Cybermouse, please ignore the last paragraph as I have since had time to look the ICICI (UK) web site up and now realise that they ARE covered by the FSCS.

Cybermouse, I am sure your figures are quite correct when comparing the Zopa 'auto lend' option but not against the average high street bank/building society in this country. Try comparing it against a personal specific lending criteria which I believe netts out to an average 8.1% from Zopa UK figures.

By the way am I right in saying that ICICI are an Indian bank and therefore not covered by the FSCS in the UK? I certainly stand corrected 'if' my information is wrong.

OK. I have now been and done a quick investigation of ZOPA.COM. I agree that it appears to be an ethical alternative to banking in the traditional way but first I think you have to look at what banks do for the money they charge. Firstly, with ZOPA, you only derive interest from the outstanding amount of the loan, so for instance, a loan of £1000 will only yield over the year a return of (approx.) £37.50. (Their figures, not mine) This is because of the previous statement. It is possible to keep reinvesting your loan capital on a roll-over basis but they limit your exposure to any one borrower to a very small amount to minimise the risk. This has the unfortunate knock-on effect of maximising your effort and involvement in constantly re-structuring your loan in order to create the maximum income. This is what high street banks do best. They do all the filtering and sorting and re-structuring, coping with bad debt etc. (to which you can be directly exposed through ZOPA) thereby removing all the effort in exchange for some of the returns. The expected return without effort at zopa would be 3.75%, with such as icici it could be 3.9-4.1% with no effort. Take your pick. I know where I'm not rushing off to.

Cybermouse

tt lady:A fifth option of "Yes - I've moved my cash savings to other forms of investment" would be useful. I'm personally going to move some cash into equity funds and there has been discussion of moving into gold quite alot recently.

ttlady....both physical gold coins and gold sites like Bullion Vault are excellent options in this poor fiscal market. In fact, the worse the market gets the better gold performs in the medium and long term. It has in fact trebled in value in this country over the last 5 years and along with silver is due to perform very very well this year.

Another area I would recommend that you look at and consider is the www.Zopa.com online site. Zopa have been very favourably described as the ebay of the online money market. It cuts out the fat cat middleman bankers and offer both private 'lenders' and 'borrowers' a far better deal. As a lender most people can realise an 8%ish annual return on their cash which I am sure you will agree is excellent. This company and site is growing very rapidly and I believe will be a major force in the lending/borrowing market over the next few years.

Good luck however you decide to invest.

To anyone that is scratching around for a home paying a far better rate for their cash (£25k and under) I would suggest that you visit the www.Zopa.com online site. Zopa is the money markets equivalent of ebay and basically cuts out the fat cat bankers in the middle. For 'borrowers' and 'lenders' alike it is a breathe of fresh air with far more competitive rates than the high street. After commission and bad debt everyone should be getting about 8%ish at the moment on Zopa. A beautiful concept and a very interesting development in banking for both the private investor and the every day borrower.

And the nice thing is that while you need a Natwest current account to service your Natwest ISA you don't have to feed it with a thousand pounds a month like A&L etc so I can keep my other provider current account which avoids the hassle of re setting up of debits and standing orders etc.

Gogs

thanks cybermouse. ICICI is offering fixed rate 2yrs for 4.10% interest. Cash ISA for Natwest is 3.51% now.You r right, better than nothing. cheers

No that's really great, thank you :-)

ICICI are consistently top interest payers (3.9%) and are a UK bank so they are covered by the FSA scheme (whilstever that lasts!) Nat West seem to be top banana with ISA's at the moment with a 3.51 transfer rate. I know these aren't much but they are better than the 1 and 1.5% some are offering. If you wait another two weeks you will see the deals start to come up for new ISA's

Don't know if this is much help. I may be teaching your grandmother to suck eggs here...

Cybermouse

I have always tried to save my money as the government have told us to, and even set myself saving targets for my ISA. Now my ISA and savings won't earn as much as they would have done as the interest rates have gone down. I feel daft now for trying to save money.

Ontop of this, my Gran is now suffering also. She lived off the interest her savings gave her and she's now having to really watch the pennies.

I'm unsure what to do for the best really, do I continue to save and if so, where???

Hi.

just wondering which saving accounts , what bank should we need to move because of low interest rate everywhere. Or should we buy bond or doing something else instead of leaving the money in the bank now? Stop buying, pay all saving to mortgages? or investment?

I wanted to spend some $ to buy US shares, does anyone know which reliable UK brokers doing this services?

thanks

Have put £30,000 in premium bonds, first 2 draws £50 each time, not brilliant but as good as the banks offer and tax free so nothing for Gordons bankers nest egg! Have been through Icesave, Kaupthing, First Save, Bradford and Bingley now with Stroud and Swindon, Birmingham Midshires and premium bonds. Feel like i could do better but how many times do you change? Just accepting that all work on our house and unnecessary spending stops for now, like everyone else I have no intention of spending the capital, just got to sit tight and wait for better times!!!!!!! Feel sorry for pensioners and anyone who relies on interest for daily living, at least I have a job as well (at the moment!). Would consider withdrawing all my money if things get too bad and locking it away, don't see why it should be used to make the banks more money. I don't understand why Gordon won't accept that cutting interest rates was a stupid idea, can he never admit he is wrong? Give us back our interest Gordon and we will spend like you want us to. We had the money to spend and you've taken it away whilst trying to get people with no money to borrow money to spend. You wally.

Thank you very much for that. I will check it out next week,

Cheers

cybermouse

cybermouse

In the UK you can hold accounts with Citibank and possibly HSBC and Lloyds, not sure if the last 2 are held on UK mainland or offshore (IOM or CI)

With these banks you can at least hold deposits in Euro / GBP / USD and I know with Citibank they also have accounts to hold other major currencies. I find Citibanks exchange rates to be quite reasonable but here is nothing to stop you using a Currency specialist to effect your FX transaction if you are thinking of making larger transfers.

Best to check their sites for full terms as I know when I last looked at Lloyds site a year ago there was a monthly fee for holding these accounts.

ATM

Yes, not spending on anything, using our savings to pay off the mortgage, Brown wanted cars off the road, well his getting his wish, wish he would go. It's Labours mismanagement, and lack of controls which has caused this. Banks lending money to people to buy houses at over inflated prices (5 times their salary- By the way I was always told to only borrow 3 times your salary) now the value has gone down the banks are having to re-value, and therefore post large losses. If banks had kept to a sensible loans policy house prices would have stayed realistic. How many home owners are now in negative equity? it boils down to GREED. Greed of the banks, Greed of people making easy money. Well its come back to bite people on the bum and who will pay for it? those hard working people who get 15% taken away from the retirement fund they set up years ago, not the greedy self centred Bankers (yes I did spell it right, wished I hadn't.