General Discussion and Whimsical Banter

ircE

It was only a matter of time.
Personally I've never minded the off-topic comments in the main threads to discuss top easy access and regular savings accounts, but I can see it's becoming a greater problem given that there just isn't a whole lot going on in the top end of the savings accounts market right now and possibly the same for the near future. These comments, though not strictly relevant, contribute to a sense of community here, not to mention providing useful nuggets of information and a place to discuss things that don't warrant their own threads. I hope this is a better avenue going forwards.
We can use this thread to:

• talk about what's happening in the savings accounts landscape more generally beyond the top rate accounts
  
• as above but for investments too, given this board is also for investments
• discuss updates from account providers, their websites and apps, etc
  
• ask questions that may not warrant their own thread (kind fellow forumites will advise you to do so if it is worthwhile)
• other off-topic banter broadly relevant to savings & investments
  

Other threads for your information:
Top Easy Access Savings Accounts - NO CHAT (reporting only)
Top Easy Access Savings Accounts Discussion Area (discussion)
Top Regular Savings Accounts (reporting and discussion)

ircE

Bank Rate has been kept at 5.25%. The vote was 6-3, with 3 members opting for a higher rate of 5.5%. Thoughts?

martinm1

It's not moving is it, so stay with what you've got. I can't believe theres many out there with large sums in fairly low rate

mebu60

ircE said:

Bank Rate has been kept at 5.25%. The vote was 5-3, with 3 members opting for a higher rate of 5.5%. Thoughts?

The vote was 6-3.

The majority, who wanted to leave interest rates unchanged, were governor Andrew Bailey, deputy governors Sarah Breeden, Ben Broadbent, and Dave Ramsden, chief economist Huw Pill and external committee member Swati Dhingra. The hawkish trio who pushed for higher borrowing costs were all external members of the committee – Megan Greene, Jonathan Haskel and Catherine Mann. They voted for a rise to 5.5%.

Thumbs_Up

ircE said:

Bank Rate has been kept at 5.25%. The vote was 5-3, with 3 members opting for a higher rate of 5.5%. Thoughts?

I’m happy with it. My money is in fixed bonds so can’t expect much, and inversely my Lloyd's banking shares will pick up a bit, the old nag!

martinm1

Trouble is none of the members are interested in your savings only what's best for them. 

Eirambler

ircE said:

Bank Rate has been kept at 5.25%. The vote was 6-3, with 3 members opting for a higher rate of 5.5%. Thoughts?

Suggestion is certainly that we should get used to this as the new normal. Personally I was getting a bit tired of constantly opening new savings accounts and ISAs anyway!

From Sky News:

Right now, markets are anticipating that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will leave interest rates at their current 5.25% level all the way through to the second half of next year. The Bank has dropped a few hints that we could have to wait even longer.

dealyboy

Will 5.25% be the easy access ceiling now or should I say bumpy plateau? (no growth until 2025 Bank holds interest rates and warns it's too early to cut - BBC News) or will some brave chancellor decide we need growth, cut taxes, get Andrew in from his lunch and cut the base rate?

... all bantered out 

allegro120

Eirambler said:

ircE said:

Bank Rate has been kept at 5.25%. The vote was 6-3, with 3 members opting for a higher rate of 5.5%. Thoughts?

Suggestion is certainly that we should get used to this as the new normal. Personally I was getting a bit tired of constantly opening new savings accounts and ISAs anyway!

From Sky News:

Right now, markets are anticipating that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will leave interest rates at their current 5.25% level all the way through to the second half of next year. The Bank has dropped a few hints that we could have to wait even longer.

This is probably the end of the race and looks like the process of lowering base rate will be very slow.  I also got a bit tired of chasing the rates, opening new accounts, funding and a week later emptying them in order to fund another one... Thinking about 2-3 years ago, my best EA account was Al Rayan paying 0.7%, most RSs were paying 1.5%-2%, nearly a third of my savings was kept in children accounts because they paid best rates, opening some of them I had to visit branches (my then 3 year old daughter had about 10 bank accounts and became quite a wealthy person for her age :-).  Comparing this to situation today - I'm very happy with the interest we are getting now and I won't be too upset if it drops down a little in the next few years. 

Zaul22

Should probably also get out in front of it and clarify whether this is the correct thread for the convos about various banks good/bad security as they occasionally pop up. 

We also still don't have an ISA thread. 

Baldeagle095

Perhaps we should have a Fixed Rate Bonds thread. The rates promoted by MSE do not seem the best.