The Top Fixed Interest Savings Discussion Area

ToastLady

janusdesign said:

SickGroove said:

janusdesign said:

ToastLady said:

Agree, just opened a 1 yr with Vanquis. Best I got last November was 4.95% for 2 year with Charter.

with Vanquis, if you get monthly interest, can you have it paid to an external account or is it added to the Vanquis account ? the website and pdf's give no indication one way or the other...

When you apply it gives you the option... That's what I selected... Monthly to nominated account.

Although, I've got to post a bank statement to validate my nominated account which is a pain, as I've had the same one for over 5 years!

do you know if that's common practice with Vanquis ?

They accepted my nominated bank account, no need for statement for me. 
As SickGroove said, you can choose to pay monthly either to Vanquis or nominated account.

t1redmonkey

janusdesign said:

ToastLady said:

Agree, just opened a 1 yr with Vanquis. Best I got last November was 4.95% for 2 year with Charter.

with Vanquis, if you get monthly interest, can you have it paid to an external account or is it added to the Vanquis account ? the website and pdf's give no indication one way or the other...

You can change both the frequency of interest (annually or monthly) and also whether it's paid to an external bank account or added back into the bond by going into your Vanquis account.  You can do this any time during the term.  I took a few out with Vanquis last year and I started off having the interest reinvested but have since changed it to paying out to me instead.

ChocolateWombat

When did they ask you to provide evidence of nominated account?
Ive just applied and used Santander.  I’ve had an acceptance email saying a letter will come.  The email does not mention a need to send evidence of nominated account.  Will that request come in letter, or if the email didn’t request, have I got away with that?  Thanks.

Alpine_Star

Does anyone have any experience with United Trust Bank in terms of ease of opening and operating their online account?
 

francoghezzi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026020#Comment_80026020

They are ok, but still thinking that Zopa is the easiest and most secure one. It allows to open a bond and send only £1 just to make sure that you build a contact between the bond and your bank account: that is something that gives me good vibes

Frequentlyhere

On another note, is it not rather odd that Smartsave feels the need to keep leaping to the front of the 1 year fixed rate pack whilst at the same time only allowing customers to have one fixed rate account per person?

I'm not aware of any other provider with this limitation (maybe others do too), but it's surely costing them money.

refluxer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026918#Comment_80026918

Just be aware that, in their fixed rate account T&CS, Zopa specifically state that "Tax is only payable on earnings in the tax year your Fixed Term Savings account matures (HMRC describe this as when the interest 'arises' and is available to you)" which could be a potential downside to anyone who wants to take out a fix for longer than 1 year and also wants to spread the interest earned over multiple tax years.

bristolleedsfan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026020#Comment_80026020

To operate online account they send user ID by post, super speedy with secure message replies today.

gizz_10

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026020#Comment_80026020

I opened a 5 year account with them a few weeks ago when the rate was 4.65%. I made several payments in different amounts into the account so that I could differentiate when they went in. I usually got an sms message saying a payment had been made into the account within a few minutes of the faster payment being made, but the text message does not say how much. After that its a very manual process on their end, and whilst they should credit the account by the end of the business day, there were a few issues that worried me.

1. On the first day I deposited a small £100 payment and once that was in I then depostited a £19,900 payment - expecting the total at the end of the day to be £20,000. I was surprised to see it was £20,090. The next day when I rechecked it, the balance was back down to £100. After several phone calls we established that their process is very manual, one person keys in the amount of the payment manually. This then sits in an approval queue for a Manager to approve. Instead of inputting £19,900 they had input £19,990 - and this mistake was also not picked up by the Manager when they approved it.
2. The next day when I logged on, my account was only showing a balance of £100, the second payment had been deleted. The balance remained at £100 for most of the day so I was quite concerned and I called them up to ask where the payment had disappeared to. They had deleted the incorrectly keyed payment and re-entered it the next day. This was now stuck in the queue awaiting approval behind all the next day's payments. I called up and complained and eventually it was approved and all the payments I had made over both days were then showing correctly in my account.
3. I queried the loss of one day's interest and was told it would be credited to the account. I raised a complaint and they got in touch to explain what had happened and assured me they are automating the process very soon and in the meantime the relevant people have been spoken to to be extra careful.

So their very manual process did not instill in me a great deal of confidence, expecially when handling large sums of money, but the money is in now and the first interest payment is not due till next April so I guess I will just have to be sure to check the amounts vigilently.

Wish I had waited now as they have since increased the rate to 4.71%

andyhicks88

I'm looking for a 2 - 3 year fixed rate where they can pay the interest away annualy (on each years anniversary if poss), does anyone know if any of the top ones do this?