NOW CLOSED - Newcastle Premier Bond - 4.2% AER for 6 months term

SnowMan

The Newcastle Premier Bond (issue 2) launched today allows penalty free withdrawals with 180 days notice. See the Newcastle Building Society website.

As a consequence, although it is not competitive as a 5 year bond, it can be run as (say) a market leading 6 month bond (by some considerable margin) by opening an account and then immediately giving notice.

In fact it can be run for any term from 6 months to 5 years by giving notice, and so at 4.2% AER it is directly comparable and offers a better rate (with better options) than other fixed rate bonds up to 2 years term and just above.


Note you need to choose the annual interest option (and not monthly) to get the 4.2% AER.

Account is already showing in the top savings account article but thought it was worth starting a thread also. If it makes it to the weekly email tomorrow it could well close tomorrow.

maximise

Where does it state withdrawals are penalty free?
If the interest payment dates are as follows, when will interest be paid on a 6 month term?
11th July 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and on maturity

Is the bond fixed to the initial deposit amount, or can funds be deposited over time?
Can the total amount be withdrawn after 6 months notice?

SnowMan

maximise wrote: »

Where does it state withdrawals are penalty free?
If the interest payment dates are as follows, when will interest be paid on a 6 month term?
11th July 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and on maturity

Is the bond fixed to the initial deposit amount, or can funds be deposited over time?
Can the total amount be withdrawn after 6 months notice?

The penalty free nature is implied by the lack of any mention of a penalty. They have offered these account terms before. I'd take it as read that there is no penalty.

Pretty sure you can give 180 days notice to close the account as well as giving 180 days notice to withdraw the entire balance (general term 9.1 says closure is treated as a withdrawal so you can argue that you can close the account by giving 180 days notice)

Giving 180 days notice to close would mean interest is paid on closure together with the account balance i.e. after the 180 days notice is up.

If you give notice to just withdraw the full balance you should be aware that the remaining balance (i.e. interest) if below £500 gets paid a nominal rate of interest only not the 4.2%.

Funds can't be added once the bond is closed (which could be as early as tomorrow) but they will almost certainly give a small window to allow people to get money into the account.

Ifts

Where does it state withdrawals are penalty free?

I think the 180 days notice is the penalty

If the interest payment dates are as follows, when will interest be paid on a 6 month term?
11th July 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and on maturity

If you close the account I would have thought they would give you the interest up until closure.

Is the bond fixed to the initial deposit amount, or can funds be deposited over time?

8.1 After placing your initial Investment in the Account you may make further deposits while the Account is a current issue, subject to the product Special Conditions.

Can the total amount be withdrawn after 6 months notice?

10 Notice Accounts

10.1

Subject to the product special conditions, notice to withdraw can be put onto an account at any time, however new applications for notice will result in the previous notice applied being removed. On expiry of notice periods, funds will be available to withdraw for four business days.Thereafter, another notice must be put onto the Account.

10.2
Transfers between Accounts held with the Newcastle are subject to the same notice rules in 10.1.
10.3
Notice requests must be made in person or in writing, or via telephone.
10.4
Confirmation will be required closer to the notice date that the withdrawal is to proceed.

T&Cs here: http://www.newcastle.co.uk/content/savings/docs/General_Terms_And_Conditions.pdf


edit: oops beaten to it by Snowman!

kar999

Just opened two online for me and Mrs Kar. Both being funded with £6k from our top tiers of our Vantage accounts. Specified 28th June as the transfer date so perfect timing. Bye-bye Lloyds and thanks for not offering me the incentive saver!

Keeping the 3 x £5k each with Lloyds at 3% for instant access as this Newcastke bond is effectively a 180 day account.

Ifts

When you go to apply online for this Newcastle Premier Bond (Issue 2), a box comes up with some Special Conditions for this product:

The Newcastle’s General Terms & Conditions will apply unless they are inconsistent with these Special Conditions, effective from the date of the account opening.

1. The Account is a fixed rate account.
2. The Account can be operated online only.
3. The minimum investment in the Account is £500 and the maximum is £1,000,000.
4. The Account can be held in single or joint names.
5. The Account is a limited issue and may be withdrawn at short notice.
6. Withdrawals are permitted subject to 180 days notice.
7. On maturity the Account will automatically transfer to the Newcastle’s designated maturity Account. We will write to you prior to maturity to advise you of any amendments to the Terms and Conditions of your Account. These amendments may include the access terms, withdrawal arrangements and the duration of the account. Following the day of maturity you have 28 days in which to withdraw funds penalty free, thereafter the Maturity Account Terms & Conditions will apply.
8. Interest is calculated daily and is paid annually or monthly.
9. Should the final day of a calendar month be a business day then any monthly interest paid to a third party will be paid on that day. Otherwise it will be paid on the following business day. Any final monthly interest due on maturity will be credited to the account.
10. Interest can be paid to your account, to another account with the Newcastle or to a third party bank or building society account.
11. Should the balance held in the account fall below the minimum balance stated above, interest will be paid at a rate of 0.10%.
12. Details are correct as at 14/06/2011.

Pretty much the same as the general T&Cs, apart from as Snowman has already pointed out -

Should the balance held in the account fall below the minimum balance stated above, interest will be paid at a rate of 0.10%.

plodder73

Can I ask a quick question. I will need to transfer some funds from my PO saver to my bank which will be my nominated account. I think this will be earlynext week before this arrives by which time this will surely be closed, how does that work? Any help please

kar999

In the past they have usually honoured existing applications after the deal is closed. I opened both of mine with funding option from direct debits. It gave me the option to select a date of transfer as it takes time for them to set the DD up. The drop down selction box earliest date was something like the 24th June and I selected 28th June (the latest date). This offer will be well closed by then... most likey before close of play today.

It suggests you print off the funding page of the application and you'll get an confirmation email.

Just get your application in ASAP.

elisabethz

Just as a FYI. I tried to apply last night online. If you don't have a British passport you can't get through the application process, mine is Dutch.

apt

kar999 wrote: »

In the past they have usually honoured existing applications after the deal is closed. I opened both of mine with funding option from direct debits. It gave me the option to select a date of transfer as it takes time for them to set the DD up. The drop down selction box earliest date was something like the 24th June and I selected 28th June (the latest date). This offer will be well closed by then... most likey before close of play today.

It suggests you print off the funding page of the application and you'll get an confirmation email.

Just get your application in ASAP.

Although Newcastle BS usually gives you a few days to fund they do not have to and might not if the account is massively oversubscribed. There is no need to wait for the direct debit to be set up. You can fund the account by faster payment as soon as you have the reference number and sort code which they give you at the end of the application process.

ripon12

reading martins email it seems you have to tie in for a year giving 180 days notice to withdraw after 6 months here is a link
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#oneyr