Fixed savings accounts

Albermarle

Skipton are the same .

• At the end of the fixed interest rate term, which is also known as 'maturity', your account will automatically transfer into a new 1 year fixed rate Cash ISA, unless you tell us otherwise, and you'll have 21 days to change your mind.
• We'll contact you before maturity 

refluxer

jaypers said:

BooJewels said:

I'm relatively new to fixed savings accounts and started reading here for many months before I committed to any.  I can't recall anyone ever saying they didn't get their funds at maturity.

I haven't had any mature yet, but will this autumn - as I understand it, they will usually send you a reminder about a month before maturity, giving you several options as to how you'd like to proceed when the time comes.  Without specific instruction, some accounts may default to the funds being locked away for the same period again in a similar fix, some may default to an easy access savings account, possibly one paying minimal interest.

I suspect if people are saying that they can't get at their funds at maturity, it's most likely that they didn't heed the request for instruction in time and it got locked away again.

I largely disregard Trust Pilot reviews, although do read them for entertainment occasionally.

Not aware of any accounts where it will automatically be locked away again. At worst, it could end up in a very poorly paying account. 

Yes - it's not common but does happen. Ford Money (for example) will automatically open another fixed rate account with a similar duration if they don't hear from you by the deadline for submitting your maturity instructions. This is a great example of why it's so important to read account T&Cs (and relevant emails) properly. 

"You will have until 48 hours before your Fixed Saver matures to select your preferred option(s). If we don’t hear from you by then, and we’re offering you another term of the same or similar duration, the new term will start automatically on the maturity date of the previous account." 

BooJewels

Albermarle said:

Skipton are the same .

• At the end of the fixed interest rate term, which is also known as 'maturity', your account will automatically transfer into a new 1 year fixed rate Cash ISA, unless you tell us otherwise, and you'll have 21 days to change your mind.
• We'll contact you before maturity 

I'd totally forgotten that about Skipton when I was trying to remember which accounts I'd seen it on - ditto with Ford - I didn't take their fix in the end as it was beaten, but may well do when one of my others expires.  On my non-ISA Skipton fixes (1 year and 3 year - now beaten by EA rates) it calls the default maturity option the 'do nothing' option.  Expanding with:

"If you ‘do-nothing’, we’ll add any interest due to your account and your savings will automatically transfer into a new 1 year bond with a fixed interest rate, which will have the same restrictions on withdrawals and early closure. We’ll then send you confirmation of your new account within seven days of your fixed rate bond maturity. You’ll have 21 days from maturity to change your mind and close the account."

liverbearofdeal

Thanks for all your helpful input; I now have another question....
I've just seen some analysts suggesting that the B of E could raise their rates again at least twice in the next 2-3 months; how likely is it that banks would start offering 1 year fixes with increased rates too? Would I be better off putting all my savings in the best easy access account now and waiting a couple of months to transfer it into a fixed? (I know it's a "piece of string" question, I guess we fan only go on how the banks have already reacted so far?)

PixelPound

liverbearofdeal said:

Thanks for all your helpful input; I now have another question....
I've just seen some analysts suggesting that the B of E could raise their rates again at least twice in the next 2-3 months; how likely is it that banks would start offering 1 year fixes with increased rates too? Would I be better off putting all my savings in the best easy access account now and waiting a couple of months to transfer it into a fixed? (I know it's a "piece of string" question, I guess we fan only go on how the banks have already reacted so far?)

So BoE could go to 5.75 or even 6.0 over a few months. The top EAS will be 0.25-0.5 behind BoE. 

Since fixed rates savings are based somewhat on predicted rates, why would they increase much more? 

intalex

Another issue is that most of them won't even take maturity instructions until much closer (e.g. 1 month) to maturity, else we could all default to the "withdraw externally" option from the outset, and change the instruction closer to maturity at our discretion... hopeful traps if you ask me...

BooJewels

liverbearofdeal said:

Thanks for all your helpful input; I now have another question....
I've just seen some analysts suggesting that the B of E could raise their rates again at least twice in the next 2-3 months; how likely is it that banks would start offering 1 year fixes with increased rates too? Would I be better off putting all my savings in the best easy access account now and waiting a couple of months to transfer it into a fixed? (I know it's a "piece of string" question, I guess we fan only go on how the banks have already reacted so far?)

The rates offered for fixes are based on how the bank thinks rates will move during the period of the fix - an anticipated average interest rate if you like.  As the expectation is that rates will generally fall over time, a short term increase perhaps won't make much difference to the longer term 'average' expectations, as it's probably already been anticipated and included in the rates currently being offered. 

Despite the latest BoE rate increase, rates offered on fixes are much the same as they were in June when I took a couple - they dropped a little and have rallied up again - but not by 0.25% - the fluctuations have been modest - there seem to be a few available now at 6% or a smidge over.

PixelPound

intalex said:

Another issue is that most of them won't even take maturity instructions until much closer (e.g. 1 month) to maturity, else we could all default to the "withdraw externally" option from the outset, and change the instruction closer to maturity at our discretion... hopeful traps if you ask me...

Cynergy allows you to set whether it renews or withdrawn at maturity and changed at any point during the whole term.