Have banks & building societies raised their savings rates?

edda

At last the Coventry Building Society has announced their new rates (from 1st Sept)

Moggles_2

The MPC has left the BoE base rate unchanged, as expected.

Following last month's rise, Citibank has raised the rate payable on its instant access Flexible Saver at last.

5.20% gross (up from 5.00 gross) 5.03% AER - includes a 0.55% bonus rate for the first 6 months - is paid on balances of £10,000 plus.

The account comes with a card, so you can withdraw cash at any VISA/Link ATM

Moggles_2

Would you believe it?

I received a letter from the Halifax this morning as follows:

"To show you how much we value your custom we have decided to increase your Halifax Web Saver interest rate to a fantastic 4.75% AER/gross pa ...
This change took effect from 1st September 2006 so you're now making even more of your money!"

Mention of last month's BoE base rate rise conspicuously missing. Who are they trying to kid?

ManAtHome

Depends whether you're talking economics or politics - the US and the UK are far too dependent on ever-increasing spending to be that bothered about savers. Of course the politicians will urge you to save (well they can hardly tell you to blow it all and rely on the state) whilst making it more attractive to spend.

Mind you, the global market has a bit of a sting - drop your rates, drop your currency. Probably less of a problem for the US as the dollar is a bit more of a standard than the pound.

Really don't know where the Uk is headed - it's a bit like watching somebody painting themselves into a corner. We've apparently had a booming economy for the last 10 years, but interest rates have been dropping consistently (as has the Pound against the Euro), govt have been consistently borrowing and deferring capex via PFI (a bit like the consolidation loans MSE-ers avoid).

Anyway, at least pensioners** will be ok.

** well the ones who were pensioned off from parliament will be - the rest of you will ok as inflation has been pegged at 2% ish...

ashcarrot

Moggles wrote:

Would you believe it?

I received a letter from the Halifax this morning as follows:

"To show you how much we value your custom we have decided to increase your Halifax Web Saver interest rate to a fantastic 4.75% AER/gross pa ...
This change took effect from 1st September 2006 so you're now making even more of your money!"

Mention of last month's BoE base rate rise conspicuously missing. Who are they trying to kid?

Yeah I got that and I was a bit well miffed that they pretended it was wholey their generosity.

pfpf

i didnt want to start a thread for this, so i thought this may be a good place to tag along.


i am with the Abbey on a reduced but variable rate. i paid my normal mortage payment in september and still havnt recieved anything from the Abbey saying what, if anything the August IRR would mean to me!!

my payment date is the 28th, so with less than 2 weeks until my next payment whats likely to happen?

surely they cant up the payment without letting me know that the DD will increase?

thanks.

Moggles_2

Within days of the BoE base rate rise in August, the big players had increased their mortgage rates, most with immediate effect.

At the end of September, some savers have still seen no rise in interest rates.

For instance, HSBC and First Direct have failed to pass on any benefit from the higher base rate to their online savers. First Direct's e-Savings Account and HSBC's Online Saver continue to pay 4.75 per cent. Savers earn no interest in any month they make a withdrawal

ReportInvestor

StrategyMan2006 wrote:

Hi,

I was wondering If for example United States falls into Recession in 2008 (according to many analysts), how will this impact the saving rates? They will go down right?

It's always more complicated than that. They might go down in the medium term if any recession looks bad.

On the other hand, in the short term, interest rates going up (in order to tackle inflation & choke off excess lending & a nasty "bubble" ) might have been the cause of any recession.

The rules aren't hard and fast - there's usually several other factors in the equation e.g. oil prices.

Kent Reliance BS
Interesting to see what they've done.
+0.25% from 1 September on their top selling - "best buy" accounts e.g. the fabulous Direct Variable rate mini-Cash ISA up to 5.21%.
+0.00% on all the other hassly accounts that they are probably trying to phase out as they move from a branch based operation to an internet based building society. [The Regular Saver and the Kids' accounts saw no rise as well .]