Fixed term savings

jayship

We are looking to open a fixed term account with either Masthaven or Smartsave but mixed reviews. Experience of Forum members will be appreciated.

Would like to lock in funds for a year as rates are dropping fast.

cattie

I had a Masthaven fixed term account & had no complaints. It' matured at the later part of last year. I'd happily go with them again if they were offering a market leading rate.

colsten

They are all much of a muchness, only distinguished by interest rate. As long as they have FSCS protection, you can't go wrong with the top rates

If you have at least £1K, you can get a bit more at Gatehouse and QIB via Raisin.

Also, 1.8% via HL Active Savings at BLME.

Aldermore pay £15 cashback via Quidco for £1K+ deposits - new customers only. Their rate for the 1 year bond is 1.5%, meaning you can effectively get 3% for £1,000. Or £15.15 via Topcashback.

Malchester

Mast haven are good as you can choose the term for your deposit from 6 months to 5 years in monthly intervals. I have done this twice with money I needed for an ISA so the account matured at the right time. One was 17 months, the other 22 months. Don't know of anyone else who provides this flexibility. Nor always the best interest rate though although not that bad

buffman

cattie wrote: »

I had a Masthaven fixed term account & had no complaints. It' matured at the later part of last year. I'd happily go with them again if they were offering a market leading rate.

Same with me.

jayship

Thanks to forum members for their input. Appreciated

TBC15

Why not BLME ?

jayship

I have opened an account with Masthaven Bank and initially transferred a very small amount which is showing on my account.

Today tried to transfer more and twice got a call from my bank to check if it is a genuine transaction. Should I be worried?

Masthaven emailed a sort code and my account number. I have to transfer funds using my account number and their sort code rather than the intermediary bank account number which many challenger banks use. Checked sort code 231451 which is registered to the bank

I have 7 days to transfer the funds after which they will post a welcome pack. Have spoken to them on the phone several times and they sound genuine.

Thanks

fliss2g

I tried to open an account investing £10K+ with Masthaven but the final screen said they couldn't verify so they would contact me within a couple of days - I assume I had made some kind of typo in the application. I also emailed them with the account application ref and asked if it would be easier to cancel the application and start again. It's a week later and I've heard nothing from them No acknowledgement of email, nothing by post. If that's how they "respond" to customers, I'm off to somewhere else!

Bacman

fliss2g - it might be they couldn't verify your address, or something else like that, no idea what companies mean by "electronically verify" but sometimes an application passes sometimes "verify".

jayslip - i'd suggest doing what I do, post a copy of the email with your account acceptance and account/sort code, and attach a cheque. If you pay money into an account electronically it won't show immediately in that account so there is always the doubt of "did it arrive ok?", if you post a cheque for the full amount of your Bond, then not only does it mean 1 transaction not several (sometimes banks give a daily limit for transactions or per transaction), it also means your cheque can be traced by your bank if needed and cheques are paid into the account typically same or next day from their receipt.

Post using special delivery with Royal Mail, costs about £7 however it is fully tracked whereas "signed for" is regular post only signed for at the other end and not tracked (not a great idea for ID or cheques); also if you write a cheque, in the middle box where it says "only" change that to "acc payee only" and also in the box add "non trans" and "not neg". Sign against each entry. Those mean the cheque is only to be paid to the name on the cheque, it is not transferable to anyone else and is non-negotiable in that order. Important notes for any cheques!