Punjab National Bank - fixed rate deposits

CHELIS

Punjab National Bank is advertising these rates.

Premium Fixed Deposit Interest Rates
1 Year --- 3.00%
2 Year --- 4.20%
3 Year --- 4.70%
4 Year --- 5.30%
5 Year --- 5.80%

Is there anything I should be aware of?

OneADay

Only that their web site is not what you might expect and very little can be done online. In fact the only reason to use it would be view your accounts online and I would avoid the temptation do anything else. It also can be slow at times and sometimes not accessible, don't panic, don't panic it does come back.

Its best to visit a branch to open an account with the right documents. They do send out paperwork (certificate - I had to ask for mine) and tax certificates arrive ok by themselves.

And I got offered a higher rate to that shown online when I went there (about 2 years ago), might have been the large deposit I was putting in.

So basically I recommend visiting them to open an account and making sure you get all the paperwork on time.

opinions4u

Way above market rates.

Why would they need to pay so much over and above the next best in the market for 2 to 5 year terms?

OneADay

opinions4u wrote: »

Way above market rates.

Why would they need to pay so much over and above the next best in the market for 2 to 5 year terms?

I would imagine they hold the money in a different currency for the term of the bonds or invest it and get a return worth paying the higher interest rates.

These rates are not really that high - you can get 3.5% for one year elsewhere. 3.6% with Cahoot if you have over £25k to stash away.

sabretoothtigger

Sad that this qualifies as suspiciously good. Looks crap to me

India has far higher rates, I can only imagine its related to that. Are they freely allowed to borrow from BOE like a UK bank or restricted and more reliant on actual savers

opinions4u

OneADay wrote: »

I would imagine they hold the money in a different currency for the term of the bonds or invest it and get a return worth paying the higher interest rates.

These rates are not really that high - you can get 3.5% for one year elsewhere. 3.6% with Cahoot if you have over £25k to stash away.

Regardless of any currency advantages they can get, they are paying way over and above the next best in the market.

You would expect a differential of 0.1% or less at the top of the best buy tables. Here it seems to be as big as 1.3%. While this is restricted to the £100k upwards segment it seems to be an unnecessarily expensive way to raise funds.

Very uneasy about chasing such rates.

ed123_2

....also if you put in £100k, £15k is not covered by the fsa compensation limit of £85k
"Additional Gross Interest For 6 months and above only
For amount from 100,000 to less than 1,000,000 0.10%
0.10%
0.10%

For amount 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 0.25%
0.25%
0.25% "
the above statement seems to contradict the 5.8% etc rates.........ed

Ifts

Do admit their rates are a little confusing to work out.

On over 100k they are a lot more competitive on between 2 and 5 year rates available elsewhere.

ed123 wrote: »

....also if you put in £100k, £15k is not covered by the fsa compensation limit of £85k

Any option of opening any of these fixed term deposits in joint names, if so then you get the £170K FSCS protection.

Otherwise I don't like the idea of placing £100k (to benefit from the better rates) when some of it will not be covered by FSCS.
And rates below 100k are nothing special.

oldvicar

At first I thought it odd that Punjab had a national bank - given that to the best of my knowledge it is not a Nation.

This video seemed to confirm its status http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62TqaMoVSBQ

Then I remembered the likes of National Westminster, and BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris).

darkvader

There are some strong banks in India and PNB is a well known bank although not as good as the private ones in India such as ICICI (which incidentally has a big UK presence), Citibank, HDFC etc

As rightly stated, deposit rates in India are currently topping at 9% for a year's fixed deposit but then inflation is above 6% so not a like for like comparison

When it comes to the authenticity and rigour of the bank, then I can say they are not crappy or one to stay clear of

DV

opinions4u

There are some strong banks in India

How do you know they are strong? How do you define strong?