Banks for 12 months bond

mills112

Malchester said:

Am I right in thinking that platforms like HL and Flagstone etc may pay monthly interest on fixed rate savings but this cannot be paid away? I have never seen this facility but may not be looking in the right place. Thanks 

i don't think it is anything to do with the platform.  it is what the banks offer.  a lot of them do offer monthly interest payments but i always choose annual.  the only one where i have chosen monthly interest payment is co-op savings as they pay more in monthly interest than annual (confused emoticon needed here!) so that gets paid to my natwest current account monthly.

refluxer

Looks like DF Capital have pulled their fixed rate accounts - Oxbury did the same recently, too. Those top Investec and Kent Reliance 1 year rates may not hang around for long at this rate.

mills112

refluxer said:

Looks like DF Capital have pulled their fixed rate accounts - Oxbury did the same recently, too. Those top Investec and Kent Reliance 1 year rates may not hang around for long at this rate.

i have looked on their website and they have pulled all the accounts, not just the fixed rate ones!

i wonder if i should not fund my 2 year bond until i see something back on their website?  my bond is open and i have 14 days to fund it but it is a bit concerning that there are no savings accounts available on their website at all now, not even for the business accounts.

I haven't received a welcome email from them like i have with investec and kent reliance.  however, when i log into my account, it is in my message box.  annoyingly you can't print the message to keep for your reference, which is a fail there in my mind.

do they send a welcome letter in the post?  anyone who has opened a DF capital account before can answer this question?

update - I have decided to go ahead and fund my account as they have pulled the savings from their website to put new rates on I believe and not because there is an issue with the bank!  seems efficient with money being credited but i don't like the way you have to log into your account to read anything.  they should really send you emails.  hopefully i won't have to deal with them much anyway once the bond is fully funded.

fuzzzzy

DF Capital do not send anything at all in the post - it is all online.

One thing I have noticed about them is your login still remains open even if you no longer have accounts with them. It may only be for a year or so after closing your account though and you can still see the details of the closed account.

refluxer

mills112 said:

refluxer said:

Looks like DF Capital have pulled their fixed rate accounts - Oxbury did the same recently, too. Those top Investec and Kent Reliance 1 year rates may not hang around for long at this rate.

i have looked on their website and they have pulled all the accounts, not just the fixed rate ones!

i wonder if i should not fund my 2 year bond until i see something back on their website?  my bond is open and i have 14 days to fund it but it is a bit concerning that there are no savings accounts available on their website at all now, not even for the business accounts.

I haven't received a welcome email from them like i have with investec and kent reliance.  however, when i log into my account, it is in my message box.  annoyingly you can't print the message to keep for your reference, which is a fail there in my mind.

do they send a welcome letter in the post?  anyone who has opened a DF capital account before can answer this question?

update - I have decided to go ahead and fund my account as they have pulled the savings from their website to put new rates on I believe and not because there is an issue with the bank!  seems efficient with money being credited but i don't like the way you have to log into your account to read anything.  they should really send you emails.  hopefully i won't have to deal with them much anyway once the bond is fully funded.

As mentioned, DF Capital don't send anything by post, thankfully.

I received an initial 'Your DF Capital Savings Account' welcome email shortly after opening the account and after that, just notification emails after each deposit and (possibly) one to inform me that the funding window had ended. If you didn't receive the welcome email, I would check they have the correct email address for you and also check your email's spam folder as you may not get the 'New secure message received' emails either, which are useful for confirming that deposits have been credited.

While having to log into the site to read any messages is annoying, it is actually far more secure than sending you an email with all the relevant info in, which would be far more useful to anyone gaining malicious access to your email account. 

It's not uncommon for certain banks to pull their savings accounts occasionally (especially those with fixed rates), particularly around the time of a Bank of England meeting where a base rate change is on the cards. It may also just be an indication that they've achieved the level of funds they wanted at that particular rate and for that particular time frame. Evidence for this is that, prior to just having those 1 and 2 year fixed rate accounts available, DF Capital also had 3 and 5 year terms on offer for a while. Either way, if they're not currently offering accounts, then that shouldn't be a concern.

If you opened the 2 year DF Capital bond at 4.41% like I did, then that rate may end up looking even better if the base rate drops next week. Many of the other banks and building societies I deal with are offering nowhere near that rate for a 2 year fix and haven't for some time. 

mills112

fuzzzzy said:

DF Capital do not send anything at all in the post - it is all online.

One thing I have noticed about them is your login still remains open even if you no longer have accounts with them. It may only be for a year or so after closing your account though and you can still see the details of the closed account.

yeah, a lot of banks do this and I find it a bit annoying to be honest.  i prefer that my data is deleted from their visable systems.

mills112

refluxer said:

mills112 said:

refluxer said:

Looks like DF Capital have pulled their fixed rate accounts - Oxbury did the same recently, too. Those top Investec and Kent Reliance 1 year rates may not hang around for long at this rate.

i have looked on their website and they have pulled all the accounts, not just the fixed rate ones!

i wonder if i should not fund my 2 year bond until i see something back on their website?  my bond is open and i have 14 days to fund it but it is a bit concerning that there are no savings accounts available on their website at all now, not even for the business accounts.

I haven't received a welcome email from them like i have with investec and kent reliance.  however, when i log into my account, it is in my message box.  annoyingly you can't print the message to keep for your reference, which is a fail there in my mind.

do they send a welcome letter in the post?  anyone who has opened a DF capital account before can answer this question?

update - I have decided to go ahead and fund my account as they have pulled the savings from their website to put new rates on I believe and not because there is an issue with the bank!  seems efficient with money being credited but i don't like the way you have to log into your account to read anything.  they should really send you emails.  hopefully i won't have to deal with them much anyway once the bond is fully funded.

As mentioned, DF Capital don't send anything by post, thankfully.

I received an initial 'Your DF Capital Savings Account' welcome email shortly after opening the account and after that, just notification emails after each deposit and (possibly) one to inform me that the funding window had ended. If you didn't receive the welcome email, I would check they have the correct email address for you and also check your email's spam folder as you may not get the 'New secure message received' emails either, which are useful for confirming that deposits have been credited.

While having to log into the site to read any messages is annoying, it is actually far more secure than sending you an email with all the relevant info in, which would be far more useful to anyone gaining malicious access to your email account. 

It's not uncommon for certain banks to pull their savings accounts occasionally (especially those with fixed rates), particularly around the time of a Bank of England meeting where a base rate change is on the cards. It may also just be an indication that they've achieved the level of funds they wanted at that particular rate and for that particular time frame. Evidence for this is that, prior to just having those 1 and 2 year fixed rate accounts available, DF Capital also had 3 and 5 year terms on offer for a while. Either way, if they're not currently offering accounts, then that shouldn't be a concern.

If you opened the 2 year DF Capital bond at 4.41% like I did, then that rate may end up looking even better if the base rate drops next week. Many of the other banks and building societies I deal with are offering nowhere near that rate for a 2 year fix and haven't for some time. 

they have sent me a message to tell me that i have a secure message to read when i put the money in, so they have my correct email address.  the welcome letter is in my message in my account, but it is not sent to my email and you can't print messages from the inbox in your account.

they must have stopped sending out the welcome email since you opened an account with them.

kent reliance is offering a 24 months bond for 4.42% pa, which is even better than the DF Capital (i know we are not talking much, but every little helps as they say).  i probably should have opened a 24 month bond with them rather than a 12 month bond.

refluxer

mills112 said:

they have sent me a message to tell me that i have a secure message to read when i put the money in, so they have my correct email address.  the welcome letter is in my message in my account, but it is not sent to my email and you can't print messages from the inbox in your account..

If you're using a PC or laptop, then the Windows Snipping Tool is a good way of grabbing a quick jpeg of any information you can't easily print or save in other ways. Screenshots can obviously also be taken on a phone (simultaneous press of the power and volume down button on an Android phone), but this can often be blocked when using banking apps.

mills112 said:

kent reliance is offering a 24 months bond for 4.42% pa, which is even better than the DF Capital (i know we are not talking much, but every little helps as they say).  i probably should have opened a 24 month bond with them rather than a 12 month bond.

You're right but it's easy to obsess over tiny differences like that when you're scrutinising your savings. I wouldn't lose sleep over the extra £1 PA for every £10k, myself.

There's actually a lot to be said for splitting your longer-term savings across a variety of fixed rate accounts for different lengths of time. As taking out fixed rate bonds tends to be a bit of a gamble, adopting a 'ladder' approach to your savings helps to smooth out any changes in interest rates, plus it can help to ensure you get access to different pots of money more regularly - so after 1 year and 2 years for example, rather then having to wait for 2 years for the lot, in your case.

mills112

refluxer said:

mills112 said:

they have sent me a message to tell me that i have a secure message to read when i put the money in, so they have my correct email address.  the welcome letter is in my message in my account, but it is not sent to my email and you can't print messages from the inbox in your account..

If you're using a PC or laptop, then the Windows Snipping Tool is a good way of grabbing a quick jpeg of any information you can't easily print or save in other ways. Screenshots can obviously also be taken on a phone (simultaneous press of the power and volume down button on an Android phone), but this can often be blocked when using banking apps.

mills112 said:

kent reliance is offering a 24 months bond for 4.42% pa, which is even better than the DF Capital (i know we are not talking much, but every little helps as they say).  i probably should have opened a 24 month bond with them rather than a 12 month bond.

You're right but it's easy to obsess over tiny differences like that when you're scrutinising your savings. I wouldn't lose sleep over the extra £1 PA for every £10k, myself.

There's actually a lot to be said for splitting your longer-term savings across a variety of fixed rate accounts for different lengths of time. As taking out fixed rate bonds tends to be a bit of a gamble, adopting a 'ladder' approach to your savings helps to smooth out any changes in interest rates, plus it can help to ensure you get access to different pots of money more regularly - so after 1 year and 2 years for example, rather then having to wait for 2 years for the lot, in your case.

i don't like 24 months bonds as i feel that is a longer tie in for often less interest, but interest is expected to reduce, so it may not be a bad idea to lock in for 24 months in the current climate.

i also find it more complicated for reporting interest to HMRC as some bonds don't pay the interest mid way and some does and so it gets complicated to remember which one is doing that.  i find the banks can be poor at issuing certificates of interest so you have to contact them.