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Post by wiseclerk on Oct 24, 2020 19:31:38 GMT
Article from today: Over 300 German banks charge negative interest rates now (214 for consumer accounts), with 20 added last month. "Top" rate is -0.75%
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Nomad
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Post by Nomad on Feb 2, 2021 9:22:22 GMT
Investec are reducing their Easy Access interest rate from a market-leading 0.55% to only 0.3% "to ensure that we remain competitive and to take into account any change in market conditions."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2021 9:36:38 GMT
Bloomberg and Economist both now saying BOE unlikely to go -negative for retail customers.
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zlb
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Post by zlb on Feb 5, 2021 8:37:17 GMT
However Telegraph front page mentions -ve rates again today - BoE apparently giving 6 month warning. With my not-very-good investment hat on, I put some cash into a high bonds (mostly government ETF type things) / low shares robo product - and I'm OK with what they invest in. And I'm just aiming for a relatively safe place with low growth a bit like one might have got in a cash savings account before all of this (although it's currently doing better than that, possibly because of the popularity of this approach pushing the prices up). I'm 'thinking' (to the best of my meagre ability in this realm) I may as well move more cash to similar. What I don't understand is what can go wrong with Government bond funds - Governments need money... and it says here that interest rates drop then bond prices rise... This means that I may have missed the boat I suppose? www.investopedia.com/articles/bonds/08/bond-risks.asp People talking about mattresses implies that nowhere is 'safe'?
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keitha
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2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Feb 5, 2021 10:11:13 GMT
there are of course people who benefit from low or negative rates, at one point my son's student loan was charged at BOE base rate minus 1.5% so when the BOE rate went to 0.5% his rate went to -1% so his statement showed a lower balance at the end of the year than at the start despite him paying nothing.
On the same topic ive seem comments by current students describing the interest rate on student loans at between 4% and 5% being outrageously high, I find that funny because for most of my working life, my mortgage was higher than that.
Talking to a friend the other day and he was saying his son had just taken a mortgage in London. He's paying 3% interest and the interest is circa £2500 a month, apparently if the interest rate goes above 6% the mortgage will be more than the entire household income.
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travolta
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Post by travolta on Feb 5, 2021 17:11:33 GMT
oh right , Bank Charges, remember them ??
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Post by mfaxford on Feb 5, 2021 21:26:33 GMT
oh right , Bank Charges, remember them ?? Santander seem to be getting close to that on their 123 account. They're kindly reducing the fees to £4/month, but also reducing the interest rates so the average monthly interest will be £5/month (if you keep the maximum in there). there are of course people who benefit from low or negative rates, at one point my son's student loan was charged at BOE base rate minus 1.5% so when the BOE rate went to 0.5% his rate went to -1% so his statement showed a lower balance at the end of the year than at the start despite him paying nothing. Back when I was a student it was possible to benefit in a similar way. At that time they didn't charge interest on the loan until the April after you graduated, so you could take out the loan in your first year and stick it in an interest paying account and get some beer money. One of the few times taking out a loan was actually worthwhile.
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travolta
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Post by travolta on Feb 5, 2021 22:12:10 GMT
Actually I was going WAAAy back to when I opened my a/c with Barclays in 1966 . You were charged for each individuel cheque and every bank statement and that frequently tipped you into overdraft before your next wage packet so then you were charged again. Those were' Bank Charges' with TEETH.
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macq
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Post by macq on Feb 5, 2021 22:28:12 GMT
However Telegraph front page mentions -ve rates again today - BoE apparently giving 6 month warning. With my not-very-good investment hat on, I put some cash into a high bonds (mostly government ETF type things) / low shares robo product - and I'm OK with what they invest in. And I'm just aiming for a relatively safe place with low growth a bit like one might have got in a cash savings account before all of this (although it's currently doing better than that, possibly because of the popularity of this approach pushing the prices up). I'm 'thinking' (to the best of my meagre ability in this realm) I may as well move more cash to similar. What I don't understand is what can go wrong with Government bond funds - Governments need money... and it says here that interest rates drop then bond prices rise... This means that I may have missed the boat I suppose? www.investopedia.com/articles/bonds/08/bond-risks.asp People talking about mattresses implies that nowhere is 'safe'? If you want a more lay person review of bonds it could worth a look at Monevator for their bond articles or there's the Fixed Income Investor site/forum as well
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dead-money
Rocket to the Moon
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Post by dead-money on Feb 5, 2021 23:49:31 GMT
Santander seem to be getting close to that on their 123 account. They're kindly reducing the fees to £4/month, but also reducing the interest rates so the average monthly interest will be £5/month (if you keep the maximum in there). Dont' forget the up to £15 per month 3-2-1 Cashback on direct debits.
Santander 123 is a shadow of it's former glory, but there's no real alternatives on offer for current accounts.
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keitha
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2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Feb 6, 2021 11:43:46 GMT
Actually I was going WAAAy back to when I opened my a/c with Barclays in 1966 . You were charged for each individuel cheque and every bank statement and that frequently tipped you into overdraft before your next wage packet so then you were charged again. Those were' Bank Charges' with TEETH. OOH I remember those, and the massive argument I had with Midland bank when they charged me £10 for bouncing a cheque that would have taken me £2 overdrawn, but the £10 charge took me £3 overdrawn. As i remember didn't they also Charge you lets say £10 for bouncing a cheque, and another £10 for the letter saying we've bounced the cheque and you are overdrawn please pay funds in. Of course us clever ones could and did play the system. Write a cheque on Wednesday if payday was Friday. Business wouldn't pay it in till Thursday and then it would be Friday before it hit your account. Interestingly in this morning's post I've received a cheque to pay for an eBay item. It must be 6 months since I last received one. The odd cheque etc being the reason I have a small savings account with the Local Building society, I can walk up on Monday and deposit it, to put it in my bank is a 20 minute drive, this pandemic has emphasised to me the need for more local bank branches.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Feb 6, 2021 12:26:32 GMT
oh right , Bank Charges, remember them ?? Santander seem to be getting close to that on their 123 account. They're kindly reducing the fees to £4/month, but also reducing the interest rates so the average monthly interest will be £5/month (if you keep the maximum in there). So a whole quid per month return...? Be still my beating heart! We changed to a monthly-cost current account last year - Nationwide's FlexPlus. Breakdown (inc Europe), travel, and mobile insurance, all cheaper than actually buying them elsewhere. I couldn't even find anybody doing an annual breakdown policy that would cover our fleet of ancient jalopies and 3.5t camper van abroad... In hindsight, probably not the best year to be buying travel insurance, I know, but... <shrug> The odd cheque etc being the reason I have a small savings account with the Local Building society, I can walk up on Monday and deposit it, to put it in my bank is a 20 minute drive, this pandemic has emphasised to me the need for more local bank branches. We don't have any bank branches AT ALL within twenty miles now, except for the NatWest van for an hour on a Friday morning. Five branches from three banks closed within a year between our two nearest towns. However, you can pay in to any bank over the counter at the post office. (Always assuming you cba to simply post the cheque to your bank.) I'm not sure what you'd actually need to visit a branch for these days, between online and phone. One of the banks published the number of customers who'd used the branch in the last year - it was in two digits.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Feb 6, 2021 14:30:36 GMT
The odd cheque etc being the reason ....
Its such a shame they didn't kill off cheques in 2018.
In this modern world of Faster Payments for bank transfers, and any Tom,Dick or Harry being able to accept credit card payments (e.g. via Paypal), its amazing anyone clings onto the antiquated system of cheques and the associated clearance process.
Its mostly in decline though, data from 2019 ...
• Less than 44% of UK personal account holders write or receive cheques. Inevitably most of those are in the 65+ age group, followed by 55-64.
• Average number of cheques written by businesses the 60% of businesses that still write cheques has plummeted to an average of 3 per month. • Charities are seemingly the only ones really stuck in the last century ... 94% wrote or received cheques (51% received, 71% wrote). I can see why charities might still receive cheques from old biddies, but 71% still writing large volumes of cheques in 2019 ? What planet are they on ?
I'm a parish councillor. (No, not that one...) We write cheques for everything. We need two signatures per cheque. The clerk (who lives 20 miles away) writes them, two councillors sign them. Even if there were meetings being held in person at the moment rather than over zoom (in case you hadn't heard...), there's no internet access at the village hall for online banking. The way it works currently is the clerk writes them, posts them to one councillor, who gets them (usually on foot) to another, who posts them back to the clerk.
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mrdc
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Post by mrdc on Feb 6, 2021 14:58:20 GMT
Santander seem to be getting close to that on their 123 account. They're kindly reducing the fees to £4/month, but also reducing the interest rates so the average monthly interest will be £5/month (if you keep the maximum in there). So a whole quid per month return...? Be still my beating heart! We changed to a monthly-cost current account last year - Nationwide's FlexPlus. Breakdown (inc Europe), travel, and mobile insurance, all cheaper than actually buying them elsewhere. I couldn't even find anybody doing an annual breakdown policy that would cover our fleet of ancient jalopies and 3.5t camper van abroad... In hindsight, probably not the best year to be buying travel insurance, I know, but... <shrug> The odd cheque etc being the reason I have a small savings account with the Local Building society, I can walk up on Monday and deposit it, to put it in my bank is a 20 minute drive, this pandemic has emphasised to me the need for more local bank branches. We don't have any bank branches AT ALL within twenty miles now, except for the NatWest van for an hour on a Friday morning. Five branches from three banks closed within a year between our two nearest towns. However, you can pay in to any bank over the counter at the post office. (Always assuming you cba to simply post the cheque to your bank.) I'm not sure what you'd actually need to visit a branch for these days, between online and phone. One of the banks published the number of customers who'd used the branch in the last year - it was in two digits. Haven't used it yet but virgin money app lets you take a photo of a cheque to pay in.
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macq
Member of DD Central
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Post by macq on Feb 6, 2021 15:04:40 GMT
The odd cheque etc being the reason ....
Its such a shame they didn't kill off cheques in 2018.
In this modern world of Faster Payments for bank transfers, and any Tom,Dick or Harry being able to accept credit card payments (e.g. via Paypal), its amazing anyone clings onto the antiquated system of cheques and the associated clearance process.
Its mostly in decline though, data from 2019 ...
• Less than 44% of UK personal account holders write or receive cheques. Inevitably most of those are in the 65+ age group, followed by 55-64.
• Average number of cheques written by businesses the 60% of businesses that still write cheques has plummeted to an average of 3 per month. • Charities are seemingly the only ones really stuck in the last century ... 94% wrote or received cheques (51% received, 71% wrote). I can see why charities might still receive cheques from old biddies, but 71% still writing large volumes of cheques in 2019 ? What planet are they on ?
How dare 44% of people or "old biddies" hold out with cheques - they should be told to stop along with paper money & debit cards and sending letters with sticky squares They should then be persuaded from using them old fashioned savings accounts and move their money to One of them new fangled products that are all the rage called Peer2peer savings - Can't go wrong there its the future
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