Marcus increases rates before BOE announcement

Daliah

why do people still bother with Marcus?

t1redmonkey

Daliah said:

why do people still bother with Marcus?

Same reason they bother with Chase I suppose.  Most who still have any substantial money with them probably opened an account back when they were table toppers and can't be bothered to move it out to a better paying account I reckon.

2010

t1redmonkey said:

Daliah said:

why do people still bother with Marcus?

Same reason they bother with Chase I suppose.  Most who still have any substantial money with them probably opened an account back when they were table toppers and can't be bothered to move it out to a better paying account I reckon.

I guess you have to draw a line somewhere.
Nearly every day a new higher rate comes out, signing up and moving money all the time to get the best rate these days,is like a dog chasing it`s tail.

sandy700

t1redmonkey said:

Daliah said:

why do people still bother with Marcus?

Same reason they bother with Chase I suppose.  Most who still have any substantial money with them probably opened an account back when they were table toppers and can't be bothered to move it out to a better paying account I reckon.

Because a few weeks ago if I moved my money to the top easy access savings, I would have gained £2 a year, hardly worth while moving.

Daliah

Either the higher rates are worth it, in which case people can (and many do) easily move their money.

Or it's not worth bothering for e.g. £2. In which case, why are those who kept their money in Marcus / Chase moaning / complaining about their low interest rates?

jak22

Raising the rate just in time for the BoE announcement may be quite clever - as people might be looking at rates today and competitor accounts that have been better for a month have not yet responded, For instance today's DM article starts with 
Easy-access deals have also seen a base rate bounce. The popular Marcus account by Goldman Sachs has today upped its rate from 1.5 per cent to 1.8 per cent - the sixth time it has increased the rate this year.

Still, DM articles are good for the comments - the usual ones about it being pointless as inflation is nearing 10% and not to get a fix as rates will rise

2010

Daliah said:

Either the higher rates are worth it, in which case people can (and many do) easily move their money.

Or it's not worth bothering for e.g. £2. In which case, why are those who kept their money in Marcus / Chase moaning / complaining about their low interest rates?

I don`t think it`s about low rates but the time it takes for Marcus to react to BoE increases.
1.8% from today looks OK but that`s not reacting to today`s rate increase but the previous one.
Shawbrook has had 1.81 / 1.85% for at least the last four weeks.
In the next few days other providers will, no doubt, be upping rates but Marcus won`t.

RG2015

2010 said:

Daliah said:

Either the higher rates are worth it, in which case people can (and many do) easily move their money.

Or it's not worth bothering for e.g. £2. In which case, why are those who kept their money in Marcus / Chase moaning / complaining about their low interest rates?

I don`t think it`s about low rates but the time it takes for Marcus to react to BoE increases.
1.8% from today looks OK but that`s not reacting to today`s rate increase but the previous one.
Shawbrook has had 1.81 / 1.85% for at least the last four weeks.
In the next few days other providers will, no doubt, be upping rates but Marcus won`t.

I don't understand why there is an expectation of savings rates being increased when the BoE increases the base rate.

Banks can do what they like. If their customers don't like it they can move their money. That's free market competition.

If any banks should be derided it's the big four with rates of less than 0.10% per annum.

jak22

This thread is about Marcus as a savings brand and the timing of its increase just before the BoE announcement, and not the 'big 4'.

Of course there's an expectation of savings rates in general to increase as the BoE rate increases. That expectation is reflected in the wording of emails sent out by banks & building societies today and in news articles here and on other websites. But that doesn't mean it's expected a given bank will always increase immediately after and by the same amount as a BoE raise.

It doesn't take long for an account that was once popular, offering a rate at the top of league tables when that suits them, to fall behind. Each month's delay to pass on a 0.3% increase is a loss of £10 for every £40000 invested.

Daliah

jak22 said:

This thread is about Marcus as a savings brand 

We'd have dozens of threads if each savings brand had its own thread. If Marcus were still the market leader, or at least amongst the top three, I could just about understand why people are still interested. They haven't been tops in over 4 years now, so what keeps you interest in them going?