Are your savings safe? article discussion

dunstonh

I have £375,000 to invest after a house sale.

Investments have better limits than savings typically. Mainly as the risk of failure of provider having an impact on ring fenced funds is unlikely. Although in your case, I feel you must be talking about savings and not investments.

Are the products offered by NS&I also run by Bank of Ireland?

LOL no. They are backed by the treasury. Full protection from the BoE.

You could look to HSBC or Abbey if you want stronger banks that are almost certainly going to have no issues of solvency.

I-LOV-MONEY

dunstonh wrote: »

Investments have better limits than savings typically. Mainly as the risk of failure of provider having an impact on ring fenced funds is unlikely.

What do you define as investments rather than savings ?

murphydavid

silentotter wrote: »

I have £375,000 to invest after a house sale. If I followed the spread it about rule I would have to open 7 bank accounts! My inclination is to invest it in one of the HMG 100% safety accounts even though I know I would sacrifice interest a bit. I don't want to lock it away for a specified period as we may want access to it. I would rather sacrifice a bit of interest and know the money is safe.

My question is that the Post Office accounts are run by the Bank of Ireland which are part of the passport scheme. Are the products offered by NS&I also run by Bank of Ireland?

We have all seen the debacle of the Icelandic banks that were part of the passport scheme not honouring there agreement. Who's to say that the Irish banks wont do the same.

Silentotter

Since Northern Rock now (HMG) the government are restricting deposit amounts to maintain competition (Ie to pressure you to use other banks) at least they are for NR So I don't think you will be able to put it all into one HMG owned account.

patrick78uk

I'm sorry if the question was asked before....

Are 'fixed rate bond' and 'regular saver' categorised as saving account? What I would like to know is whether 'fixed rate bond' and 'regular saver' are £50,000 protected per person per institute?

I-LOV-MONEY

patrick78uk wrote: »

I'm sorry if the question was asked before....

Are 'fixed rate bond' and 'regular saver' categorised as saving account? What I would like to know is whether 'fixed rate bond' and 'regular saver' are £50,000 protected per person per institute?

I think they are.

However, beware of 'regular savings' accounts which show high interest rates. The only amount you get the full rate on is what you invest in month one. All the other investments get 1/12th less for each month you make a payment.

patrick78uk

I-LOV-MONEY wrote: »

I think they are.

However, beware of 'regular savings' accounts which show high interest rates. The only amount you get the full rate on is what you invest in month one. All the other investments get 1/12th less for each month you make a payment.

Thank you for the quick reply!

Can any one also confirm whether 'fixed rate bond' and 'regular saver' are categorised as saving account and are £50,000 protected per person per institute?

Currently I have regular savers with FirstDirect and Halifax. The FirstDirect one is end next month, but the Halifax one is run until July 2009 because of one year term. Are my money safe with the regular saver accounts?

I am thinking to buy the Barclays 9-month fixed rate bond, but I am not sure whether 'bond' is categarised as 'saving' or 'investment'?
http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=homefreegroup&value=13733

JimmyTheWig

murphydavid wrote: »

Since Northern Rock now (HMG) the government are restricting deposit amounts to maintain competition (Ie to pressure you to use other banks) at least they are for NR So I don't think you will be able to put it all into one HMG owned account.

I believe lottery winners have been advised to put money into NS&I, so if the above is true then it may just be so for Northern Rock.

JimmyTheWig

patrick78uk wrote: »

I am thinking to buy the Barclays 9-month fixed rate bond, but I am not sure whether 'bond' is categarised as 'saving' or 'investment'?
http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=homefreegroup&value=13733

Personally, I'd say as it pays "interest" it is a savings account rather than an investment.
But I have no idea on the exact definitions. Barclays would be able to tell you.

wendyj100

Hi, I was just wondering, now that the Government will be owning more than 60% of RBS, does this mean any savings will be 100% guaranteed, regardless of amount, like Northern Rock?

Eco_Miser

I-LOV-MONEY wrote: »

However, beware of 'regular savings' accounts which show high interest rates. The only amount you get the full rate on is what you invest in month one. All the other investments get 1/12th less for each month you make a payment.

No, you get the same rate on all your investments (assuming the headdline rate dosn't change), but for shorter times - just as with any other regular savings.

Say the annual rate is 12% (which it was at the Halifax recently) then you get 1% per month - that's 1% of 1 payment in the first month, 1% of 2 payments in the second month, 1% of 3 payments in the third month, and so on to 1% of 12 payments in the 12th month. So the interest you receive is 6% of the final balance (assuming the interest is paid at the end of 12 months with no compounding), but is 12% of the money you had invested at any particular time.