The Top Fixed Interest Savings Discussion Area

Patr100

soulsaver said:

Patr100 said:

janusdesign said:

I see Union Bank of India are back in the tables (£5k - £340k)...

1 year - 4.60%
2 years - 5.00%
3 years - 4.80%
4 years - 4.60%
5 years - 4.60%

Moneyacts is summarising only opened by branch or post, so really off putting IMO.
Info on website is sparse. They dont seem to have any branches!
FAQs suggest  passport or Drivers licence needed for ID checks.

Just opened the 2 year online... 
Passport/ DL needed to apply from armchair - it's fill in the numbers ..diligently in the application..

How do you fund it (by posted cheque?) and what are the funding period limitations?

soulsaver

Patr100 said:

soulsaver said:

Patr100 said:

janusdesign said:

I see Union Bank of India are back in the tables (£5k - £340k)...

1 year - 4.60%
2 years - 5.00%
3 years - 4.80%
4 years - 4.60%
5 years - 4.60%

Moneyacts is summarising only opened by branch or post, so really off putting IMO.
Info on website is sparse. They dont seem to have any branches!
FAQs suggest  passport or Drivers licence needed for ID checks.

Just opened the 2 year online... 
Passport/ DL needed to apply from armchair - it's fill in the numbers ..diligently in the application..

How do you fund it (by posted cheque?) and what are the funding period limitations?

Welcome to Union Bank of India - Union Premier Bond (unionbankofindiauk.co.uk)

barryd999

So I want to go ahead now and get top rate instant access and top rate 1yr fixed for both myself and my wife.
Im with Lloyds and I know they have a £25k limit per day for transferring money so the accounts need to be able to be loaded more than once.  I was thinking Tandem for both instant access 2.55% and 1yr fixed 4.5%.  Trouble is I think they are both app only based which is ok but Trustpilot reviews say the app is not great. Are there any that are similar that are online (laptop)?

janusdesign

barryd999 said:

So I want to go ahead now and get top rate instant access and top rate 1yr fixed for both myself and my wife.
Im with Lloyds and I know they have a £25k limit per day for transferring money so the accounts need to be able to be loaded more than once.  I was thinking Tandem for both instant access 2.55% and 1yr fixed 4.5%.  Trouble is I think they are both app only based which is ok but Trustpilot reviews say the app is not great. Are there any that are similar that are online (laptop)?

i've had issues with Tandem app using Open Banking (might be me and/or the phone), but no issues making transfers to their fixed-rate accounts via Faster Payments (e.g entering sort code / account no via the nominated bank) - deposits appear within minutes.. it's not the greatest banking app out there, but it gets the job done.... if you can / want to use an app, nothing to stop you opening an instant account with them, throwing £1 and seeing how you feel about it.

if you wanted to go down the Sharia accounts route, there is Al Rayan @ 2.81% and Gatehouse @ 4.50%... Gatehouse you can access via logging in to their site (or using their app); with Al Rayan, you can login via a laptop, but I think you'd need their app to authorise access each time (at which point you might as well just use the app!).

the highest pure "laptop" easy access rate I can think of would be Marcus / Saga @ 2.50% - like Gatehouse, you can access by logging in or using their app... but as this is a fixed-interest thread, I won't expand on other easy access options - Moneyfacts will be your friend for that.

barryd999

janusdesign said:

barryd999 said:

So I want to go ahead now and get top rate instant access and top rate 1yr fixed for both myself and my wife.
Im with Lloyds and I know they have a £25k limit per day for transferring money so the accounts need to be able to be loaded more than once.  I was thinking Tandem for both instant access 2.55% and 1yr fixed 4.5%.  Trouble is I think they are both app only based which is ok but Trustpilot reviews say the app is not great. Are there any that are similar that are online (laptop)?

i've had issues with Tandem app using Open Banking (might be me and/or the phone), but no issues making transfers to their fixed-rate accounts via Faster Payments (e.g entering sort code / account no via the nominated bank) - deposits appear within minutes.. it's not the greatest banking app out there, but it gets the job done.... if you can / want to use an app, nothing to stop you opening an instant account with them, throwing £1 and seeing how you feel about it.

if you wanted to go down the Sharia accounts route, there is Al Rayan @ 2.81% and Gatehouse @ 4.50%... Gatehouse you can access via logging in to their site (or using their app); with Al Rayan, you can login via a laptop, but I think you'd need their app to authorise access each time (at which point you might as well just use the app!).

the highest pure "laptop" easy access rate I can think of would be Marcus / Saga @ 2.50% - like Gatehouse, you can access by logging in or using their app... but as this is a fixed-interest thread, I won't expand on other easy access options - Moneyfacts will be your friend for that.

Thanks for that. I remembered that we both still have accounts with Investec. Their flex instant access is not too bad now and their fixed 1yr saver is 4.36%. Not quite as high as Tandem but we have used them for years and its always been reliable with good service and they are easy accessed through a browser on a laptop so I might just open up two of those.  Not much in it really.

jaypers

Have just opened a Charter Savings 1 Year Fixed Rate Bond. Account is in my account list now and I have funded it from my Easy Access account. Balance is showing correctly but no interest rate shows. Is this normal? 

pedrodelgado

UTB 1 yr fix now 4.4% from today. Dropped to 4.6% yesterday. Looks like the fixed rate bonds are cooling off. I've stuck £20k into their 5 yr @5.05%. As I won't be working in 5 yrs when it pays out and therefore will have more than enough tax free savings allowance ,I have opted to compound yearly and pay on anniversary thereby getting an effective yearly rate of 5.58%. Maybe in a few months will be able to get 2 or 3yr rates to beat that but I'm hedging on the long side as I believe in 2 or 3 yrs time you may struggle to get 5% on any duration once rates start dropping. May be wrong , it's a guessing game at the minute but there's a lot of money going into fixed bonds at the moment and when the banks have as much as they need they aren't going to want to offer great rates to attract more money as they won't need to. That's my take on it anyway. Also have £30k maturing between May and August next yr so will see how the land lies then. ATB people. 

bristolleedsfan

janusdesign said:

t1redmonkey said:

M4rtyman said:

Am I correct in saying, that the 5 year Fixed at Gatehouse, can be paid out monthly, and to your linked account? So even though my initial investment is tied up for five years, I can spend the interest when ever I want? I quite like the idea of having that guaranteed extra income for the next five years

Correct, you can indicate what happens with the interest during the application phase, either have it paid into the same bond, or paid to an external account.

just to add that with Gatehouse, you can amend your interest options at any time in the fixed-term period - I have a 1-Yr fix that I think was originally paying annually back into the Gatehouse account, but from the website, you can amend it to either monthly/annually and/or keep it in the account or pay it out to a nominated account... it's now paying interest monthly back to my nominated account.

note that not all fixed-rate accounts will do this - some (most?) will commit you at the application phase and you cannot change it.

Charter Savings Bank who also use Newcastle online system setup has same flexibility.

"you can amend your interest options at any time in the fixed-term period" 

jimexbox

I was hoping for a 5% one year fix, can't see it happening now. I'm going to put all funds allocated for a fix in a 4.6% account.

Hopefully I won't regret it in January. 

barryd999

Looks like Tandems fixed saver at 4.5% 1yr has dropped to 4.25% now as well
https://www.tandem.co.uk/products/savings/fixed-saver