High interest savings accounts

eskbanker

jaypers said:

dinosaur66 said:

i only bank with nationwide simply because imo they fit in the catergory of to big to fail

a 1 year bond allowing up to 3 withdrawls without losing intrest gives 4%

by no means best rate but i bank there because its safest rate when your savings exceed 85k

you can earn more with the smaller banks but peace of mind and ease of use ie branches not closing is more important to me than gaining 1% extra interest.

Your first sentence is factually incorrect. Look at Nat West…..in 2008 the Government had to bail them out or they would have failed. Nothing is impossible. 

But that's the point - NatWest were too big to be allowed to fail, hence the bailout.

Iwouldratherwalk

I've been looking at some of the suggestions that some of you have put forward... excuse my ignorance but if the interest rate says 'variable' does that mean it can fluctuate throughout the year?  

cricidmuslibale

Iwouldratherwalk said:

I've been looking at some of the suggestions that some of you have put forward... excuse my ignorance but if the interest rate says 'variable' does that mean it can fluctuate throughout the year?  

Yes in a way, but usually there will be a clear direction when the interest rate changes, and at present that direction will be gradually downwards with the current expectation that the Bank of England will cut the Base Rate by 0.25% at least once and possibly as much as three times before the end of 2025.

Aretnap

Iwouldratherwalk said:

I've been looking at some of the suggestions that some of you have put forward... excuse my ignorance but if the interest rate says 'variable' does that mean it can fluctuate throughout the year?  

Yes, a variable rate can be changed by the bank at any time. They do of course have to inform you of the fact that it's changing and give you a bit of notice (eg a week or two, enough to give you chance to withdraw your money and put it in a different bank should you choose to).

A fixed rate on the other hand is guaranteed not to change for a year, or 5 years, it however long it is fixed for. The downside is that you usually can't withdraw any money until the fixed rate period has ended. 

It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, but the likelihood is that interest rates will come down a bit over the next year or so, which is why a one year fixed rate currently pays a bit less than a variable rate account - the variable rate will probably be lower by December.

eskbanker

Aretnap said:

Iwouldratherwalk said:

I've been looking at some of the suggestions that some of you have put forward... excuse my ignorance but if the interest rate says 'variable' does that mean it can fluctuate throughout the year?  

Yes, a variable rate can be changed by the bank at any time. They do of course have to inform you of the fact that it's changing and give you a bit of notice (eg a week or two, enough to give you chance to withdraw your money and put it in a different bank should you choose to).

There's no requirement to give notice of rate changes, at least for easy access products?

Altior

eskbanker said:

jaypers said:

dinosaur66 said:

i only bank with nationwide simply because imo they fit in the catergory of to big to fail

a 1 year bond allowing up to 3 withdrawls without losing intrest gives 4%

by no means best rate but i bank there because its safest rate when your savings exceed 85k

you can earn more with the smaller banks but peace of mind and ease of use ie branches not closing is more important to me than gaining 1% extra interest.

Your first sentence is factually incorrect. Look at Nat West…..in 2008 the Government had to bail them out or they would have failed. Nothing is impossible. 

But that's the point - NatWest were too big to be allowed to fail, hence the bailout.

Just for clarity, it was RBS that was bailed out. RBS bought Nat West in a hostile takeover at the beginning of this century. The name of the banking group was so toxic, they (quite recently) changed the name to one of the more palatable brands of the group, Nat West. 

RBS was basically a global financial casino with a retail banking front in the UK. This is of course old news, but Nationwide being a BS doesn't have the same profile (or risk) of the old RBS! 

friolento

eskbanker said:

Aretnap said:

Iwouldratherwalk said:

I've been looking at some of the suggestions that some of you have put forward... excuse my ignorance but if the interest rate says 'variable' does that mean it can fluctuate throughout the year?  

Yes, a variable rate can be changed by the bank at any time. They do of course have to inform you of the fact that it's changing and give you a bit of notice (eg a week or two, enough to give you chance to withdraw your money and put it in a different bank should you choose to).

There's no requirement to give notice of rate changes, at least for easy access products?

There's no requirement to give notice if the rate is increasing but I thought they have an obligation to give notice if the rate drops by more than 0.25%. In reality, we seem to be getting notifications for all changes. The T&Cs of an account will specify what notifications we can expect.

Aretnap

eskbanker said:

Aretnap said:

Iwouldratherwalk said:

I've been looking at some of the suggestions that some of you have put forward... excuse my ignorance but if the interest rate says 'variable' does that mean it can fluctuate throughout the year?  

Yes, a variable rate can be changed by the bank at any time. They do of course have to inform you of the fact that it's changing and give you a bit of notice (eg a week or two, enough to give you chance to withdraw your money and put it in a different bank should you choose to).

There's no requirement to give notice of rate changes, at least for easy access products?

You may well be right, though in my experience the notification has always been "we will reduce your rate on (date in the near future)" rather than "we've just reduced it, you blinked and missed it".

Iwouldratherwalk

Thanks everyone.  Lots of  really useful information to take away with me.  I think I will suggest to my mum to go with Investec again.  It's got a 4.6% fixed rate for one year.  I worked out the difference in interest over the year is only £160 less than with Zenith.  Peace of mind for me to be them again.  

eskbanker

Altior said:

eskbanker said:

jaypers said:

dinosaur66 said:

i only bank with nationwide simply because imo they fit in the catergory of to big to fail

a 1 year bond allowing up to 3 withdrawls without losing intrest gives 4%

by no means best rate but i bank there because its safest rate when your savings exceed 85k

you can earn more with the smaller banks but peace of mind and ease of use ie branches not closing is more important to me than gaining 1% extra interest.

Your first sentence is factually incorrect. Look at Nat West…..in 2008 the Government had to bail them out or they would have failed. Nothing is impossible. 

But that's the point - NatWest were too big to be allowed to fail, hence the bailout.

Just for clarity, it was RBS that was bailed out. RBS bought Nat West in a hostile takeover at the beginning of this century. The name of the banking group was so toxic, they (quite recently) changed the name to one of the more palatable brands of the group, Nat West. 

RBS was basically a global financial casino with a retail banking front in the UK. This is of course old news, but Nationwide being a BS doesn't have the same profile (or risk) of the old RBS! 

Well, yes, what is now known as NatWest Group was indeed called RBS Group at the time of the bailout, but the tightening of the financial regulations since then, and in particular the separation of retail from investment banking, has reduced risks of a repeat considerably, although Nationwide's multi-billion purchase of Virgin Money shows that it's closer to being an acquisitive corporate bank than a traditional building society IMHO.