Secure Trust Bank, are they any good?

Mattowns

Never heard of this company before but they have a 3 Year Fixed Rate Bond at 1.40%.

I have a savings account maturing so for me it is either Secure Trust Bank or in premium bonds which I have never used before.

bowlhead99

I suppose it doesn't really matter if they are 'any good' if your only interaction with them is going to be to make a deposit, do nothing for three years, and then take it back. They are a small bank listed on the main market of the London stock exchange and PRA licensed so your money is protected within normal FSCS depositary limits.

A few tens of thousand of premium bonds would pay about the same net return per year as what you would get from a 1.4% account net of 40% tax; if you won't need to pay tax on your interest (or not as much as 40%) then Secure Trust would be giving you a better return, although you do have to give up instant access to get it; no withdrawals are permitted, while with premium bonds you can take back your money whenever you like and put it in something else that takes your fancy.

Albermarle

https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings-accounts/3-year-fixed-rate-bonds/?quick-links-first=false
There are a number of institutions offering similar rates . For what it is worth I have dealt with Ford Money and Aldermore with no issues.

MarkFromCornwall

I've held similar products with them and have had no problems.

Thrugelmir

Albermarle said:

https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings-accounts/3-year-fixed-rate-bonds/?quick-links-first=false
There are a number of institutions offering similar rates . For what it is worth I have dealt with Ford Money and Aldermore with no issues.

Likewise. Vanquis and Paragon as well.  Financial institutions tap the retail market as and when deposits are required. 

lucky77

I have had a fixed rate bond with Secure Trust and didn't encounter any problems. I recently opened another online but have to wait for account opening while they make "checks".

drphila

Had several products and found them to very good in general, but as lucky77 just said they can be slow in account opening (waited 5 working days last time)

Thrugelmir

drphila said:

Had several products and found them to very good in general, but as lucky77 just said they can be slow in account opening (waited 5 working days last time)

As a smaller player. Will have limited administrative resource when there's a flood of applications. No interest is lost though. 

george4064

I’ve had 90 day notice accounts with them without any issues at all. 

Mattowns

I decided to apply for the 1.40% savings bond, received all the required log in documents etc but cannot log into their site to view my account.  For the past 3 days when I enter my log in details their site just loads forever.  I haven't made my deposit.

Due to their sloppy website I have decided I don't want to invest with them anymore, so when I do eventually log in I'll probably just close the account.  I wasn't too sure on the idea of locking my savings away for 3 years and their site not working properly has definitely convinced me to use another more established company.

dosh37

Mattowns said:

I decided to apply for the 1.40% savings bond, received all the required log in documents etc but cannot log into their site to view my account.  For the past 3 days when I enter my log in details their site just loads forever.  I haven't made my deposit.

Due to their sloppy website I have decided I don't want to invest with them anymore, so when I do eventually log in I'll probably just close the account.  I wasn't too sure on the idea of locking my savings away for 3 years and their site not working properly has definitely convinced me to use another more established company.

Do you have Avast antivirus intalled?

See: the following link:-

https://www.securetrustbank.com/savings/helpful-information/help/internet-banking/problems-accessing-internet-banking-with-avast-anti-virus-software

Also you could try using a different browser.