New Bonds appearing

Ifts

isofa wrote: »

The Rothschild is being heavily promoted in the press over several weeks now, are they desperate for money. I see they are FSA regulated, yet in their FAQ for the Reserve deposit, they never once mention security/FSCS coverage, which considering the jittery nature today, you'd think they would - just a comment really.

In case you didn't see it, the concerns of the Rothschild Reserve bond are also discussed in this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1740747http://

isofa

agsnu wrote: »

http://www.rothschildreserve.co.uk/rothschild-frequently-asked-questions.aspx
Is Rothschild covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme ("FSCS")?

Yes. Rothschild is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Payments under the Scheme are limited to 100% of the first £50,000 of an individual depositor's total deposits with the bank. Where two depositors hold a joint deposit, each depositor may receive a maximum of £50,000 compensation in respect of a claim, giving a total of £100,000. From 30 June 2009, the limits referred to above will be £50,000 (£100,000 for joint accounts) or €50,000 (or €100,000) whichever is the higher. Further details of the Scheme can be found at www.fscs.org.uk and the FSCS can be contacted on 020 7892 7300.

Thanks - yes I know they are covered, I was just noting the fact that they don't including that information on the FAQs of the fixed term product for newbies, however you are right it's on another set of FAQs on the same page, missed that, too many meetings yesterday!

lemonjelly

It is a quandary isn't it.

I've had a couple of fixed rates mature this year, & agree that the re-investment options are hardly mouth watering! I'm hoping for some improvement in rates prior to maturity of 2 bonds I have in sept/oct this year.

I think we'll see virtually no movement from the BoE this year - perhaps a quarter % at the very end of the year, however do we feel that institutions are starting to look to offer incentives to savers? Widening the query, will this spread to ISA's? Rates this year for ISA's were poor! Taking advantage of its tax free status, averaging about 3% I think. So in addition to potential improvements in bonds available, do we feel ISA offers could improve too?

Are banks etc going to start battling for our business?

nilrem_2

I have been a keen user of Fixed rate bonds for quite a few years now and still am but ATM I see nothing to gain from tying up savings for longer than 12 months, I really don't see rates going down now so unless one can get a really good rate for longer than 1 year I shall be sticking with 12 month bonds for a while.

None of us has a working crystal ball and we all assume that rates will start to climb slowly upwards within the next 24 months or so, but OTOH some thing might happen to cause rates to climb upwards as quickly as the plummeted!

(Just my opinion but I am not an expert)

BritRael

For me, I hope they do go up I haven't got a mortage any more, but I have got a couple of quid sitting around doing nothing

isofa

As long as you spread your money around it wouldn't hurt to put a bit into a 2 year bond at these rates, just not a massive percentage of your cash in case in 12 months time 5% appears... Just think 12 months ago, you could have put away money in long term fixed rates for 6% or even 7% in some cases! Plenty of people then advised against tying money up for over 2 years then. No one knows what the market will do, in the long term rates are bound to increase, but I can't see it being very quickly.

Ifts

lemonjelly wrote: »

Widening the query, will this spread to ISA's? Rates this year for ISA's were poor! Taking advantage of its tax free status, averaging about 3% I think. So in addition to potential improvements in bonds available, do we feel ISA offers could improve too?

Many of the new variable and fixed rate Isa rates on offer are currently going down. Last year with Lloyds FRISA I was getting 6.5% and this year its gone down to 3.2%. IMO the Isa rates will probably start to rise just before the beginning of the next tax year to attract new customers.

I read this article called Low rate Isas that snatch the tax relief today on the thisismoney website.

lemonjelly

The Close Brothers are now offering a 4.5% deal for a 2 year fix (see this weeks MSE email).

That adds another 0.15% on the previous best market offer.

Is there a trend here?

Old_Slaphead

lemonjelly wrote: »

The Close Brothers are now offering a 4.5% deal for a 2 year fix (see this weeks MSE email).

That adds another 0.15% on the previous best market offer.

Is there a trend here?

I've money with Close variously paying 7%, 5% and 4.3% for 1 or 2 years - now rates appear to be going up I don't want to be locked in for too long if inflation starts to take off.

Always found CB quick and efficient but I won't be going with this new offering as, with rates trending upwards, I expect to see someone offering near 5% (max 2 years) in near future.

amictus

ING Direct seem to offer a decent compromise between instant access and bonds with their fixed rate savings accounts...

3 month term (gross p.a. 2.97%)
6 month term (gross p.a. 2.98%)
12 month term (gross p.a. 3.50%
Exclusively for existing savings customers who already hold or take out either an ING Direct Savings Account, or a Cash ISA
Minimum balance £5,000