A happy new year for savers?

IrvSwerve, Richard could be making best use of Economy 7.

As you don’t know how I live you can’t meaningly comment – In fact I sleep with three large dogs so am always warm – I can no longer AFFORD to buy food – THAT IS WHY IT IS STARVE NOT FREEZE

No offence meant Richard – just a (perhaps too) flippant comment.

No offence taken – I just object that some posters – post without knowledge – yet deny it

Gosh, it must cost a small fortune to feed three large dogs. I have a friend who has three small dogs (Jack Russells) and he is struggling to pay for their food out of his benefits.

Well – I’ve “always” had three large dogs so don’t notice – I’m not on benefits except pension – but they are my favourite savings – I use them as bed heaters of 101 degrees and portable room heaters! In fact the heating saved in my large house is over £1120 a year – which pays for the food and I get delightful company – which is more than I can say about from one person (not you of course) on here who knows absolutely nothing about my income and lifestyle – yet still demands I sell my house which is I use usefully DAILY and “downsize” and cost me even more. Honestly dogs are wonderful especially when at 83 all my local friends are dead.and most of the people locally are now foreign strangers.

The danger is that unscrupulous politicians will promise jam today while we should still be making the bread. Interest rates are like any other commodity – they respond to supply and demand. Whilst cheap money was available to fund home loans, for example, the banks and building societies had no need to compete for savers by offering higher interest rates. As the housing market grows I expect we will see this demand increase, and savings interest rates begin to rise. Let’s hope it doesn’t all get out of hand again.

Mark Carney has promised ‘more jam’ when unemployment reaches 7%. (currently 7.4%) Lets hope he does a better job than Mervyn King by averting another Boom & Bust situation.

There isn’t much point in moving to a LOWER rate.

We have a Bank of England that has basically forgotten how to do anything except sit and watch what happens. That is not going to change this year. Stuff the lot of them. And the Building Societies.

I’ve had a reduction of 90% not 10% – I’m called an old saving OAP with a fixed income. Then they will remove my entire income by the once “free from cradle to grave health charges” after paying my taxes and NI for my entire life – now its £250,000 plus my home. Never vote Tory. It is only for the rich. And someone suggested “downsizing” with no knowledge what so ever..Such comments annoy me.

It was thirteen years of Labour screwups that dropped us in this hole. You cannot blame the Tory party for Tony Blair or Gordon Brown.

Sadly you obviously do not know anything about the mess the Tories did – I blame the maladministrations of the Tory Sell off – Check it out – Sadly you have been reading too much Tory propaganda and too probably to young to remember – or too rich to be affected

If you want to delve into history you could start with Attlee giving away the jet engine to the Russians and Americans. You can’t be going back too far.

I’m not going back too far – I’m simply referring to the mess the TORIES did before Labour was in power – From selling off social housing stock without re-building and privatising – to selling off industries.

That’s what has got us into trouble in the past. Who is going to support you financially when you’ve spent your money?

Dennis, you could get around 3.2% return on stocks and shares (before charges) plus capital growth (currently). Better than any safe cash deposit and, if you pay any tax, they could go into an ISA . You do need a sensible provider though to both keep the costs down and pick the investments wisely – unless you are confident of doing this yourself.

My point exactly – But one bank has closed their existing stocks and shares ISA – so they are not interested in saving the investor’s money – They instead want to charge banking fees to make greater profits for themselves – I am now trying to get the money out asap – but have to pay banking charges Interestingly my cash ISA is paying 150% MORE (at another Bank of course). So I will not use the “stocks and shares ISA” bank again. I thought at the time ISA’s were safe investments – Apparently greedy banks can now do what they please without notice – Seems fraud to me

I think that what you and I might get in interest depends more on the need of banks and building societies for our money than on Bank of England’s policy. I wouldn’t hold your breath but suspect there will be a modest increase in rates in the next few months as lending for house purchase increases.

Just got a letter from Nationwide.
Loyal Savers rate will drop from 2.1% to 1.7% as of 01 Feb. And this is after a drop from 2.6% last May. And next week my HSBC ISA rate drops from 2.7% to 1.7%.
This can only mean that the banks do NOT need money from savers. Which implies that nobody is borrowing.
Being retired I rely on savings interest and savings capital to supplement my meagre income. QE is the culprit and is really affecting me badly.
I may as well spend my money sooner rather than later as inflation is eating away at the capital.

And please – don’t suggest stocks and shares. I had an equity plan that matured in 2008. Only just made a slight profit. The next year I would have made a loss after 25 years of investing in it. Stocks are unreliable depending when you need the money (or in my previous case above when a plan matured and had to pay out).
My savings are being eroded so quickly that equities are too volatile for me.