Notice Accounts

nottsphil

gwapenut said:

allegro120 said:

DF Capital E-mail received yesterday. "We wanted to let you know that the interest rate on your 180 Day Notice Account will be reducing on 15 April 2025. This date represents the notice period, plus a further 14 days for you to consider your options.

Current Interest Rate 5.40% AER1 variable

New Interest Rate 4.75% AER1 variable"

I think that will be extremely competitive in April, and ultra-competitive between now and April

Why is it competitive? You can't open a new one, and surely they're not allowing people to pay in thousands more now for an interest rate that they are wanting to reduce by a huge 0.65%?

I've just had a very large sum mature from a savings account but unfortunately didn't know that the interest rate was maintained during the whole of the notice period for notice accounts (thanks, MSE guide!), so have nothing in place. I'm looking for high interest up to six months, because I need it all to be paid in this tax year (so monthly interest acceptable). I'm currently considering Vanquis 90 day notice at 5.1%APR (I realise this means I get 4.98% p.a. for monthly interest but I'll be able to compound that interest).

slinger2

It's competitive because (if you've got one) you can get 5.4% AER until mid-April. And AFAIK you can put more money in now, give notice and get 5.4% for the next 6 months. Not bad if you ask me.

refluxer

nottsphil said:

gwapenut said:

allegro120 said:

DF Capital E-mail received yesterday. "We wanted to let you know that the interest rate on your 180 Day Notice Account will be reducing on 15 April 2025. This date represents the notice period, plus a further 14 days for you to consider your options.

Current Interest Rate 5.40% AER1 variable

New Interest Rate 4.75% AER1 variable"

I think that will be extremely competitive in April, and ultra-competitive between now and April

Why is it competitive? You can't open a new one, and surely they're not allowing people to pay in thousands more now for an interest rate that they are wanting to reduce by a huge 0.65%?

If the account has been withdrawn then it's only competitive for those who already hold it, naturally.

There is usually nothing to stop you paying more money into a notice account at any time and that includes during any notice period that either you've given for a withdrawal or account closure, or notice they've given of a rate change. It would be theoretically possible for DF Capital to close the account to new funding at any point but if this constituted a change to the account T&Cs, then they'd presumably either have to give the required amount of notice or give people the option to close the account without having to give notice if they objected.

allegro120

slinger2 said:

allegro120 said:

slinger2 said:

refluxer said:

Just had notification of a big rate drop for issue 10 of the Oxbury 90 day notice account (currently 5.14% monthly gross / 5.26%) - presumably other issues will also be affected.

In addition to the previously announced drop to 4.89% gross / 5.00% AER on 14/10/2024, there'll be a further drop to 4.41% gross / 4.50% AER on 20/01/2025 (for balances over £1000)

Ditto for issue 11. Only got £1k in at the moment. Can't quite decide whether to close it or just empty it. 

The problem with emptying is that your accrued interest won't be earning anything unless it is 1k or over.

I'm getting monthly interest which I can withdraw too. However I'm wondering whether they've abandoned the old 90-day for the new 90-day Base Rate Tracker, and are planning to give uncompetitive rates for the old 90-day going forward. So leaning close.

Yes, everyone gets monthly interest, but when your balance gets below £1000 your money won't earn any interest and to withdraw this interest you have to give notice.  So unless you have a very large sum in this account your interest won't compound.  That's why I'm not holding on to any Oxbury accounts.  They are good if they pay decent rate and you're happy to keep at least £1k in them, otherwise they can become a burden. 

nottsphil

slinger2 said:

It's competitive because (if you've got one) you can get 5.4% AER until mid-April. And AFAIK you can put more money in now, give notice and get 5.4% for the next 6 months. Not bad if you ask me.

Not bad? I would have bitten their hand off for it had I known about it! I realise MSE doesn't like to publicize accounts which it doesn't receive commission for, but neither Savings Champion nor that savings compare thingy mentioned DF when I was researching last month. Furthermore, I was under the impression that the initial 30 or 60 day funding window for notice accounts was for all the capital the account would ever hold. Sadly, it seems this sort of important information can only be gleaned from threads like this 😕

refluxer

nottsphil said:

slinger2 said:

It's competitive because (if you've got one) you can get 5.4% AER until mid-April. And AFAIK you can put more money in now, give notice and get 5.4% for the next 6 months. Not bad if you ask me.

Not bad? I would have bitten their hand off for it had I known about it! I realise MSE doesn't like to publicize accounts which it doesn't receive commission for, but neither Savings Champion nor that savings compare thingy mentioned DF when I was researching last month. Furthermore, I was under the impression that the initial 30 or 60 day funding window for notice accounts was for all the capital the account would ever hold. Sadly, it seems this sort of important information can only be gleaned from threads like this 😕

That 180-day DF Capital notice account launched at 5.40% back in August 2023 so it's possible that it's been NLA for quite a while and that would explain why it didn't show up in your recent searches. Their notice accounts come and go quite frequently and many weeks and months can go by where they don't offer any (such as now, for example) so appearances at the top of any best-buy tables can be fleeting and easily missed.

As you've presumably now sussed, the funding window for notice accounts usually just applies to the minimum balance. They operate like most easy access accounts in the sense that there aren't usually any restrictions to the frequency of deposits or withdrawals, with the main difference being the notice you have to give for withdrawing.

slinger2

nottsphil said:

slinger2 said:

It's competitive because (if you've got one) you can get 5.4% AER until mid-April. And AFAIK you can put more money in now, give notice and get 5.4% for the next 6 months. Not bad if you ask me.

Not bad? I would have bitten their hand off for it had I known about it! I realise MSE doesn't like to publicize accounts which it doesn't receive commission for, but neither Savings Champion nor that savings compare thingy mentioned DF when I was researching last month. Furthermore, I was under the impression that the initial 30 or 60 day funding window for notice accounts was for all the capital the account would ever hold. Sadly, it seems this sort of important information can only be gleaned from threads like this 😕

As noted, the 120 and 180 day accounts haven't been available for some time. I did manage to open their 90-day account paying 5.3% in mid-September but that also went soon afterwards. It's a bit restrictive in some ways. There's a minimum £1,000 for deposits and withdrawals and you need to have £1,000 in there. And of course, you need to give 90 days notice if you want your money.

nottsphil

Thanks Refluxer, that's alleviated my regret annoyance somewhat! I don't remember seeing that DF 5.3% appear in any listings, Slinger. I know it didn't appear on MSE or the HL platform. I'll have to make do with the 5.1% 90-day offering from Vanquis which I applied for on Wednesday and am able to fund today. I've lost a few quid in interest already though because I thought I could fund it on Wednesday after having a log-in in July. I knew they had closed that other account because I never funded it, but was pretty stumped to find that they had also shut down my internet access 🤬. What a dumb policy! It nearly cost them my investment. 

slinger2

nottsphil said:

Thanks Refluxer, that's alleviated my regret annoyance somewhat! I don't remember seeing that DF 5.3% appear in any listings, Slinger. I know it didn't appear on MSE or the HL platform. I'll have to make do with the 5.1% 90-day offering from Vanquis which I applied for on Wednesday and am able to fund today. I've lost a few quid in interest already though because I thought I could fund it on Wednesday after having a log-in in July. I knew they had closed that other account because I never funded it, but was pretty stumped to find that they had also shut down my internet access 🤬. What a dumb policy! It nearly cost them my investment. 

I was previously put off Vanquis because their terms about rate reductions seems quite confusing. Now I look again they do now seem 100% clear: "If we reduce the interest rate that applies to a notice account then we will tell you about the change at least 14 days plus the account’s notice period before the change takes effect." So that would be 104 days notice for a 90 day account, inline with other notice account I've got.

allegro120

nottsphil said:

Thanks Refluxer, that's alleviated my regret annoyance somewhat! I don't remember seeing that DF 5.3% appear in any listings, Slinger. I know it didn't appear on MSE or the HL platform. I'll have to make do with the 5.1% 90-day offering from Vanquis which I applied for on Wednesday and am able to fund today. I've lost a few quid in interest already though because I thought I could fund it on Wednesday after having a log-in in July. I knew they had closed that other account because I never funded it, but was pretty stumped to find that they had also shut down my internet access 🤬. What a dumb policy! It nearly cost them my investment. 

They didn't offer any new products for a while, now they put two fixed on the shelf but these won't flood DF with cash, but could help to sustain for some time.  It doesn't look like they are desperate for cash.  Could it be a wind down?