Marcus by Goldman Sachs Bank

[bad company]

I 8 a 4RE said:

bad company said:

I have a 6 figure amount with them at 2%.

Can you please elaborate on that? Which account do you have? The only account that seems to be paying 2% is the Regular E-Saver and states:

"The maximum monthly deposit limit is £250."
"The maximum yearly balance is £3,500."

I just looked and it seems that the issue I have is no longer available. This one is though:-

https://uk.virginmoney.com/savings/products/double...

[bad company]

Joey Deacon said:

Lets be honest, holding cash is pretty pointless, wherever you keep it, it will be losing value to inflation.

Nice, from a fluffy security point of view but a rubbish investment.

Look at the markets this week and you’ll be happy if your holding some cash.

[bad company]

Shnozz said:

webstercivet said:

Joey Deacon said:

Guess who started a Vanguard Life strategy fund just over two weeks ago after getting annoyed at the poor rates of return for cash?? Luckily it only has £500 in it so far, but it has been a very valuable lesson. As I said before, anything I invest in always tanks just as I put my money in. It will also rocket at the point I have had enough and sell my investment.

I do honestly think the markets will rebound once everyone has forgotten about Coronavirus, so I do still intent to keep putting money in, just not at the moment.

Now is exactly the time to keep putting money in. Units are cheaper than a fortnight ago.

Indeed. Seems an odd strategy. Belief in markets rebounding once Coronavirus has been forgotten, yet waiting to that point before buying in. If thats your belief then shirley now is the time to be investing?

That relies on the ‘it’s cheaper now than it was last week so must be good value’ logic. Read the share tips thread and in particular the posts by DonkeyApple.

[bad company]

Shnozz said:

Fair enough. It didn't read like that, that was all. I will be maintaining a similar approach to you, albeit did have a rather larger sum invested that is now a less large sum.

We’re all in that particular boat I’m afraid.

Like others I have money to invest but don’t know when to do so. Maybe start to drip money in next week. It’s all a bit scared but definitely not a time be selling imo.

[bad company]

Interest rate going down to 1.05% now. Not great but it’s hard to find better rates nowadays.

[bad company]

Jimmy Recard said:

I got that too. I’m glad I got the 0.1% bonus now as it’s nearly 10% extra

I think terrible interest rates for savers are just the norm for the foreseeable future

With company dividends also being reduced its all looking a bit miserable in the short term.

[bad company]

Silverage said:

I’ve just had a letter from Santander to say the interest rate on my 123 account is dropping to a measly 0.6%. It won’t be earning enough to cover the £5 per month charge at this rate.

Halifax reduced my everyday save to 0.01% which is basically f*** all.

[bad company]

Just sorting my 2019/20 tax return. At lease Marcus has the tax certificate ready in good time. It seems to take the major banks ages and I do prefer to get my tax sorted soonest.

[bad company]

With inflation at less than 1% we’re actually growing our money with Marcus and some other banks now.

https://www.daytrading.com/uk-inflation-hits-4-yea...

I doubt it’ll last though.

[bad company]

Shnozz said:

As part of his pension planning, my father squirrelled away enough to live off the 5 - 6% interest rates that had been (pessimistic) average over his life. He's now eaten away a big chunk of capital since 2008. Interesting times for savers and borrowers alike.

That doesn’t sound like a good strategy at all. Has he spoken with a Financial Advisor?

You could point him towards the Intelligent Finance guys here on PH. I haven’t used them but others speak highly.

[bad company]

Spidersleg said:

Surely if they start charging to hold money, people will just pull cash out and stuff it under the mattress or other great hiding places ?

Exactly. I don’t think it’ll come to that but the possibility is there.

[bad company]

Inflation down to 0.5% so we’re ahead for the time being:-

UK inflation rate falls to 0.5% as lockdown hits https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53075437

[bad company]

I’ve just been notified that my interest rate is being reduced from 1.15 to 1.05% as my bonus rate is ending.

Is there anything better out there?

[bad company]

bhstewie said:

bad company said:

I’ve just been notified that my interest rate is being reduced from 1.15 to 1.05% as my bonus rate is ending.

Is there anything better out there?

NS&I Income Bonds are still offering 1.15% and that's Government backed.

Thanks. I really prefer growth to income but I guess I could reinvest the interest, bit of a faff though.

[bad company]

the tribester said:

whatleytom said:

Coventry BS have just launched a 1.20% rate, but be quick as it won't be available for long.

Limited access, 2 free withdrawals a year.

I opened an account there a year or 2 back. They were a nightmare to deal with. The online account was restricted and you had to carry a ‘grid card’ to gain access.

Prehistoric.

[bad company]

I have cash with Virgin money at 1.01% and haven’t heard that’s reducing so I’ll leave that in place.

Think I’ll get out of Marcus and move the £’s to Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings where I can get 1.21% putting the money out for a year.

[bad company]

Jiebo said:

bad company said:

I have cash with Virgin money at 1.01% and haven’t heard that’s reducing so I’ll leave that in place.

Think I’ll get out of Marcus and move the £’s to Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings where I can get 1.21% putting the money out for a year.

Still a negative yield in real terms. The poster above is correct, keep a bit of rainy day cash, but most should be pushed into equities, property, etc

Agree 100%, most of money is shares & bonds which generally do better. Thankfully I still have some cash invested in National Savings Indexed Linked Savings Certificates which as a bonus are tax free.

I still need to keep some ‘ready cash’ though hence Virgin and previously Marcus.

[bad company]

I wonder what Goldman Sachs gained from this exercise. Two years ago they set a very attractive rate and a load of us put £’s in. I thought they’d be trying to cross sell other products to HNW clients but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Now most will be taking their money out of GS so what If anything did they gain from the exercise?

[bad company]

I 8 a 4RE said:

bad company said:

I wonder what Goldman Sachs gained from this exercise. Two years ago they set a very attractive rate and a load of us put £’s in. I thought they’d be trying to cross sell other products to HNW clients but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Now most will be taking their money out of GS so what If anything did they gain from the exercise?

It’s very simple, Goldman Sachs was never interested in building a large (UK) consumer entity.

Marcus has brought on over 500,000 clients depositing more than £21bn in savings accounts.
Companies with deposits of more than £25bn need to be ring-fenced into a separate entity from its parent in the U.K. (and therefore unable to share capital between Marcus and GS Group).

The main reason for GS was to bring in “cheap” liquidity to improve capital ratios in its Core Business (Investment and Corporate Banking) to abide by regulations.

So growing further flies in the face of both those goals.

In short; They “bought” liquidity at a higher interest rate (as they could leverage a lot of the overhead from the existing business and thus operate at a lower cost-base).

Now they’re hitting a ceiling and have accomplished mission of funding core business so they are in no need of attracting that capital... and as a result have stopped new clients inflow and will drop existing rates back to market pricing as they know most people won’t move their money anyway.

I guess that’s right. I’m not sure about the final sentence though. The sort of clients GS attracted are surely the type who will move their money away when rates are better elsewhere. That’s my opinion anyway but I’ve been wrong loads of times.

[bad company]

ReallyReallyGood said:

bad company said:

Now most will be taking their money out of GS so what If anything did they gain from the exercise?

Where are most moving their money to?

If you can put the money out for a year you can get 1.26% from Kent Reliance via Hargreaves Lansdown.