Frightened of Unusual Banks recommended on mse? Are they safe?

GoldenOldy

Good Morning

I look at mse best buys regularly.

I want a 5 year fixed rate and hampshire trust bank comes up on the site.

I know it is fscs authorised.

However in the past, i opened up a Marcus account, but half way through found myself terrified and didnt end up funding it, in case it was not ‘the real Marcus’, or incase mse had it wrong somehow, or incase the fca register had it wong!

It maybe an age and anxietything, am not sure.

Regardless , is Hampshire Trust Bank okay, does anyone know?

Thankyou

GoldenOldy

https://www.htb.co.uk/personal-savings/fixed-rate-accounts

Middle_of_the_Road

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6655329/frightened-of-unusual-banks-recommended-on-mse-are-they-safe

I had a fixed term account with them, and had no issues. In fact they seemed very professional and communication was also very good.

https://www.htb.co.uk/htbcontent/uploads/2025/04/HTB_Retail_Savings_Terms_Conditions_25042025.pdf

eskbanker

As I've suggested to others asking similar questions about lesser-known providers, these have often come up before, so it'll be worth using the forum search facility to look through previous threads about them.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6655329/frightened-of-unusual-banks-recommended-on-mse-are-they-safe

OP, I have taken your post as a general concern not only about interacting with an institution you are unfamiliar with, but how to recognise you have entered a genuine site for the institution rather than a fraudulent clone. Accordingly, you ( and indeed others) may find the following guide useful -

https://www.currenciesdirect.com/en-gb/security-and-fraud/protecting-yourself-from-bank-imitation-websites

tacpot12

I think your concern is well-founded and wished others were also skeptical, and not willing to accept recommendations blindly unless it is clear that the recommender has conducted a thorough and professional review of the insitution.

If this is unclear, I would always recommend doing some due diligence on any financial provider to find out where they are based, who they are regulated by, what protections you have as a consumer (if they are different because of where they are based or who they are regulated by), who is behind them, how big are they, etc, etc.

I would recommend carefully checking their security arrangements as some smaller institutions don't use Two Factor Authentication or restrict payments out to a nominated bank account, but allow this to be changed and payments made to the new account with no text message/letter being sent to the owner before the payments are made.

Once you know that you do want to deal with them, then you are ready to follow the advice about protecting yourself from imitation websites.

GoldenOldy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884434#Comment_81884434

kind of you to let me know, thankyou

GoldenOldy

Thankyou all. Have looked it up on financial services register, and it does have 2 factor authentication too.

Its all so frightening these days.

I did take an atom account out some years ago and they were very good thouh (although unknown to me at the time)

Even NSand I, although not the best rates, I even wonder about them sometimes necause of the way the world is at the moment.

Wish life was a little less fraught wit dangers!

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884593#Comment_81884593

The good thing is you are aware, there are an awful lot of others out there quite evidently are not.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884593#Comment_81884593

If you are worrying about the financial stability of NS &I, then you overdoing the worrying just a little bit !

luci

If using financial institutions you are not familiar with causes you such anxiety and worry, I would stick with ones that don't cause you concern. That's not meant to be rude just in case it comes across like that.

I am also cautious about banks I haven't heard of and tend to stick to ones I have. It didn't used to bother me to open accounts with multiple banks, but I've reached a stage where the less I have to keep an eye on, the better. Personally, it's just not worth it for a few points of a percentage point more. I have an account with Marcus and it hasn't caused be any concern.