Banks we've never heard of

Nebbit

My  wife and I have an increasing amount in savings accounts (we are too risk averse for anything to do with stocks and shares) but whenever it comes to looking at new accounts, the accounts are all banks or building societies we have never heard of. Why should this be? Can anyone recommend a competitive account with a known company? We are looking to deposit, not save regularly. 

InvesterJones

Nebbit said:

My  wife and I have an increasing amount in savings accounts (we are too risk averse for anything to do with stocks and shares) but whenever it comes to looking at new accounts, the accounts are all banks or building societies we have never heard of. Why should this be? Can anyone recommend a competitive account with a known company? We are looking to deposit, not save regularly. 

If all accounts are banks you've never heard of, then you can either a) look into them so you have heard about them, or b) look for accounts with banks you have heard of. It's a little hard for us to do this for you as you don't mention what companies you already know. Have you heard of NS&I? They're essentially HM Treasury, and they have accounts you can deposit into, and earn above inflation returns.

mebu60

No-one can know what financial institutions you have / haven't heard of. By 'never heard of' you possibly mean not on the high street but we can't possibly know what a 'known company' is to you without a list.

If you are looking for competitive rates start here:
Top Easy Access acs Ranked: Top of The Pots - **No Chat** — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Furness BS (who you've possibly never heard of) are expected to launch a 4.9% double access account today.

All the companies listed have £85k FSCS protection per person per institution. 

MSE_James

MSE's savings guides tend to have a note in them to help people who prefer to go with an established name - eg 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/#easyaccessanalysis 

WillPS

Nebbit said:

My  wife and I have an increasing amount in savings accounts (we are too risk averse for anything to do with stocks and shares) but whenever it comes to looking at new accounts, the accounts are all banks or building societies we have never heard of. Why should this be? Can anyone recommend a competitive account with a known company? We are looking to deposit, not save regularly. 

There are no 'new' Building Societies; the newest is (I think) Ecology, who started in 1981. If you don't know them, it'll simply be because they haven't entered your consciousness - many of them only have branches in a small geographical area and very few have significant marketing budgets.

As others have said, you've nothing to fear so long as you stay the right side of the FSCS compensation limit and understand the timescales you'll be working with (i.e. unless you go to a branch nothing will happen immediately, as it probably will with one of the larger players).

akm2018

Nebbit said:

Why should this be?

Suppose you are a banking institution that wants to offer savings accounts to UK customers. You can:

a) build a large number of branches across the country, and employ staff in all of them, such that people who frequent their local high street might hear of you

or

b) not

Option b is much much cheaper for you to do, and therefore allows you to offer better savings rates, such that you appear at or near the top of online lists of savings accounts, and thereby get more business from people who look for their savings accounts online. This is an increasingly large proportion of UK customers.

Which do you do?

IvanOpinion

You could consider using something like Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings (or similar). They may not offer the absolute best rates but they offer accounts through various banks with a single interface to manage them. Might give you more flexibility than a single bank.They carry out the due diligence on the accounts they offer.

jimjames

IvanOpinion said:

You could consider using something like Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings (or similar). They may not offer the absolute best rates but they offer accounts through various banks with a single interface to manage them. Might give you more flexibility than a single bank.They carry out the due diligence on the accounts they offer.

OP probably hasn't heard of HL so they're out of the equation

Nebbit said:

My  wife and I have an increasing amount in savings accounts (we are too risk averse for anything to do with stocks and shares) but whenever it comes to looking at new accounts, the accounts are all banks or building societies we have never heard of. Why should this be? Can anyone recommend a competitive account with a known company? We are looking to deposit, not save regularly. 

The key isn't whether you've currently heard of them but whether they are FSCS protected. Many newer banks are offering the best rates so you may want to spread your net wider if you want a good return.

Sarahspangles

Nebbit said:

My  wife and I have an increasing amount in savings accounts (we are too risk averse for anything to do with stocks and shares) but whenever it comes to looking at new accounts, the accounts are all banks or building societies we have never heard of. Why should this be? Can anyone recommend a competitive account with a known company? We are looking to deposit, not save regularly. 

So we’re not alone in wondering where Chetwood is then?

We use one of the disruptor/app-only/non-standard banks but the majority of our accounts are with the ‘well-known names’ in the MSE lists. We’re getting competitive rates and by preference like to stick to mutuals.

If customer experience is a consideration, both my young adult children have gone back to using a building society for their main account because of technical/security issues with the newer banks that have left them without access to funds in an inconvenient way. It also concerns me that new banks don’t have solutions for many of the scenarios likely to affect elderly customers. In their later years both sets of our parents needed to visit a branch to resolve issues at some point.

UKX69

Sarahspangles said:

Nebbit said:

My  wife and I have an increasing amount in savings accounts (we are too risk averse for anything to do with stocks and shares) but whenever it comes to looking at new accounts, the accounts are all banks or building societies we have never heard of. Why should this be? Can anyone recommend a competitive account with a known company? We are looking to deposit, not save regularly. 

So we’re not alone in wondering where Chetwood is then?

We use one of the disruptor/app-only/non-standard banks but the majority of our accounts are with the ‘well-known names’ in the MSE lists. We’re getting competitive rates and by preference like to stick to mutuals.

If customer experience is a consideration, both my young adult children have gone back to using a building society for their main account because of technical/security issues with the newer banks that have left them without access to funds in an inconvenient way. It also concerns me that new banks don’t have solutions for many of the scenarios likely to affect elderly customers. In their later years both sets of our parents needed to visit a branch to resolve issues at some point.

Agree with last paragraph. I was considering opening an account with Chase and yesterday emailed a few questions concerning communication as I’m deaf. Had a reply, “We would love to have you join us, please phone…..”🤔

molerat

You could always look here to see how far down the list the ones you have heard of are  https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/

There are a few well known names popping near the top.