Vida Savings

Redwinelover

I see Vida Savings, established in Dec 24, are topping the fixed 1 yr bond rates just now. Anyone heard of them? Interested to hear your thoughts.

subjecttocontract

Yep. I stuck £10K in a 1 year fix via HL in December.

eskbanker

Redwinelover said:

I see Vida Savings, established in Dec 24, are topping the fixed 1 yr bond rates just now. Anyone heard of them? Interested to hear your thoughts.

At the risk of stating the obvious, if they launched fixed term savings accounts last month, then customers can only have paid in thus far and nobody will yet have experienced the other end of the process!

Valley73

I took out the 1yr bond with them. No problems every deposit received email and text confirmation. They are fscs protected. 

SugarSnap

I'm also interested to know who backs them as I the protection, as I understand it, is only for those not in the same group of companies.  Does anyone know who backs Vida or Belmont Green Ltd, as they were previously known by.   Neither are listed on this checker https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/guides/uk-banks-who-owns-whom/#IndexedTable_B

Redwinelover

According to their Web pages, they are not part of a larger group but are their own entity. I signed up and all went smoothly. 

eskbanker

SugarSnap said:

I'm also interested to know who backs them as I the protection, as I understand it, is only for those not in the same group of companies.  Does anyone know who backs Vida or Belmont Green Ltd, as they were previously known by.   Neither are listed on this checker https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/guides/uk-banks-who-owns-whom/#IndexedTable_B

That page says it was last updated in October 2024, but the Vida Bank name was only adopted from November - until then they were a mortgage provider (hence not being on that list) but have now branched out into savings.

The FSCS tool shows that FRN 738741 is only shared by the companies within that group rather than any others:

https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/check-your-money-is-protected/ 

Redwinelover

The Vida Savings webpage says:

• Some firms operate more than one brand under the same FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and PRA (Prudential Regulatory Authority) authorisation number. It’s a good idea to check whether your banks or building societies share the same authorisation number, because you will only be covered once. You don’t need to worry about this at Vida though, we don't share our protection with anyone else, so you’re fully protected with us.

SugarSnap

Trustpilot reviews currently at 4.6 from 86 reviewers.  Might throw a few quid towards them.

SugarSnap

On further digging their support comes from Pine Brook of the Cayman Islands.  Over £200m capital in 2023 from Pine Brook.

eskbanker

SugarSnap said:

I'm also interested to know who backs them as I the protection, as I understand it, is only for those not in the same group of companies.  Does anyone know who backs Vida or Belmont Green Ltd, as they were previously known by.

SugarSnap said:

On further digging their support comes from Pine Brook of the Cayman Islands.  Over £200m capital in 2023 from Pine Brook.

Just to be clear, the identity of financial backers of FCA-regulated institutions has no effect on the FSCS protection, which is driven by the banking licences themselves.