NS&I Index-Linked Certificates - New Issue

tradetime

martinman3 wrote: »

I should remind people here that Index Linked Savings Certificates are not the only product which has an interest rate based on RPI+ a percentage.

The Leeds BS has the Inflation Buster Bond http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/savings/inflation_buster_bond.html which is taxable and the Inflation Buster ISA http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/savings/inflation_buster_isa.html which is not. They pay RPI+2.5% until 30th April 2010, penalties for withdrawal before then.

Even the Bond now compares favourably with NS&I for basic rate tax payers as, assuming RPI is 4%, 6.5% taxable at basic rate is 5.2% where NS&I would be only 4.25% tax free. For higher rate tax payers NS&I certs are better than the bond but not the ISA, although obviously you are limited to £3600 per year.

These look a fairly decent deal as an inflation hedge for basic rate tax payer, also they are not limited to £15K

Fella

RPI down to it's lowest rate since last July, from 4.1% to 3.8%:

The all-items retail price index (RPI), which includes mortgage payments and council tax, was driven lower by mortgage lenders passing on to customers February's 25-basis-point interest rate cut from Threadneedle Street.
The RPI annual rate, on which many pay deals are based, slid to 3.8% from 4.1% the month before. The new rate is the lowest since July last year.

Clever people we have working out inflation. I couldda swore that all I've heard for the last month is how most mortgages have risen despite the IR cuts. I guess they must have chosen to ignore that & just based their stats on the few lender's whose rate's have decreased.

And what an absurdity the CPI is:

Inflation unexpectedly remained static at 2.5% last month as weak furniture, clothing and TV prices counterbalanced a sharp increase in transport costs.

Lol. Well that's OK then. Instead of getting the train to work every day this month I'll buy a new sofa & sit in that instead. Watching my new telly.

Total joke. It's a national scandal that we have two measures of inflation and neither one come's close to reflecting the actual inflation in this country. And then I see that detestable scum Brown on TV today saying how we're well positioned to fight the credit crunch (caused by the US of course) because inflation is 2.5%. If that man tried to tell the truth I think he'd choke on it.

I was always told you couldn't fool all of the people all of the time. Our current leadership appears to be having a good go at precisely that.

nicko33

Surging food and fuel prices pushed up annual inflation in the eurozone to a record 3.6% last month

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7350101.stm

Sofas, jeans and TVs not helping the Europeans

Biggles

As normal, after the RPI figure comes out, NS&I have updated their calculator at http://www.nsandi.com/products/ilsc/calculator.jsp