The Top Fixed Interest Savings Discussion Area

alanjones60

VNX said:

In some ways when you do fix / the cooling off period ends it can be liberating as it’s done and dusted whatever rates get to you can’t touch the money so it’s all irrelevant whereas whilst one waits rate changes are a bigger issue.

as others have said when it suits to fix and you’re happy, fix. Shut the laptop go for a walk, relax, don’t worry and be thankful you have such a nice a nice thing to worry about, plenty of people are not in a situation to have money to fix.

So true. Iv fixed at 6.1 % on 30 june, not looking now for 18 months. Whats rhe point when its fixed? No point in stressing out,you cant do nowt about it

auser99

VNX said:

In some ways when you do fix / the cooling off period ends it can be liberating as it’s done and dusted whatever rates get to you can’t touch the money so it’s all irrelevant whereas whilst one waits rate changes are a bigger issue.

as others have said when it suits to fix and you’re happy, fix. Shut the laptop go for a walk, relax, don’t worry and be thankful you have such a nice a nice thing to worry about, plenty of people are not in a situation to have money to fix.

Having seen one provider up their 1 year bond 4 times in 2 weeks, and constantly moving the funds to a new account, I agree with your first line!
Glad it's settled and done!

BooJewels

Me too - sorted the last of my current round of fixes yesterday and felt an immediate weight off.  As you say, it's a very nice problem to have - it's not so long since I stood in the supermarket trying to figure out how a handful of coins was going to feed us for several days.  I think about it every day so that I don't lose sight of it and how that felt.

ToastLady

BooJewels said:

Me too - sorted the last of my current round of fixes yesterday and felt an immediate weight off.  As you say, it's a very nice problem to have - it's not so long since I stood in the supermarket trying to figure out how a handful of coins was going to feed us for several days.  I think about it every day so that I don't lose sight of it and how that felt.

Am really pleased for you, it's a great weight off your mind. Been there myself and count my blessings every day. I'm hoping that come August when money becomes available, rates will still be good. If they aren't as good as now, am not going to beat myself up about it, it is what it is. 

SJMALBA

Gatehouse 1 year & 18 month @ 6% (5.84% monthly), 1k. min.

https://www.gatehousebank.com/personal/savings/fixed-term-deposits

Sea_Shell

SJMALBA said:

Gatehouse 1 year & 18 month @ 6% (5.84% monthly), 1k. min.

https://www.gatehousebank.com/personal/savings/fixed-term-deposits

Also available via Raisin.

SaveTheEuro

BooJewels said:

CheekyMikey said:

necronom said:

If anyone else here has the problems I have opening accounts, then avoid FirstSave, as like some others, it won't let me join as I don't have photo ID.

First Save only asks for a driving licence or passport number, nothing more…can’t be many people these days who don’t have one of these

There are a lot of reasons why people don't or can't have them.  I had to buy a passport just because it was proving so problematic for me not having one and I don't drive - largely when I was acting as an Attorney, then executor.  

I wonder how this would fare against the equality act - if for example, you were disabled in a way that might prevent travel or driving, but would prevent you accessing financial and other services and being treated less favourably than others.

The Government introduced a Voter Authority Certificate so that people without a driving licence, passport, bus pass etc could meet ID requirements at polling stations. 
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

At the same time, it said "you cannot use it as proof of identification for any other reason." But why? If it's good enough to avoid voter impersonation why isn't it good enough for ID checks by banks etc too?

wmb194

SaveTheEuro said:

BooJewels said:

CheekyMikey said:

necronom said:

If anyone else here has the problems I have opening accounts, then avoid FirstSave, as like some others, it won't let me join as I don't have photo ID.

First Save only asks for a driving licence or passport number, nothing more…can’t be many people these days who don’t have one of these

There are a lot of reasons why people don't or can't have them.  I had to buy a passport just because it was proving so problematic for me not having one and I don't drive - largely when I was acting as an Attorney, then executor.  

I wonder how this would fare against the equality act - if for example, you were disabled in a way that might prevent travel or driving, but would prevent you accessing financial and other services and being treated less favourably than others.

The Government introduced a Voter Authority Certificate so that people without a driving licence, passport, bus pass etc could meet ID requirements at polling stations. 
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

At the same time, it said "you cannot use it as proof of identification for any other reason." But why? If it's good enough to avoid voter impersonation why isn't it good enough for ID checks by banks etc too?

Probably because the hurdles to getting one are far too low:

pecunianonolet

wmb194 said:

SaveTheEuro said:

BooJewels said:

CheekyMikey said:

necronom said:

If anyone else here has the problems I have opening accounts, then avoid FirstSave, as like some others, it won't let me join as I don't have photo ID.

First Save only asks for a driving licence or passport number, nothing more…can’t be many people these days who don’t have one of these

There are a lot of reasons why people don't or can't have them.  I had to buy a passport just because it was proving so problematic for me not having one and I don't drive - largely when I was acting as an Attorney, then executor.  

I wonder how this would fare against the equality act - if for example, you were disabled in a way that might prevent travel or driving, but would prevent you accessing financial and other services and being treated less favourably than others.

The Government introduced a Voter Authority Certificate so that people without a driving licence, passport, bus pass etc could meet ID requirements at polling stations. 
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

At the same time, it said "you cannot use it as proof of identification for any other reason." But why? If it's good enough to avoid voter impersonation why isn't it good enough for ID checks by banks etc too?

Probably because the hurdles to getting one are far too low:

They could have done something right here and issue proper ID cards, a normal thing in every EU country, first issue for free for everyone. The cost can't be an issue given how much money is/was wasted for other things.

pecunianonolet

cwep2 said:

kev1744 said:

im looking at moving a chunk of my savings from easy access to fixed term ( im happy to not touch it for a year) looking at how the rates have been jumping though im curious as to how high members think the rates will climb?
i believe the highest rate at present is 6.10 ? so who thinks we will see 7..or 8% ?

I doubt we will see 7.5%+ and with current inflation forecasts think even 7%+ might be a stretch. 

Just look at instant access accounts, best paying 4.3% ish when in theory any clearing bank can take funds deposited by savers and deposit them at the Bank of England at the bank rate (5%). This by the way is explicitly what Clearbank does which is where money deposited at Chip goes to, so they need >0.5% margin. 

The market is expecting a BoE rate peak of around 6.5% and probably cuts afterwards. Of course persistent high inflation could change this, but even with Bank rate at 6.5% if cuts are forecast you probably won’t see 7.5% or whatever. The reason we can get 6% now with a bank rate at 5% is exactly because more rises are expected. 

Competition means the best fixed savings rates will be above the bank rate if rates are expected to stay on hold, but it tends to be a spread above swap rates (or Gilt rates). The market is expecting cuts by the US central bank early 2024, they had been expecting cuts in 2023 only a few weeks ago! So it’s very likely that 1yr fixes taken out now will see global interest rates fall during their duration even if the BoE doesn’t start cutting rates until late 2024. 

I’ve been monitoring these things, and am a former interest rate trader at a bank, fwiw above 6% is where I’ve started to put money back into fixed rates for first time since the Trussterf**k last October. At these levels I am also happy to buy Gilts (better for tax) mostly 1-2yrs but even some in 3-7yr maturities. Personally I think we will see much lower interest rates in 2024 globally, with the UK cutting below 5.5% again by end 2024 and possibly back onto a 4 handle. 

***not financial advice***

Very interesting to hear insider news and perspectives. Do you know for certain that Clearbank is just parking all the funds with the BOE?

Recent job market data in the US shows a much more robust job market as expected, even if the creation of new jobs was slightly below expectations. Unemployment has declined and wages are still increasing. This is a strong indicator that the Fed will most likely raise rates again and that will send signals to ECB and BOE. So rates will rise further imho and will stay high for longer. We still have an inverted yiel curve after all.