The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

ColdIron

I recall they were the 2nd biggest bank in South Africa, listed on the FTSE 250

Rheumatoid

cwep2 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Hi I know it's a good thing to spread your money about to be on the safe side. £85k

Anyway is there many here that sticks more than 85k in an account.

Personally, I'd happily put much more in Santander, Chase, even on a permanent basis. These are backed up by extremely well capitalised banks. Banks that are to big to fail to some extent. Would say same for Barclays, HSBC and a few other UK high street (bank) names, but they don't tend to be top of the tables for more than limited size accounts - a regular saver limited to £250/month isn't going above the 85k limit....
In short term I'd happily put more in Marcus and Investec (eg if I had a fix maturing in 2 months and wanted to open another one) as these are backed by big, if a little less big, banks. Would probably lump the big UK building societies in with this group as well.
Anyone else I'd stick below the FCA guarantee, as long as I've verified it myself on the FCA website. 

A bit like RBS were too big to fail? I seem to remember they were pretty big. I would just stay under FSCS and spread the load or go NS&I

pecunianonolet

samlad80 said:

Just wondering if people are having similar experiences to me.. 

I’ve tried to open a Kroo account, waiting 10 days now with no sign of any progress on the authentication process. 

I’ve also tried to open a tandem account for a similar rate, again - it went straight to authentication with no email, nothing. 

It’s great of Martin to recommend these products but - if they can’t provide what’s advertised are they actually any good??

Had trouble with Kroo because they were overloaded so took 2 days. Tandem the other day took literally 2 minutes from app download until first funding. Maybe check your credit files as this might be a reason why you can't be verified by those institutions. Some cashback is in it as well with topcashack and Experian full file you can access with MSE Credit Club for free.

cwep2

Rheumatoid said:

cwep2 said:

SeriousHoax said:

Hi I know it's a good thing to spread your money about to be on the safe side. £85k

Anyway is there many here that sticks more than 85k in an account.

Personally, I'd happily put much more in Santander, Chase, even on a permanent basis. These are backed up by extremely well capitalised banks. Banks that are to big to fail to some extent. Would say same for Barclays, HSBC and a few other UK high street (bank) names, but they don't tend to be top of the tables for more than limited size accounts - a regular saver limited to £250/month isn't going above the 85k limit....
In short term I'd happily put more in Marcus and Investec (eg if I had a fix maturing in 2 months and wanted to open another one) as these are backed by big, if a little less big, banks. Would probably lump the big UK building societies in with this group as well.
Anyone else I'd stick below the FCA guarantee, as long as I've verified it myself on the FCA website. 

A bit like RBS were too big to fail? I seem to remember they were pretty big. I would just stay under FSCS and spread the load or go NS&I

Yeah they (RBS) *were* too big to fail, which is why the UK govt bailed them out.

Generally speaking massive retail banks (say with >5% market share) will be a massive societal problem if they go under, sure you have FSCS which covers most, but salaries not being accessible, direct debits not being paid, no access to cash machines for >5% of the population, it *might* be manageable but it might be carnage which is essentially why Gordon Brown made that decision back in 2008. 

I happened to know some of the people (at RBS) who had to make the call that they needed to go to the treasury/BoE, that if something didn't happen they couldn't fund themselves (because other banks wouldn't lend to them) and they wouldn't make payments. It was a political decision to choose to save them. Note that Lehman didn't have a retail banking side, they were only an investment bank and they were allowed to fail, so the impact on 'general population' would be limited in that case and decision was different.

That's essentially why in a post on previous page I distinguished between Chase and Marcus, one is backed by a retail bank in the US (which also has an investment banking arm ~25% of company), the other is backed by a 90% investment bank. Chase/JPMorgan is 3-5x the size of Goldman Sachs, but I guess when you are in the trillions of assets it maybe is a moot point comparing, but Santander as well is massive retail bank in Spain, as well as many other places in Europe, the Spanish govt would probably see them as too big to fail, but Chase (JPMorgan) vs Marcus (Goldman Sachs) there's one the US govt would see as too big to fail and one that they've shown in the past they have let fail, sure they may make different decision this time but on that basis alone, with my money I see less risk with one vs the other. 

Of course capital requirements and regulations in the last 15 years mean than all banks have had to put much more aside to cover any risks, with the aim that 2008 would never happen again, so in theory they are *all* much safer now than then.

Band7

Love it how some people seem to have wiped Lehman Brothers from their memory.

pecunianonolet

Band7 said:

Love it how some people seem to have wiped Lehman Brothers from their memory.

And it all started with Bear Stearns, which was sold to, guess who, JPMorgan Chase

alibean121

Maybe we could start another thread to discuss the stability of the banking sector

ForumUser7

'Savers don't WANT more interest on easy access accounts' bank bosses tell MPs - saying they prefer regular savers with better rates but more restrictions

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-11723171/Bank-bosses-defend-savings-rates-MPs-saying-customers-dont-want-easy-access.html

Apparently we don't want more interest on easy access accounts...interesting...

RedImp_2

ForumUser7 said:

'Savers don't WANT more interest on easy access accounts' bank bosses tell MPs - saying they prefer regular savers with better rates but more restrictions

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-11723171/Bank-bosses-defend-savings-rates-MPs-saying-customers-dont-want-easy-access.html

Apparently we don't want more interest on easy access accounts...interesting...

Well I suppose we want the highest rates possible but thinking about it if easy access rates were the highest nobody would go for notice accounts.

Band7

ForumUser7 said:

'Savers don't WANT more interest on easy access accounts' bank bosses tell MPs - saying they prefer regular savers with better rates but more restrictions

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-11723171/Bank-bosses-defend-savings-rates-MPs-saying-customers-dont-want-easy-access.html

Apparently we don't want more interest on easy access accounts...interesting...

There’s an under-loved poll in this article 

And the explanation offered by thisismoney for the Regular Saver interest rates is a total car crash 🤦🏽‍♀️