASE + 0.44 and I have a large amount that is offset. I have considered moving some of the offset into a fixed rate bond – I have the BM 1 year bond at 6.6% ready to sign in my drawer.

Just as I was about to send off a cheque to BM I heard about the possible run on the pound. The last time there was a run on the pound was when we came out of the ERM. Then, interest rates were raised to 15%. If that happened and I had this BM bond – I would suffer.

I think the time has come to admit that I don’t know what to do for the best. I genuinely think that the best thing to do for most people at the moment is absolutely nothing.

I am now going into hibernation – see you later when this madness has ended.

A person after my own heart. I am sitting tight where I am, waiting to see where the current "crisis" leads us. I have about £250k spread around half a dozen accounts and a 1/4 or 1/2% here or there is not going to make a world of difference to me. I simply cannot be arsed with shifting accounts round like a game of pass the parcel.

evenasus

gunnaknow wrote: »

Magicdogsbrain, if you want to play things safe then maybe you should look at the Bank of Scotland's instant access savings account. It guarantees a rate of 5.8% for a year, yet you can make 4 withdrawals penalty free. Handy if interest rates rise and you wish to reinvest elsewhere. Not only this but it also allows you to make unlimited deposits, so you can dump cash into there at a later date. Handy if interest rates crash and you have unprotected funds elsewhere.

I opened this account by phone and then paid in the minimum £5000 at a branch 2 days later. Quick or what? I might never need to put any more into it if interest rates rise but atleast I now have a safe haven to dump 50K at a later date, if interest rates plummet. I'll also be able to sleep at night, knowing that I can get access to it, penalty free.

http://www.bankofscotlandhalifax.co.uk/savings/BOSinstantaccesssavingsaccountreward.asp?source=NETGOOGLSAVESA310002

I have a £50,000 bond with Halifax earning a 6.5% fixed rate, which matures in early February. Looks like a good account to open with the £5,000 minimum ready to transfer the bulk of matured bond to.

Do you have to go through the 'ID documents' procedure?

evenasus

Just been and opened, well completed the form for, the www.bankofscotland.co.uk/savings online but wish I'd opened it by phone now, after reading posts more carefully. :rolleyes:

I did receive an email pretty much straight away, confirming my application.

Hopefully, it won't take the 14 days it mentions on their website, to set up & complete the opening.

Anyone opened one online? If so, how long did it take?

magicdogsbrain

Just read my old thread. Thankfully I did not take my own advice and did take the BM fixed deal

Good luck to those that didn't though because god knows where it could have gone.