MSE News: Lifeline for stricken savers as Atom unveils one-year account at 2%

buglawton

No mention of which UK bank guarantee license this is operating. That's somewhat remiss.

bowlhead99

buglawton wrote: »

No mention of which UK bank guarantee license this is operating. That's somewhat remiss.

What do you mean? The MSE article which this thread is about states:

Atom is UK-regulated, which means your savings are protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for up to £85,000 per person – read more in our Are My Savings Safe? guide.

If you go to Atom's website the footer is :

Atom is the trading name of Atom Bank plc, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 08632552 whose registered office is at Northumbria House, Aykley Heads, Durham DH1 5TS.

So the Atom product is offered by Atom Bank plc, so it is Atom Bank plc's regulated status you would be reliant on when seeking FSCS compensation if it all goes titsup. Then the footer goes on to say:

Atom Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA. Our financial services registration number is 661960.

So, they have their own PRA license and are not hanging off someone else's.

Their website links to the FSCS guide to compensation on depositary products. The protection would cover you for up to £85k per person, as mentioned by the MSE article.

Tiddly_2

My experience so far is very poor. App is very limited and unreliable - crashing and only the pin login works, voice and image fails regularly. Customer service poor and only 1 account per device, they say buy more devices if you want another account. Will not be continuing with Atom.

coyrls

Tiddly wrote: »

My experience so far is very poor. App is very limited and unreliable - crashing and only the pin login works, voice and image fails regularly. Customer service poor and only 1 account per device, they say buy more devices if you want another account. Will not be continuing with Atom.

I had the opposite experience. I found it very quick and easy to set up. I transferred an initial £50 and it showed in my account within an hour. I then transferred the remainder of my deposit and again it was visible in my account in under an hour. For me it compares very well to other providers so far. Why do you want more than one account? You can hold multiple products in the same account.

Flobberchops

Malthusian wrote: »

"Lifeline"? "Stricken savers"? I'd love to know how anyone gets to the point where 0.35% extra on short-term cash is the difference between life or death. I don't see why MSE has to indulge in these Daily Mail style headlines.

Find out the ONE WEIRD TRICK used by Atom bank to offer 2%. High street banks HATE them!

badger09

coyrls wrote: »

I had the opposite experience. I found it very quick and easy to set up. I transferred an initial £50 and it showed in my account within an hour. I then transferred the remainder of my deposit and again it was visible in my account in under an hour. For me it compares very well to other providers so far. Why do you want more than one account? You can hold multiple products in the same account.

Similar experience here. I had got half way through the setting up process some time ago, just before they reduced the rates on their previous offering. App kept crashing so I gave up & deleted it.

Fast forward to last week. I completed registration, opened account and transferred initial £50 within 5 minutes. I haven't yet moved any more as I'm away from home & need to consult my spreadsheet:o

buglawton

bowlhead99 wrote: »

What do you mean? The MSE article which this thread is about states:
If you go to Atom's website the footer is :
So the Atom product is offered by Atom Bank plc, so it is Atom Bank plc's regulated status you would be reliant on when seeking FSCS compensation if it all goes titsup. Then the footer goes on to say:So, they have their own PRA license and are not hanging off someone else's.

Their website links to the FSCS guide to compensation on depositary products. The protection would cover you for up to £85k per person, as mentioned by the MSE article.

What I meant was, remiss of the MSE article not to mention such basic info (eg have their own licence) upfront. It was the first thing I was looking for. Seems to be below the usual journalistic standard. But on checking just now it looks like an extra paragraph has been added to cover this.

jimjames

coyrls wrote: »

I had the opposite experience. I found it very quick and easy to set up. I transferred an initial £50 and it showed in my account within an hour. I then transferred the remainder of my deposit and again it was visible in my account in under an hour. For me it compares very well to other providers so far. Why do you want more than one account? You can hold multiple products in the same account.

Guess it's terminology then. Anywhere else an account is the product unit, but from what you're saying it's the container for products with Atom

david78

It is one app per device (reasonable - same as every app). You can add as many accounts as you like to the app.

Malthusian

Pincher wrote: »

Do I really want to pay 20% on interest, and god forbid, 40%?

Even if you only get 2.4% dividend, paying 7.5% tax instead of 20% is a no brainer, surely?

You're forgetting that the company, i.e. you, has to pay corporation tax before they pay you the dividend. That was the logic behind the old system where you had no allowance but dividends had theoretically already been taxed at 10% when you received them.

God knows what the actual rate of tax on dividends is after you have taken all expenses and allowances into account, but from the government's perspective it should be roughly tax-neutral so that companies neither hoard cash on their balance sheets nor pay as many employees as possible in dividends rather than salary.

For banks the interest they pay to customers leaves the company before they pay corporation tax.

2.4% dividend minus 7.5% tax is of course nicer than 2% interest minus 20% tax (if you have used up both allowances). Which is why you took a risk on being an investor rather than a depositor. But not because it's more tax-efficient, you are ignoring some of the tax that came out of the dividend before it landed in your pocket. The extra 0.62% net income is all risk premium, not a tax saving.