5.65% fixed rate from West Bromwich BS

Milarky

E Bond Issue 7

On balances £1000 - £1,000,000. Limited issue.

Liz_the_Whizz

Thanks Milarky - read you mail, applied on line and just nipping out to post the cheque!

Market_Oracle

Liz_the_Whizz wrote:

Thanks Milarky - read you mail, applied on line and just nipping out to post the cheque!

You may want to hold that cheque , rufflerbank.co.uk 5.8% 1 year, 5.94% 2year, 6% 3 years.

There !, and no more ruffler posts from me !

http://www.rufflerbank.co.uk/savings/fixed_rate_bonds.php

tintoys

Just looked at this, never heard of Ruffler Bank, can you enlighten us?

Market_Oracle

tintoys wrote:

Just looked at this, never heard of Ruffler Bank, can you enlighten us?

Well, i was not going to post on the topic again, BUT since......

They are FSA regulated and about 37 years old, and employ about 20 people, so a small bank.

I opened an 2 year bond for my wife, took about 5 days, though there is one thing, their application form does not have a section for amount to deposit, so I just wrote the amount and cheque number onto the form.

tintoys

Thanks for the info, does that mean that your money is safe and protected?

Sorry to ask simple questions

Paul_Herring

tintoys wrote:

Thanks for the info, does that mean that your money is safe and protected?

As well protected as it would be in any other bank.

http://www.wisebuy.co.uk/sg-tex6.htm

Banks and building societies which are licensed by the Financial Services Authority are covered by a compensation scheme for 90% of £35,000 per person with a maximum pay out of £31,700 per person (100% of £2,000 and 90% of £33,000), these limits were raised on 1 December 2001.

ReportInvestor

It's as well protected.

But not necessarily quite as safe.

There is an important distinction.

I.e. in a banking / economic crisis Ruffler Bank might be more at risk because of the sort of lending it does (which in turn enables it to produce these market beating rates).

West Brom, on the other hand, is well capitalised, has strong reserves and has only recently started to branch out into more risky business like commercial lending.

Also marginally in the West Brom's favour is the slight chance of a merger windfall. This would go against history, as West Brom has never merged with anyone, but I'm not betting against it. West Brom have a new boss, Stephen Karle, who may be keen to make his mark.

Market_Oracle

Chairman’s Report
For the year ended 31 March 2006

Review of Operations

I am pleased to report our profit before tax for
the year ended 31st March 2006 was £2.25m
(£2.08m in 2005). I believe we have performed
well to achieve this result.

http://www.rufflerbank.co.uk/uploaded_files/Ruffler_Report_and_Accounts.pdf#search=%22ruffler%20bank%20annual%20report%22

If there about to go bust, I can't see any signs of it

Liz_the_Whizz

I have to admit that I had been thinking of opening an account with the West Brom just in case of a merger windfall - I have had a lucky streak with these recently.

The e-Bond finally had me incentivised, as I quite fancied the Brummie Midshires Fixed-term 1 year bond mentioned on this very chat forum the other day.

But I do find the whole process of applying for building society accounts too tedious to be a proper carpetbagger.

As for Rufflers, don't they do crisps?;)

Afraid I would never open an account with a bank that I had never heard of, or ICICI on present form.

mystic_trev

It'll be interesting to see what happens if we have (the expected) IR rise in November. I think there could be some excellent deals on Fixed rates.