Which account is guaranteed not to have negative interest rates?

Money5

Very concerned about talk of negative interest rates. I have put most of my savings into a 1 year fixed rate account with Aldermore bank  but have left the remainder with NS&I for easy access as not sure if worth trouble of moving it if all banks end up with plummeting variable rates. I can't afford to lose any of what I have in NS&I  and my question is 'Is there any account guaranteed not to fall below zero ?' 
Does anyone know whether money is safer in the Post Office, NS&I, or a building society rather than a bank ?  If negative rates do materialise in the UK will they only be applied to accounts with large deposits (more than 50,000 for example?) 
I was always led to believe that money in NS&I was safe but worried the rate will go below zero. Is this possible and/or likely?
I am currently living on my savings and have no other income which is why I am particularly concerned.
Hope someone can reassure me 🤔

whitesmith

No one can tell you for sure but I can speculate by saying it is unlikely negative interest rates will go on the ordinary savings accounts of us mere mortals and even if they did it is possible that they wouldn't dare put them on cash ISAs.

But as I said this is just pure speculation

Albermarle

Money5 said:

Very concerned about talk of negative interest rates. I have put most of my savings into a 1 year fixed rate account with Aldermore bank  but have left the remainder with NS&I for easy access as not sure if worth trouble of moving it if all banks end up with plummeting variable rates. I can't afford to lose any of what I have in NS&I  and my question is 'Is there any account guaranteed not to fall below zero ?' 
Does anyone know whether money is safer in the Post Office, NS&I, or a building society rather than a bank ?  If negative rates do materialise in the UK will they only be applied to accounts with large deposits (more than 50,000 for example?) 
I was always led to believe that money in NS&I was safe but worried the rate will go below zero. Is this possible and/or likely?
I am currently living on my savings and have no other income which is why I am particularly concerned.
Hope someone can reassure me 🤔

The talk of negative interest rates relates to the Bank of England base rate and Interbank lending etc , where billions of Pounds change hands on a daily ( hourly?) basis .
It does not then follow that retail bank and savings rates will go negative . This is extremely unlikely to happen, so not something to worry about . Savings rates above 1 % are still available if you can tie up the money for a Year or two and Premium bonds as well. 

Thrugelmir

With savings rates at 0% and inflation anything above this. Then interest rates for all intents and purposes will be negative. Inflating away the debt appears to be the aim. 

Albermarle

Thrugelmir said:

With savings rates at 0% and inflation anything above this. Then interest rates for all intents and purposes will be negative. Inflating away the debt appears to be the aim. 

You could say that for 90% of history , where inflation was higher than interest rates so effectively interest on your money was negative .

ColdIron

Premium Bonds? Not much point in a prize draw where you pay them if you win

eskbanker

Money5 said:

I was always led to believe that money in NS&I was safe but worried the rate will go below zero. Is this possible and/or likely?

Money in NS&I is safe, in the sense that it has guaranteed financial protection (against capital loss) underwritten by the government, but that has nothing to do with interest rates....

EthicsGradient

What you should do is look for a notice account that imposes a penalty of 90 days (or whatever) interest if you make an immediate withdrawal. Then, if they announce they are turning their rate negative, you wait until the day after it takes effect, and then you close the account, and get a 90 day bonus instead!

Or, just find an account that suits you now, and if they announce the rate is going to turn negative, then close it. The chances of negative rates for retail savers are extremely small, but providers always have to give you notice of a decrease in rates - for a notice account, it's at least the length of the notice. Unless you intend to set something up and then ignore it, it's not a problem.

wmb194

I really wouldn't worry about it. For years the eurozone has had negative central bank rates and whilst there are some current and savings accounts which charge negative interest rates the balances tend to need to be very large e.g., ING >€250k, ABN Amro >€2.5m and, albeit at nugatory rates, you can still find savings accounts which pay interest.

macman

The only way to guarantee non-negative rates is to put your savings into fixed rate accounts.
Regards 'safety', UK regulated financial institutions currently give you protection up to £85k per banking licence (not per bank). Anything beyond that is at risk if the bank fails.
NS&I is unique in that it's underwritten by HM Treasury up to whatever limit applies to each individual account.

Alter_ego

ColdIron said:

Premium Bonds? Not much point in a prize draw where you pay them if you win

Just won this morning, when do I have to pay?