The Top Fixed Interest Savings Discussion Area

Band7

VNX said:

OakNorth take the lead 

4.92 one year
4.96 two year 

It's getting a bit tedious now that the providers are adding 0.1% to gain the top spot. Same happening with ISA rates.  

cricidmuslibale

Band7 said:

VNX said:

OakNorth take the lead 

4.92 one year
4.96 two year 

It's getting a bit tedious now that the providers are adding 0.1% to gain the top spot. Same happening with ISA rates.  

Agreed, except for normal 5 year fixed rate savings accounts and 5 year fixed rate ISAs.

Why are the top interest rates currently available for 5 year fixed rate ISAs as much as 0.9% below the top interest rates available on 5 year non ISA fixes at the moment? Does anyone have any thoughts on this, please?

auser99

Band7 said:

VNX said:

OakNorth take the lead 

4.92 one year
4.96 two year 

It's getting a bit tedious now that the providers are adding 0.1% to gain the top spot. Same happening with ISA rates.  

It needs someone to just bang a proper 5% or 5.1% in and blow it apart and stop all these incremental increases.
And not a slightly risky looking via Raisin foreign bank that takes even the experts on here 10 pages to decide if they have FSCS cover too!

Band7

Just a couple of experiences with the more niche providers.

My Community Finance / Castle Community Bank 

I managed to secure a 1 year 5.05% account with My Community Finance / Castle Community Bank before they hastily reduced their rates earlier this week. They took nearly 3 working days to accept my application, and you need to tell them on the application how much you want to deposit. Min £1,000. You won't get interest if you deposit less than specified in the application, and it's a bit of a gamble whether they'd accept more than you initially said you would. I did ask for a higher amount, and they did accept it instantly on the phone. You must, however, deposit exactly the agreed sum, you don't get interest until you have done so, and once you deposited the agreed sum, you can't add any more. Quick confirmation of deposits. Overall, however, they provide very clear information and are easy to deal with. They are also very open and clear about their FSCS protection, which is a substantial improvement over the information provided when they first launched. They don't have an app, but as it's a fixed term account, I don't mind. Definitely one I would use again for fixed term accounts if they are market leaders.


DF Capital

Another one of what some forumites would refer to as 'dodgy' because they are relatively new on the scene. As they have a UK banking licence and FSCS protection, I have no reservations about them and opened one of their 18 month 4.95% accounts. Application is straight forward, full online access can be set up within minutes, and you can deposit immediately. You have 14 days from account opening to make one or more deposits, and you can do everything online. Very clear T&Cs, easy application, and quick confirmation of deposits. You don't have to tell them how much you want to deposit, but min deposit is £1,000 and the limit appears to be way above the £85K FSCS limit. They don't have an app, but as it's a fixed term account, I don't mind. Would definitely use them again if they are market leaders.


Better of the two?

If both offered the same rates, I would prefer DF Capital

VNX

Allica 5% one year on 10k

t1redmonkey

VNX said:

Allica 5% one year on 10k

18 months at 5% as well by the looks of it.

RG2015

auser99 said:

Band7 said:

VNX said:

OakNorth take the lead 

4.92 one year
4.96 two year 

It's getting a bit tedious now that the providers are adding 0.1% to gain the top spot. Same happening with ISA rates.  

It needs someone to just bang a proper 5% or 5.1% in and blow it apart and stop all these incremental increases.
And not a slightly risky looking via Raisin foreign bank that takes even the experts on here 10 pages to decide if they have FSCS cover too!

But will it be 1 year or a longer fix?

I cannot remember a time when 1 to 5 year fixes all had (virtually) the same rate.

Just like most of the punters here, the City appears to be pretty much in the dark about the future financial climate.

t1redmonkey

I think the general expectation is that interest rates will be high-ish in the short term (next couple of years) but lower after that.  Hence why there's more reluctance from banks to offer higher rates on the 5 years at the moment - there's only a couple of outliers that are offering close to 5% currently (Isbank at 4.95% and United Trust Bank at 4.9%), the rest are below 4.75%.

Futuristic

Finally took the plunge on Allica 5% at 18 months, not heard of many of the other names / ISBank etc.

Think rates can go higher to 5.5-6% at extreme but any signs of food prices etc dropping fast will result in long term fix rates rapidly decrease

RG2015

Futuristic said:

Finally took the plunge on Allica 5% at 18 months, not heard of many of the other names / ISBank etc.

Think rates can go higher to 5.5-6% at extreme but any signs of food prices etc dropping fast will result in long term fix rates rapidly decrease

I do not foresee food prices etc dropping at all. I guess you may mean the rate of inflation falling fast. 

This is an interesting suggestion though. Long term fixes tend to react to the price of government bonds as was seen during the Truss/Kwarteng period.

I see inflation falling slowly and whether independently or in tandem, long term fixes will also fall over the next 2 or 3 years.