Nominate the worst saving account

Milarky

Perhaps MoneyFacts or some such website could offer this feature as a 'the worst of the worst' page - on any particular criteria - or even on an overall (negative) score?

So the questions would be like:

How low must the interest be?
<under 2%
<under 1%
<under 0.5%?

Do you want to be able to operate the account

<only on the phone (if so, do you prefer '0845' or '0870' numbers?)
<only by post
<only by appointment?

Is the customer service you receive
<not very important
<not important at all?

Do you prefer to give
<at least 60 days notice
<90 days notice
<no notice, I'd rather pay a penalty

.....

Jonbvn

How about Premium Bonds? Theoretical possibility of 3.8% but may get nothing? Even worse, everyone and his dog has PB's, and they are by far the largest savings vehicle in the UK.

No doubt I will now be gainsayed by all the PB lovers on the forum!

BruceyBonus

Jonbvn wrote: »

How about Premium Bonds? Theoretical possibility of 3.8% but may get nothing? Even worse, everyone and his dog has PB's, and they are by far the largest savings vehicle in the UK.

No doubt I will now be gainsayed by all the PB lovers on the forum!

I think the reason why people have Premium Bonds are for the same reason they buy lottery tickets!

Primrose

Well, I know they don't pay the lowest interest rates but I'd like to nominate ING because they have duped so many savers by their adverts and then not delivered. Unfortunately for them, all their savvy customers have now deserted.

Oblivion

BruceyBonus wrote: »

I think the reason why people have Premium Bonds are for the same reason they buy lottery tickets!

I think you're right. Unlike most savings, the premium bonds carry two entertainment factors ... 1) the thought that you might just get lucky and win that elusive Million star prize (fat chance) ... and 2) the fun of being able to go online at the NS&I website to see if you've won anything at all this month.

My parents each went for the maximum allowable holding in premium bonds and the return throughout their lifetime was abysmal. I'm not making the same mistake, although the wife and I do have a few ... just for the fun factor.

Dave.

John_Stone

I had a couple of large wins on the Premium Bonds in the last few months which led me to review what return I had had on them.

Over the past ten years I have had a return of about 8.8% annually which as a higher rate tax payer is extremely good. If I take out the two recent large wins then the annual rate is around 3% annually which for a higher rate tax payer is not bad.

The moral I guess is take the long term view and that premium bonds may be great or may not be very good at all as an investment - a bit like stocks and shares.

Incidentally it really isn't anything like the lottery - I estimate that during the lifetime of the lottery with a £2 a week ticket I am probably a few hundred pound down. At least with Premium Bonds the downside is limited.

mikegahan

I had just put some money into a PO instant saver and was worried about what the previous poster had said about an Indian call centre. However when I phoned it was a UK call centre and the account is supposed to be run by the Bank Of Ireland on behalf of the PO. The operator did not have access to my six digit number, the system reveals 3 digits to him & you have to confirm them.However the terms are good for an instant saving account. And don't forget you can operate it via the PO, telephone or onlune, withdraw cash via ATM . This is a lot of flexibility and a
good rate of interest for an instant account.

amiehall

i popped into my hsbc branch today to set up a new standing order into a savings account i hold as i'm not near a secure computer anytime soon and the guy had the gall to offer me their savings account at 2% even though he knew the reason for my visit was to pay money into my 7.75% barclays saver. i actually laughed....

EalingSaver

Milarky wrote: »

Perhaps MoneyFacts or some such website could offer this feature as a 'the worst of the worst' page - on any particular criteria - or even on an overall (negative) score?

So the questions would be like:

How low must the interest be?
<under 2%
<under 1%
<under 0.5%?

Do you want to be able to operate the account

<only on the phone (if so, do you prefer '0845' or '0870' numbers?)
<only by post
<only by appointment?

Is the customer service you receive
<not very important
<not important at all?

Do you prefer to give
<at least 60 days notice
<90 days notice
<no notice, I'd rather pay a penalty

.....

Great post. I love it.

but how about also:
<want to be sucked into a good instant access interest rate?
<want later to be denied access to your account for an indefinite period because our back end systems can't cope with instruction WE send out advising peoople to change their passwords?
<want to be sure that when you have such problems you have to
a) be on hold for long periods listening to s*** music, and
b|)when you do get through guaranteed to speak to someone who has only a vague grasp of the English language?
<happy to have £30k+ sitting with us even given the above?

If so, ICICI is the bank for your !!!

Jonbvn

John_Stone wrote: »

I had a couple of large wins on the Premium Bonds in the last few months which led me to review what return I had had on them.

Over the past ten years I have had a return of about 8.8% annually which as a higher rate tax payer is extremely good. If I take out the two recent large wins then the annual rate is around 3% annually which for a higher rate tax payer is not bad.

The moral I guess is take the long term view and that premium bonds may be great or may not be very good at all as an investment - a bit like stocks and shares.

Incidentally it really isn't anything like the lottery - I estimate that during the lifetime of the lottery with a £2 a week ticket I am probably a few hundred pound down. At least with Premium Bonds the downside is limited.

Firstly. PB's are EXACTLY like the lottery, except you are gambling with only the interest not the capital. What you may have won or not with either is completely meaningless!

Clearly, you have been lucky with PB's. However, as these two (2) links prove, for the average saver, PB's suck big time!
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds-calculator/
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds