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The rot spreads

124

Comments

  • buffman
    buffman Posts: 440 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    Glen_Clark wrote: »
    Yes, Santander's crafty 0.5% plus 2.7% bonus for a year has rather backfired on them this year

    I hope that you are right. I am sure that their bonus is 'variable'
  • innovate
    innovate Posts: 16,217 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Glen_Clark wrote: »
    Yes, Santander's crafty 0.5% plus 2.7% bonus for a year has rather backfired on them this year :rotfl:

    What are you on about? They can change the bonus rate anytime they like, and if they had wanted to, they would already had done so. I just keep my head down and hope they won't.
  • innovate wrote: »
    What are you on about? They can change the bonus rate anytime they like, and if they had wanted to, they would already had done so. I just keep my head down and hope they won't.
    Yep! Just checked bonus variable Have to hope the fact they have 4 other accounts since on lower rates means they will not reduce bonus! I opened the Natwest esaver at 2.95% in October hope they don't reduce that as that is variable too!
    "Look after your pennies and your pounds will look after themselves"
  • innovate wrote: »
    Post Office Online Saver is going from 3.17 to 2.67 during bonus period, as announced last week.

    Pretty dire times :(

    Just been online to my Post Office Online Saver 5 and see they are reducing as you said from 17th January 2013. But I have not received either an email or letter from them. Shouldn't they notify you of changes?
    "Look after your pennies and your pounds will look after themselves"
  • drc
    drc Posts: 2,057 Forumite
    Max Keiser :embarasse :shhh: keeps saying that the continuous low interest rates are catastrophic for the insurance industry as they cannot operate on such low rates. I wonder what will happen if insurance companies start going bust and whether they can exert any pressure on the BOE to raise rates?

    Apparently every £1 the government gains from low interest payments to debt, it loses £2 from savers not investing. Why would they pursue a policy that is so financially destructive and incompetent.
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    drc wrote: »
    I wonder what will happen if insurance companies start going bust and whether they can exert any pressure on the BOE to raise rates?

    Don't confuse interest rates and gilt rates. The BoE sets the former but the market sets the latter. However, the process of the market setting the prices of gilts is that the BoE has been buying like crazy as part of the QE process. Once QE stops, gilts yields should rise, and any knocks to our credit rating will help this as would (indirectly) raising interest rates.
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
  • talexuser
    talexuser Posts: 3,590 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    drc wrote: »
    Max Keiser Why would they pursue a policy that is so financially destructive and incompetent.

    Because they think it will shrink the debt in real terms, hide from the public the fact that many banks are actually bust and refinance them over time with our tax money never to be fully repaid, and prevent a huge round of negative equity, large number of repossessions, and huge rise in unemployment?
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    talexuser wrote: »
    Brefinance them over time with our tax money never to be fully repaid

    Never say never. Lloyds shares are less than 20% of HMG's holding price and NRAM's books are looking better as people remortgage elsewhere for better deals.
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
  • innovate
    innovate Posts: 16,217 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Just been online to my Post Office Online Saver 5 and see they are reducing as you said from 17th January 2013. But I have not received either an email or letter from them. Shouldn't they notify you of changes?

    Yes they should, and when I asked them why they haven't, they told me they had. Apparently it was in the papers and it is on their website, and their T&Cs are backing them on that :-(
  • pqrdef
    pqrdef Posts: 4,552 Forumite
    gadgetmind wrote: »
    Once QE stops, gilts yields should rise, and any knocks to our credit rating will help this as would (indirectly) raising interest rates.
    Be careful what you wish for. If government borrowing costs go up, there'll be Greek-style catastrophic austerity and savings rates will be the least of our problems. Especially as we won't dare leave any money in the bank.
    "It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis
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