Good time to lock or better wait?

Alicon88

As per my previous post, I just faced the classic situation in which I locked most of my saving to a Fixed Rate saving account (first time in my life since I moved to UK) and a few days after the interest rate jumped quite consistently.

At the moment I have just a small capital still floating and just on a Monzo daily access account with a 3.7% interest rate. 
I was thinking to move it towards either the fixed 1 year with Monzo (5.6%) or switching to one of the recommended by MSE - like Atom Bank (6%)..

..but now my doubt is : is it a good time or not?
Of course I know there is no guarantee but would you keep waiting or these are the best interests we can get for the foreseeable future?

Thank you for your replies

ForumUser7

Alicon88 said:

As per my previous post, I just faced the classic situation in which I locked most of my saving to a Fixed Rate saving account (first time in my life since I moved to UK) and a few days after the interest rate jumped quite consistently.

At the moment I have just a small capital still floating and just on a Monzo daily access account with a 3.7% interest rate. 
I was thinking to move it towards either the fixed 1 year with Monzo (5.6%) or switching to one of the recommended by MSE - like Atom Bank (6%)..

..but now my doubt is : is it a good time or not?
Of course I know there is no guarantee but would you keep waiting or these are the best interests we can get for the foreseeable future?

Thank you for your replies

OP, rates in general are on the up and up, but as lenders cut mortgage rates and swap rates and inflation fall they may begin to settle. Although the market is drastically changing so often that no one really knows, and after tomorrow mortgage rates and swap rates could go up again. As you’ve said, no guarantees, as no one knows.

I don’t have my crystal ball with me today, but I’d say wait for the BOE meeting tomorrow and see what happens.

Certainly if you were to fix, fix at the highest rate on the day with a provider you’re comfortable with. I would think 0.4% difference is sufficient to use a new provider, given in your other thread you were (understandably) frustrated about the 0.5% difference.

Personally, I’m predominantly sticking with high rate regular savers for now rather than locking in to any bonds. I prefer regular saver bonds to normal bonds because some have a get out free clause. You’d need to read the terms though.

Make sure you have an easy access ‘emergency fund’/‘rainy day’ fund too rather than having it all locked away. You can get much better than your Monzo rate https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/easy-access-savings-accounts/?quick-links-first=false

Bigwheels1111

I fixed last year as rates started to drop even though base rates were still going up.
I could have go around 0.75% more this year, but would have lost thousands between last year and this year if I waited.
What I would do looking at the top 1 year fixed is go with atom. They are great to deal with.
Rates dropped last night, from 6.1% to 6.05%.
I think you get a 14 day funding window, could be longer.
So open the account today and wait to see if the boe rise puts rates up int the next 10 days.
If they do, fund a different account. If not fund the Atom account.
Best of both worlds.

subjecttocontract

I put money into the best short term fix I can find (6 month term) every 3 months.
That way you can get the top return regularly without being locked in for a year or more.
6 month fixed term bonds are paying around 5.5% at the moment.

Alicon88

ForumUser7 said:

Alicon88 said:

As per my previous post, I just faced the classic situation in which I locked most of my saving to a Fixed Rate saving account (first time in my life since I moved to UK) and a few days after the interest rate jumped quite consistently.

At the moment I have just a small capital still floating and just on a Monzo daily access account with a 3.7% interest rate. 
I was thinking to move it towards either the fixed 1 year with Monzo (5.6%) or switching to one of the recommended by MSE - like Atom Bank (6%)..

..but now my doubt is : is it a good time or not?
Of course I know there is no guarantee but would you keep waiting or these are the best interests we can get for the foreseeable future?

Thank you for your replies

OP, rates in general are on the up and up, but as lenders cut mortgage rates and swap rates and inflation fall they may begin to settle. Although the market is drastically changing so often that no one really knows, and after tomorrow mortgage rates and swap rates could go up again. As you’ve said, no guarantees, as no one knows.

I don’t have my crystal ball with me today, but I’d say wait for the BOE meeting tomorrow and see what happens.

Certainly if you were to fix, fix at the highest rate on the day with a provider you’re comfortable with. I would think 0.4% difference is sufficient to use a new provider, given in your other thread you were (understandably) frustrated about the 0.5% difference.

Personally, I’m predominantly sticking with high rate regular savers for now rather than locking in to any bonds. I prefer regular saver bonds to normal bonds because some have a get out free clause. You’d need to read the terms though.

Thank you!
I am sorry for asking something that might sound stupid, but what do you mean with regular saver bonds and normal bonds? what's the main difference?

subjecttocontract said:

I put money into the best short term fix I can find (6 month term) every 3 months.
That way you can get the top return regularly without being locked in for a year or more.
6 month fixed term bonds are paying around 5.5% at the moment.

Who are you with at the moment?

Bigwheels1111

Look here for todays rates.

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/

Then at the top Click Savings and ISA.

Then Fixed or regular savings, ISA etc.

Then click rate order.

You will see the best rate option.

MSE site only updates once a day os so.

Money facts update throughout the day.

Sg28

I wanted to get a 6% for my mortgage offset money. So jumped on the ybs loyalty 1 year. 

Personally I dont think fixed rates will rise much further, if at all in the short term. Unless interest rate expectations for next year start going back up again. 

jaypers

If you’re going to fix, get the best rates you can which isn’t Monzo at present. You can get over 6% elsewhere.

Personally I think fixed rates are near their peak but I can’t see the underlying interest rates falling in the short term. Feel that the gap between Easy Access and Fixed will narrow but Fixed will obviously always be higher. Laddering is a good strategy, whereby you can open multiple Fixed accounts over time by investing smaller sums in each, effectively hedging your bets. Also look at Regular Saver accounts for a drip feeding approach too, many allowing you to access the money if needed, although often not without loss of potential interest. 

twopenny

Just take care with moving in cooling off period.
It takes, not long but long enough,for the rate you are going for to change or the option closed.

To have an emergency fund in a variable or some sort of access is good.
My life suddenly went into a blender thanks to post pandemic effect and rising prices and for the first time ever I need that access.

May also take the hit and move my fixed rate so I can get the interest sooner.
Just keeping my fingers crossed that the boe keeps us stable for 6mts - and pigs might fly.

Albermarle

subjecttocontract said:

I put money into the best short term fix I can find (6 month term) every 3 months.
That way you can get the top return regularly without being locked in for a year or more.
6 month fixed term bonds are paying around 5.5% at the moment.

Or you could take the view that in 6 months  time you will be renewing these 6 month accounts at a lower rate. than you could have fixed today for one year.
There is a distinct possibility that if you fixed today for 5 years, for the latter half of the period you will have a much better rate than you could get in the market at that time.
Then again you might not. Whichever strategy you use, you may win and you may lose.

ForumUser7

Alicon88 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Alicon88 said:

As per my previous post, I just faced the classic situation in which I locked most of my saving to a Fixed Rate saving account (first time in my life since I moved to UK) and a few days after the interest rate jumped quite consistently.

At the moment I have just a small capital still floating and just on a Monzo daily access account with a 3.7% interest rate. 
I was thinking to move it towards either the fixed 1 year with Monzo (5.6%) or switching to one of the recommended by MSE - like Atom Bank (6%)..

..but now my doubt is : is it a good time or not?
Of course I know there is no guarantee but would you keep waiting or these are the best interests we can get for the foreseeable future?

Thank you for your replies

OP, rates in general are on the up and up, but as lenders cut mortgage rates and swap rates and inflation fall they may begin to settle. Although the market is drastically changing so often that no one really knows, and after tomorrow mortgage rates and swap rates could go up again. As you’ve said, no guarantees, as no one knows.

I don’t have my crystal ball with me today, but I’d say wait for the BOE meeting tomorrow and see what happens.

Certainly if you were to fix, fix at the highest rate on the day with a provider you’re comfortable with. I would think 0.4% difference is sufficient to use a new provider, given in your other thread you were (understandably) frustrated about the 0.5% difference.

Personally, I’m predominantly sticking with high rate regular savers for now rather than locking in to any bonds. I prefer regular saver bonds to normal bonds because some have a get out free clause. You’d need to read the terms though.

Thank you!
I am sorry for asking something that might sound stupid, but what do you mean with regular saver bonds and normal bonds? what's the main difference?

subjecttocontract said:

I put money into the best short term fix I can find (6 month term) every 3 months.
That way you can get the top return regularly without being locked in for a year or more.
6 month fixed term bonds are paying around 5.5% at the moment.

Who are you with at the moment?

Regular Saver Bonds allow you to contribute monthly up to a max stated amount.

Bonds usually don’t let you fund past a set timescale