Looks like they are pretty desparate for some deposits!

We took the last bond (6.85%) 2 months ago. It looks like they are the most competitive on the market, which is strange with them being so big. I normally expect the big 'cumbersome' companies to be quite late in reacting to the market and getting their act together. Is this what's happening or are they just desparate?

Anyone any tales of woe that are soon to befall on their exposure to the subprime market?

In any case, looks like those with a nice STR fund will be benefitting all round, it won't be long before the other banks up their rates.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/fixedwebsaver.asp

And who said it ain't clever to sell and rent in these very exciting times?

Cash is king as long as you intend to spend your cash by way of helping out some poor guy willing to accept your offer of 50%BMV for his shed?

CPI due next week isn't it.

I put some on this Halifax fixed rate today so I hope they are going to be ok....although if their customer serviice is anything to go by..........

Also Standard Life fix at 6.8% for 6 months. Some longer deals available too.

7.05%?

I wouldn't bother. That's probably still negative in real terms - ie a 7.05% return is not going to compensate for the likely rise in cost of food, energy over the next year.

Very illuminating. What would you suggest instead? - all in gold or all in anything else is probably not the answer.

It is a good rate, but it takes so much time and effort to open a new bank account these days that it's probably not worth it for me on a three month account, especially if you factor in the four days loss of interest during BACS transfer.

that's not too bad, 5.5%net

is it really as easy as putting in £10 000 and in 3 months time, you'd get £550..?

anyone know of any catches with this account?

other than having £10k lying around etc etc

see, my money is already with Hbos anyway, so i'm 'exposed' by the same amount regardless etc etc

I'm very interested in the 3 month bond, may make some enquiries.
But as Oldie says, I'd lose the first months benefit purely on the loss incurred by the BACS transfer!

Fishy: is the transfer from one bond to another (after the 3 months) instant?

Err, no. After 3 months you'd net ~£140 in interest on £10k. The 5.5% eludes to annual net interest.

Its interesting to note on the Halifax Fixed rate saver that the BEST rate is the 3 month bond.

This is the exact same period that has led to the freeze on the Libor, and the same period used to finance all the cheap mortgages by NR et al.

What does this tell us? are they expecting an unfreeze soon? Is this money going to be used to prop up the poor business model for another 3 months?

Looks fishy to me.

Not only does it look Fishy, but Fishy actually posted it originally.
Mmmmmmmmm? Fishy

This is the mark of the derivative beast.

ah right, so, the interest rate, effectively, is nearer (5.5/12 x 3) 1.4%

i get it.

how much of an effect is this bacs transfer sting?

Small beer, Alliance & Leicester are giving 12% - better to keep it under 35k in case they go tits up
http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/saving...;ct=savingshome

Yes... but that's a regular saver.

If, say, you have £100,000 in an account earning 6% and you transfer it to another account earning 7% for 3 months only, the difference is 1%PA for 3 months which is £333.33. However, your money is in "limbo" for 4 days during the transfer period, so you are losing 6%PA for 4 days, which is £6,000 / 365 x 4 = £65.75, so your gain for the 3 months is £333 - £65.75 = £267, then you lose about £70 when you transfer it back, so your £333 gain becomes only £200.

Edit: Actually, it's four working days, so if you forget about a weekend and make the transfer on a wednesday, thursday or friday, it could be six days in each direction, reducing your gain to about £130 .

you cant put 35K in this account- I think the max is £250 per month, then at years end they close the account and put the lot into your A+L checking account.

Correct, that's why I find the 3 month, 7% bond attractive.
I will enquire about it tomorrow.

You have to open up a web saver account 1st, then transfer the money into the bond. It automatically gets transferred back into the websaver when the term ends.

It's worth noting that the websaver doesn't pay their best instant access rates though, so you need to keep an eye out and switch it to a new bond or into another account.

I don't think 3 months is enough, I reckon in three months interest rates could be 1.5% lower! Scary if you only have cash!