Government is asking banks to up savings interest rates and be fair?
RogerPensionGuy
Forumite Posts: 308
Forumite
The government is asking banks to up their savings interest rates on a scale similar as to how they pump up loan rates .
The bank have a long history of earning great profits on the split between loans and savings, always fast on the way up with loans and slow with savings plus the rates are obviously always in the banks favour aiming to achieve the maximum split at all times this increasing their profits.
The banks were fully supported by the public via taxation just 15 years ago, the government completely opened the taps for tax payers/society to not just save the banks and their employees, it also allowed them to pay out super generous severance packages allowing very nice headcount reduction etc etc.
In fact some say the banking system was rewarded very handsomely for doing such a bad job.
It will be interesting to see now if the banks take on board the government and its requests to be reasonable and fair in these times.
I'm certainly of the opinion if in general all uk savings rates were wound up now it would help the uk with inflation quicker and allow a softer landing, it seems like an easy pathway if the banks should actually listen and act on this matter.
It's not just the banks being unreasonable, the NS&I could certainly up their rates to fair and reasonable values quickly and indeed by doing this the government will ensure the banks play their part in the UK going forwards as smoothly as possible.
Just imagine if the government announces NS&I puts its "general" interest rates up to say 5% this week.
There's a lot of people who just leave savings in poor paying interest accounts for a variety of reasons and many are valid, banks see this as weakness and easy money.
I think there's a commons select committee this Thursday on this matter, I'll get my popcorn ready and watch the show!
The bank have a long history of earning great profits on the split between loans and savings, always fast on the way up with loans and slow with savings plus the rates are obviously always in the banks favour aiming to achieve the maximum split at all times this increasing their profits.
The banks were fully supported by the public via taxation just 15 years ago, the government completely opened the taps for tax payers/society to not just save the banks and their employees, it also allowed them to pay out super generous severance packages allowing very nice headcount reduction etc etc.
In fact some say the banking system was rewarded very handsomely for doing such a bad job.
It will be interesting to see now if the banks take on board the government and its requests to be reasonable and fair in these times.
I'm certainly of the opinion if in general all uk savings rates were wound up now it would help the uk with inflation quicker and allow a softer landing, it seems like an easy pathway if the banks should actually listen and act on this matter.
It's not just the banks being unreasonable, the NS&I could certainly up their rates to fair and reasonable values quickly and indeed by doing this the government will ensure the banks play their part in the UK going forwards as smoothly as possible.
Just imagine if the government announces NS&I puts its "general" interest rates up to say 5% this week.
There's a lot of people who just leave savings in poor paying interest accounts for a variety of reasons and many are valid, banks see this as weakness and easy money.
I think there's a commons select committee this Thursday on this matter, I'll get my popcorn ready and watch the show!
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Comments
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TBF there are so many better rates in the market, should providers be forced to automatically increase rates or should customers just move to places where they get a better rate?
If we all just stopped being lazy and the big banks saw an alarming outflow of savings balances I'm pretty sure they'd quickly throw out one or more accounts at higher rates to stem the flow / attract new money back to them...12 -
You can get 4.2% already on savings accounts. If people choose to keep an account with 0.5% rate then I'm not sure banks should be obliged to pay the top rate. Seems more likely that we'll lose out and best rates will no longer be availableRemember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.8
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The government is making statements in the media to try and make itself look better, in reality they matter little when 4-4.5% rates can be easily used and higher rates are possible on fixed term accounts. Pointless grandstanding from this government again.5
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It's just the Government playing at politics. NI have low rates too, isn't that owned or influenced by the Government?
Whether it be banks or supermarkets, there is ample competition, Government interference is not needed.5 -
Anyone can look on becleverwithyourcash and find 16 easy access savings accounts with interest rates greater than 4%. Why should the banks increase the interest rates for people that are happy with having a low rate?
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Yes, the government can just up NS&I rates and sort out the banks we all saved.sevenhills said:It's just the Government playing at politics. NI have low rates too, isn't that owned or influenced by the Government?
Whether it be banks or supermarkets, there is ample competition, Government interference is not needed.
It's very easy for some people in society to move savings around in a jiffy getting the best deals on offer but, many people are scared of all the security issues possibilities or just don't have the technical ability to use computers, phones or the Internet in general.
The government could sort the banks in a moment if they just put NS&I rates today!1 -
Many other websites also list savings accounts. Anyone can look at those too!Rob5342 said:Anyone can look on becleverwithyourcash and find 16 easy access savings accounts with interest rates greater than 4%. Why should the banks increase the interest rates for people that are happy with having a low rate?
MSE's current summary is at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/#easyaccess
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But that's not really the Government's job. Especially not a conservative government. It's far too nanny state for them!RogerPensionGuy said:
Yes, the government can just up NS&I rates and sort out the banks we all saved.sevenhills said:It's just the Government playing at politics. NI have low rates too, isn't that owned or influenced by the Government?
Whether it be banks or supermarkets, there is ample competition, Government interference is not needed.
It's very easy for some people in society to move savings around in a jiffy getting the best deals on offer but, many people are scared of all the security issues possibilities or just don't have the technical ability to use computers, phones or the Internet in general.
The government could sort the banks in a moment if they just put NS&I rates today!2 -
One of my points is many good customers of banks don't find it easy to jump from deal to deal and obviously the banks enjoy these sticky customers, they are a never ending goldmine for the banks.Zanderman said:
Many other websites also list savings accounts. Anyone can look at those too!Rob5342 said:Anyone can look on becleverwithyourcash and find 16 easy access savings accounts with interest rates greater than 4%. Why should the banks increase the interest rates for people that are happy with having a low rate?
MSE's current summary is at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/#easyaccess
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RogerPensionGuy said:One of my points is many good customers of banks don't find it easy to jump from deal to deal and obviously the banks enjoy these sticky customers, they are a never ending goldmine for the banks.
My 96-year-old relative is one, but is it the Governments job to set savings rates?
4
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