The Top Fixed Interest Savings Discussion Area

gt94sss2

valiant24 said:

andyhicks88 said:

As has already been discussed, the websites for both of those banks look dodgy and amateurish. I simply don't feel good about trusting them with my money.

This is an example of one offering best rates which, nonetheless, gave of such an air of poor attention to detail that I gave it a miss anyway: https://www.unionbankofindiauk.co.uk/

Not a great website by any means.

It is, however, a 100 year+ old bank in India (in the top 15)) and more importantly UK accounts are protected by the FSCS (up to £85k)

Consumerist

Anyone with a Coventry BS account/mortgage [Edit: since 1 January 2020] can get 1.35% AER fixed until 30/04/23 from their Loyalty Saver. Be aware, however, that most institutions seem to be waiting until 01 March to increase savings rates so might be worth waiting till then.

GalacticaActual

Issue 2, of the NS&I Green Savings Bonds, is now paying 1.30% gross/AER, fixed for 3 years.

https://www.nsandi.com/interest-rates

Consumerist

GalacticaActual said:

Issue 2, of the NS&I Green Savings Bonds, is now paying 1.30% gross/AER, fixed for 3 years.

NS&I still doesn't come anywhere near the 1.85% AER for 3-year fixes available elsewhere. It is possible that even those rates may soon increase on the back of the recent BoE base rate increase.

Ocelot

ColdIron said:

Do a self assessment, they are really easy if all you have to account for is savings interest. Takes me about 20 minutes (assuming you have accurate records of interest earned). You see the calculation and all the allowances and you can ask them not to mess with your tax code

Can you ask to do one? I used to do one for a few years 15 years ago or so, but they stopped asking me.

ColdIron

I'm not certain to be honest but I don't see why not. They seem keen these days to try and work it out themselves but the process seems pretty hit and miss to me, I prefer the certainty of getting it wrapped up with accurate data

typistretired

You could just download a form R40 from HMRC and use that to work out if you need to pay tax on your savings.

refluxer

In case anyone is interested in an Atom Fixed Rate Saver, I opened one (my second) at the end of last week. The application process (as an existing customer) was fairly quick and transfers from my Barclays current account are instant. 

The only issue I had is that Barclays seem to be clamping down on the transfer of larger sums since I last did this. The initial (minimum) £50 transfer was paid instantly but the second (a 4-figure sum) was delayed by Barclays and only released once I'd received a phone call from their fraud department later that evening. A third payment a few days later was delayed until I'd confirmed by text, which took a few minutes to come through. I've not experienced this before but it's worth bearing in mind if you open a fixed rate saver with a small paying-in window and intend to pay in from a Barclays account, in separate, larger amounts.

As I previously mentioned in another thread, the application process (via the app) for new customers is fairly lengthy but worked well for me when I opened my first account last year. Their app security uses a 6-digit pin number or facial / voice recognition and statements and account documents can be downloaded to your phone. Just bear in mind they are app-based only, so you need to ensure that your phone's OS will be supported during the time you're a customer and (if you open a Fixed Rate Saver) when you need to interact with them at the end of the fixed rate period. This isn't as daunting as it sounds though - their current minimum recommended version of Android is 9 which dates back to mid 2018 and I'm using this with no issues although an upgrade to 10 may be needed in future, I guess.

Patr100

Surprised that his thread has gone very quiet lately. Feels like up to a year fix may be an option for certainty but movement upward seems the most likely for the next 18 months so in two minds, depending if BoE rate starts to drop , if longer term savings rates adjust more quickly. Annual Savings rates currently touching 2.15% before today's announcement to 1% -

The Committee’s updated central projections for activity and inflation are set out in the accompanying May Monetary Policy Report. The projections are conditioned on a market-implied path for Bank Rate that rises to around 2½% by mid-2023, before falling to 2% at the end of the forecast period.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2022/may-2022

Malchester

Patr100 said:

Surprised that his thread has gone very quiet lately. Feels like up to a year fix may be an option for certainty but movement upward seems the most likely for the next 18 months so in two minds, depending if BoE rate starts to drop , if longer term savings rates adjust more quickly. Annual Savings rates currently touching 2.15% before today's announcement to 1% -

The Committee’s updated central projections for activity and inflation are set out in the accompanying May Monetary Policy Report. The projections are conditioned on a market-implied path for Bank Rate that rises to around 2½% by mid-2023, before falling to 2% at the end of the forecast period.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2022/may-2022

Yes. I have some funds to put away for z year or so and was going to move ghe  to a 1 yf fixed rate. However have put them jn an easy success account fof a short time to see how rates go over the next few days before committinh