Oaknrth bonus?

A._Badger

My largest single ISA, with Oaknorth, is coming to the end of its 1 year fix in early November. Oaknorth is 'opening a window' on 21st October and promising an existing member bonus if I renew. However, it isn't saying what that bonus rate will be, and their 1yr fixed rate isn't the best .I'm tempted to start a transfer to Aldermore which is offering 4.56%. Too match Aldermore, Oaknorth would need to offer a 0.5% bonus. Is that likely or should I just grab the Aldermore rate while it's still available? 

Edited to correct rate.

eskbanker

A._Badger said:

I'm tempted to start a transfer to Aldermore which is offering 5.6%.

Do you have a link for that, I can't see any of their products offering anywhere near that?

A._Badger

eskbanker said:

A._Badger said:

I'm tempted to start a transfer to Aldermore which is offering 5.6%.

Do you have a link for that, I can't see any of their products offering anywhere near that?

I'm sorry - that was a ridiculous typo on my part. It is 4.56 and I will edit my original if it will let me.Sorry if I raised anyone's hopes!

refluxer

I've had a few fixed rate accounts with OakNorth in recent years and their existing member reward rates for renewing can vary. In my experience, they're usually a minimum of 0.1% higher than the 'available to all' rate but they can sometimes be a fair amount more than that. For example - I had one of their fixed rate bonds mature at the end of last year and I took a gamble on a 5-year renewal at 5.40%, at a time when a lot of their competitors were paying <5% and their own available-to-all rate was 4.40%.

With their current 1 year fixed ISA rate being 4.10%, I think the chances of the bonus rate taking you above the 4.56% Aldermore are currently offering are fairly low but if you've received the loyalty rate email, have you tried logging in to see if the rates are displayed ? Judging by my emails, I eventually received an actual email with details of the specific loyalty rates on offer around 5 days before the maturity date of the old (non-ISA) bond.

Your scenario is complicated further by the fact that fixed rates have been falling and there are two further BoE meetings before the end of the year (including one on 7th Nov), where at least one more rate drop (and possibly even two) have been predicted, meaning that the fixed rates from both banks are likely to be lower then than they are now.

I guess the first thing to suss first though is whether Aldermore will let you open a fixed rate ISA now and arrange a transfer a month in advance, as many providers have smaller windows than that. 

A._Badger

refluxer said:

I've had a few fixed rate accounts with OakNorth in recent years and their existing member reward rates for renewing can vary. In my experience, they're usually a minimum of 0.1% higher than the 'available to all' rate but they can sometimes be a fair amount more than that. For example - I had one of their fixed rate bonds mature at the end of last year and I took a gamble on a 5-year renewal at 5.40%, at a time when a lot of their competitors were paying <5% and their own available-to-all rate was 4.40%.

With their current 1 year fixed ISA rate being 4.10%, I think the chances of the bonus rate taking you above the 4.56% Aldermore are currently offering are fairly low but if you've received the loyalty rate email, have you tried logging in to see if the rates are displayed ? Judging by my emails, I eventually received an actual email with details of the specific loyalty rates on offer around 5 days before the maturity date of the old (non-ISA) bond.

Your scenario is complicated further by the fact that fixed rates have been falling and there are two further BoE meetings before the end of the year (including one on 7th Nov), where at least one more rate drop (and possibly even two) have been predicted, meaning that the fixed rates from both banks are likely to be lower then than they are now.

I guess the first thing to suss first though is whether Aldermore will let you open a fixed rate ISA now and arrange a transfer a month in advance, as many providers have smaller windows than that. 

Thank you, refluxer. That's more or less my thinking to date, too. I need to check Aldermore's funding window but ISTR most who accept transfers are fairly generous with their dates. My concern, exactly as you suggest, is that rates appear to be declining quite quickly, so the motivation to grab the best I can get now is high. Your experience with Oaknorth was helopful - thanks again.

refluxer

A._Badger said:

I need to check Aldermore's funding window but ISTR most who accept transfers are fairly generous with their dates. My concern, exactly as you suggest, is that rates appear to be declining quite quickly, so the motivation to grab the best I can get now is high. Your experience with Oaknorth was helopful - thanks again.

Yes, you're right - funding windows can often be generous (anything up to a month in my experience) but Aldermore's is 14 days and they only accept transfer requests at the time of application, so they may have a similar restriction on how far in advance of a maturity date you can request a transfer.

A._Badger

Just in case anyone else is following this and would like to know the answer, I've checked with Aldermore and they say the gap between now (8th October) and my ISA maturity i n early November is fine. So that's almost a month.