The Sunday Times Business & Money - UK (2021-11-14)

MONEY

CREDIT CARDS INTRODUCTORY RATES Provider Card type Introductory purchase APR^1 Reward Contact Tesco Bank Clubcard Purchases MC 0% for 23 months 20.9% Yes 0345 300 4278 Sainsbury’s BankDual Offer MC 0% for 22 months 20.9% Yes 0808 540 5060 Barclaycard Platinum All-rounder Visa 0% for 22 months 21.9% No 0800 151 0900

BALANCE TRANSFERS Provider Card type Introductory purchase Transfer fee^2 APR^1 Contact Santander Everyday Long-term BT MC 0% for 31 months 2.75% (min £5) 20.9% 0800 912 3123 Sainsbury’s Bank Balance Transfer CC MC 0% for 30 months 1.50% (min £3) 19.9% 0808 540 5060 MBNA Long Balance Transfer MC 0% for 30 months 2.95% (no min)21.9% 0345 606 2062

CASHBACK CARDS

Provider Card type APR^1 Cashback Contact American ExpressPlatinum Cashback 29.8%% 0.75%-1.25%. Intro 5% for 3 months 0800 917 8047 American ExpressPlatinum Cashback Everyday24.5% 0.5%-1%. Intro 5% for 3 months 0800 917 8047 Santander All in One Mastercard 23.7% 0.5% 0800 912 3123 1 APR = annual percentage rate, dependent on credit rating.^2 Fee charged on the amount of each balance transfer during the introductory period. Source: moneyfacts.co.uk

FIVE THINGS

YOU NEED TO

KNOW ABOUT...

PRIVATE BANKS

THE

FIVER

5

1

Private banks date from Renaissance Italy, but the world’s longest continuously operating private bank is Berenberg Bank, founded in Hamburg in 1590.

2

Private banks don’t just look after your money, they manage investments, provide tax advice, broker mortgages and generally act as a concierge or fixer. No waiting in a line for the customers of these banks. A banker at the British private bank Weatherbys drove 260 miles from North Yorkshire to Somerset to show a customer how to use online banking. The bank boasts of answering 99 per cent of calls within three rings.

3

You need lots of money to open an account. Coutts, the Queen’s bank that was founded in 1692, will accept you if you have £1 million in assets and can pay charges of £900 a year. Weatherbys accepts clients with £300,000 or more and charges up to £720 a year.

4

Some have special departments for the leasing of heritage cars and supercars, including Arbuthnot Latham, which will fix you a loan for up to £2 million.

5

Private banks are going digital. The launch of Monument Bank, a digital bank billed as Monzo for millionaires, was approved by the Bank of England on Monday. It will offer savings and property loans to those with assets of £250,000 to £5 million and allow you to chat to staff by video app.

George Nixon

CASH ISAS INSTANT ACCESS Provider Account name Min deposit Interest Transfers in Contact Cynergy Bank Online Isa (Issue 17) £1 0.65% Yes cynergybank.co.uk Shawbrook Bank Easy Access Isa Account Issue 18£1,000 0.67% Yes shawbrook.co.uk FIXED RATE Provider Account name Term Min deposit Rate Transfers inContact Hampshire Trust Bank1 Year Isa Bond (Issue 28)1 year £1 0.95%Yes htb.co.uk Close Brothers Savings2 Year Fixed Rate Isa 2 years £10,000 1.2% Yes closesavings.co.uk . Source: savingschampion.co.uk — 0808 178 5354

CHILDREN’S ACCOUNTS Provider Account name Account type Min deposit Interest rateContact Dudley BS Junior Easy Saver Regular Saver £10 3.5% dudleybuildingsociety.co.uk Santander^1 123 Mini Current Account Current Account £1,500 2.96% santander.co.uk HSBC^2 MySavings Easy Access £10 2.47% hsbc.co.uk

(^1) Interest paid on balances between £1,500 and £2,000 (^2) 0.25% paid on balances above £3,
JUNIOR ISAS
Provider Account name Min deposit Interest rate Rate Contact
Loughborough BSJunior Isa £1 2.5% Variable theloughborough.co.uk
The Family BS Cash Junior Isa £3,000 2.4% Variable familybuildingsociety.co.uk
Coventry BS Junior Cash Isa (2) £1 2.25% Variable coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk
Source: savingschampion.co.uk — 0808 178 5354
Best Buys
FOREIGN
CURRENCY
Interbank rates at 5pm
on Friday, which show
where the market is
trading. They are not
indicative of the rate
you could get.
EURO
GBP>EUR

USA
GBP>USD

SWITZERLAND
GBP>CHF

AUSTRALIA
GBP>AUD

Table shows the cheapest tariff from the 3 cheapest
suppliers.Excludes fixed tariffs of less than 12
months’ duration. Excludes tariffs that do not have
national coverage. Excludes tariffs where payments
are taken in advance of the customer coming on
supply. F=Fixed rates V=Variable rates
ENERGY DEALS
Table shows the cheapest tariff from the three
cheapest suppliers. Excludes fixed tariffs of
less than 12 months’ duration, tariffs that
do not have national coverage and tariffs
where payments are taken in advance of
the customer coming on supply.
Supplier Average annual bill Rate Contact
So Energy £1,635 Fixed 0330 111 5050
Octopus Energy £1,650 Fixed 0808 164 1088
Outfox The Market £1,844 Fixed 0800 103 2702
Phone numbers provided will call through to theenergyshop.com switch support team. Source: theenergyshop.com — 0800 448 0205
SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
INSTANT ACCESS
Provider Account name Min deposit Interest rate Contact
Paragon Triple Access Savings Account - Issue 5 £1 0.65% paragon.co.uk
Cynergy Bank Online Easy Access Account - Issue 42 £1 0.66% cynergybank.co.uk
Shawbrook Bank Easy Access Issue 28 £1,000 0.67% shawbrook.co.uk
NOTICE ACCOUNTS
Provider Account name Notice period Min deposit Interest rate Contact
Close Brothers Savings 95 Day Notice Account (Issue 11) 95 days £10,000 1.05% closesavings.co.uk
Shawbrook Bank 120 Day Notice Personal Account Issue 50120 days £1,000 1.08% shawbrook.co.uk
Secure Trust Bank 120 Day Notice Account (11 Nov 2021)120 days £1,000 1.1% securetrustbank.com
FIXED-RATE BONDS
Provider Accountname Term Min deposit Interest rate Contact
Zopa 1 Year Fixed Term Savings 1 year £1,000 1.35% zopa.com
Zopa 2 Year Fixed Term Savings 2 years £1,000 1.61% zopa.com
Raisin (UBL UK) 3 Year Fixed Term Deposit 3 years £1,000 1.82% raisin.co.uk
DEALS ARE LISTED ONLY IF THEY ARE COVERED BY THE UK FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME (FSCS) OR A EUROPEAN EQUIVALENT
Source: savingschampion.co.uk — 0808 178 5354
MORTGAGES
2-YEAR FIXED RATES
Lender Rate Scheme Deposit Fee Notes Contact
Monmouthshire BS 0.99% Fixed for 2 years 25% £1,495 R 01633 844351
Furness BS 1.3% Fixed for 2 years 20% £999 LOV 0800 220568
Leeds BS 1.75% Fixed to 29.02.24 10% £999 LV 0345 045 4049
3-YEAR FIXED RATES
HSBC 1.34% Fixed to 31.01.25 40% £999 RS 0800 494999
Nationwide 1.39% Fixed for 3 years 15% £999 FPV 0800 302 010
Nationwide 1.74% Fixed for 3 years 10% £999 PV 0800 302 010
LONG-TERM FIXED RATES
First Direct 1.13% Fixed for 5 years 40% £490 LV 0800 482 448
Nationwide 1.69% Fixed for 5 years 20% £999 FLV 0800 302 010
Yorkshire BS 2.45% Fixed to 28.02.27 10% £995 PV 0345 166 9510
Virgin 1.95% Fixed to 01.02.32 35% £995 MR 0345 605 0500
TRACKERS / DISCOUNTS
Barclays 0.85% Tracker + 0.75% for 2 years 40% £999 ELV 0333 202 7580
Nationwide 1.34% Tracker + 1.24% for 2 years 10% £999 EPV 0800 302 010
Newbury BS 1.69% 2.26% discount for 5 years 25% £850 LV 0163 555 5777
First Direct 2.19% Tracker+2.09% for term 25% £490 ELV 0800 482 448
FIRST-TIME BUYER / LOW DEPOSIT
Newcastle BS 2.45% Fixed to 29.02.24 5% £999 0345 606 4488
Furness BS 2.89% Fixed for 5 years 5% £0 LV 0800 220 568
Nationwide 1.49% Fixed for 5 years 25% £999 FHPV 0800 302 010
BUY TO LET
Skipton BS 1.45% Tracker + 1.35% for 2 years 40% £995 ELV 0345 850 1755
Leek United BS 1.59% Fixed to 31.01.24 25% £995 V 0808 169 6680
Virgin 1.65% Fixed to 01.02.27 40% £995 CR 0345 605 0500
Early repayment charge applies unless otherwise stated. Most deals track Bank of England base rate.
C = £500 cashback for purchases; E = No early repayment charge; F = £500 cashback for first-time buyers; H = Help to Buy;
L = Free legal work for remortgages; M = £300 cashback for purchases; N = £250 cash back for purchases; O = £250 cash back;
P = Purchases only; R - Free legal work and valuation for remortgages; S = Remortgage only; V = Free valuation
Source: landc.co.uk — 0800 373 300
CURRENT ACCOUNTS
CREDIT INTEREST
Provider Account name Account fee Reward Balance (for reward) Contact
Halifax Reward Current Account None £5 a month – 0345 720 3040
TSB Spend & Save None £5 a month – 0345 975 8758
Virgin Money M Plus Account None 2.02% AER Up to £1,000 0800 678 3654
OVERDRAFTS
Provider Account name Account fee Interest rate^1 0% overdraft limit Contact
Starling Bank Current Account None 15% £0 starlingbank.com
First Direct 1st Account None 39.9% £250 0345 600 2424
Virgin Money M Plus Account None 19.9% £0 0800 678 3654
(^1) Equivalent annual rate.

Based on overdraft of £500 for 7 days a month.
Some accounts require minimum funding/direct debits to open or receive rates shown.
Source: moneyfacts.co.uk
institution treat its customers
with such disrespect?”
After Money asked
Prudential about his pension
transfer, the insurer sent the
money to Fidelity. However,
about £4,000 was missing.
Carson contacted Prudential
again, and the correct
amount was sent over.
The chief executive of
Prudential’s complaints arm
emailed Carson to
acknowledge the errors and
agreed to pay compensation.
Prudential, based in
London, manages big
company pensions and is
separate from the listed
insurance company
Prudential Plc.
Many customers affected
by the botched IT upgrade
are teachers because the
government has selected
Prudential as the company to
run their AVCs. They have no
choice but to stick with the
company.
Banks and financial firms
often have ageing IT systems
which can be costly and time-
consuming to fix, and basic
upgrades can leave
customers stuck without their
money.
Prudential said: “We
apologise for the delay in
processing Mr Carson’s
contributions and the
subsequent delay to his
pension transfer. In
recognition of the distress
and inconvenience caused we
have awarded him £800.
“Now that the transfer has
been completed we will
review his case to establish
whether he has experienced
any financial loss as a result of
the delay and award further
compensation if appropriate.”
Carson uses for his self-
invested personal pension
(Sipp), to start the process of
transferring his Prudential
fund into his Sipp so that all
his funds were in one place,
but this had not happened.
Carson called Prudential to
complain on August 26. He
was told there had been an IT
system failure but that
someone would look into it.
Thinking it would be sorted,
he kept checking MyPru, but
there was no change.
On September 6, a letter
arrived from Prudential’s
complaints team
acknowledging an issue.
Three days later, he got a
cheque for £400 in
compensation, and figured
that this meant the saga was
over.
But a week later the issue
had not been resolved. He
called Prudential and was
again told there had been a
system failure. Another week
went by, and Carson was told
the same thing.
“The customer service is
horrendous. On the
occasions you can get
through, you never speak to
someone who knows your
case or has the ability to do
anything.”
Finally last Tuesday, after
Carson also complained on
the social media site Twitter,
the missing money appeared
on his MyPru account.
But there were still no signs
that the company was dealing
with his pension transfer and
Fidelity told him it had made
multiple requests on his
behalf with no response.
Carson said: “I’ve spent
such a long time trying to sort
this. How can such a major
that sits alongside his main
pension, held with
Prudential.
Carson had been paying
80 per cent of his salary into
the pot for the past five years,
but his account on the online
portal MyPru was missing
four months of contributions
and was down £5,000.
“I was horrified,” said
Carson, who could see on his
payslip that the payments had
been sent. “I thought it could
have been lost between my
employer and Pru.”
He had also asked Fidelity,
an investment company
Andrew Carson has spent
months trying to get back
£5,000 that was missing
from his pension pot
Andrew Carson has been
waiting to relax into his
retirement for three months.
He left his job as a teacher at
the start of the summer but is
yet to feel any relief because
of problems with his pension.
Carson, 65, from
Lancashire, has spent his first
work-free months making
weekly calls to Prudential,
which holds his pension,
searching for a missing
£5,000 from his pot and
chasing his pension transfer.
His experiences echo those
reported by Money in April,
when dozens of Prudential
customers complained about
a lack of communication,
lengthy delays and bad
customer service from the
giant insurer.
The problems started
when Prudential moved its
five million customers, who
have more than £51 billion of
savings, to a new IT system
last November. It left many
customers with incorrect
valuations and unable to
withdraw their cash.
At the time, Prudential said
it was doing everything it
could to resolve the issue,
including recruiting and
training more than 100 staff.
A spokesperson said it was
now processing most
customer requests within its
normal times and that the
issues reported in April were
largely resolved.
But this has not been
Carson’s experience. His saga
started in August, when he
noticed that something was
wrong with his additional
voluntary contributions
(AVC) fund, a separate pot
Imogen Tew
The Pru has my missing
pension, but won’t let me find it
The race to sign
up for the last of
the rock-bottom
mortgages
low rate for longer. Doing so
normally means paying early
exit charges, typically 5 per
cent of your loan.
“In most cases, people
have rethought after speaking
to an adviser, but others have
wanted to go ahead anyway,”
Hollingworth said.
Some borrowers are
nearing the end of their fixed
rates and hoping to secure a
longer term while there are
still bargain rates available to
keep them sheltered from
future increases.
Mortgage interest
payments could go up 13.1 per
cent by 2023 as base rate rises
are passed on to borrowers,
according to the Office for
Budget Responsibility, an
independent forecaster.
If that is true, someone
who borrowed £250,000 on a
two-year fix at 2.06 per cent
would pay an extra £600 a
year, according to the
financial company AJ Bell.
Someone with a £450,
loan would pay an extra
£1,068 a year.
“It’s impossible to second-
guess the market,” said
Hollingworth. “If you’re
starting to incur substantial
costs, rates would have to
increase substantially in
order for you to make that
back.”
The best five-year fixed
rate available now is 1.07 per
cent from Lloyds Bank, for
borrowers who are
remortgaging. It has a £1,
fee. The best two-year fixed
rate is Cumberland Building
Society’s 0.88 per cent, with a
£1,999 fee, also available to
those remortgaging. You can
only apply in branches.
The Bank of England base
rate is only one factor in the
cost of mortgages. A surge in
demand for houses, paired
with the stamp duty holiday
which saved buyers as much
as £15,000, pushed lenders
to offer better rates —
especially for higher-income
households.
Homeowners fearful that
cheap mortgage deals are
disappearing are scrambling
to get new loans and paying
hefty exit penalties to secure
them.
One borrower paid
£12,000 in exit fees to get out
of his 2.59 per cent ten-year
fix three years early and
secure a five-year fix at
1.14 per cent.
The switch will not save
him money, but was a way of
borrowing an extra £50,
for home improvements after
his existing lender refused to
increase his mortgage. There
October 1 to November 1.
The biggest increases were
for borrowers with more
equity in their homes. The
average two-year fix at 65 per
cent loan-to-value (LTV) went
from 2.11 per cent to 2.5 per
cent, and the average five-
year fix increased from
2.32 per cent to 2.7 per cent.
Fears that the Bank of
England will raise the base
rate, which influences
mortgage costs, have caused
the rate rises. It was held at its
record low of 0.1 per cent last
month, but the Bank’s
monetary policy committee is
expected to increase it soon
to keep inflation in check.
The Bank has forecast that
inflation will reach 4.5 per
cent by the end of the year
and 5 per cent by early 2022,
and hopes a rise in interest
rates will curb this by
discouraging borrowing and
spending.
Lenders have pulled some
of their best deals at short
notice, with Nationwide
swiftly withdrawing all
tracker products 11 days ago
before reintroducing them on
Thursday.
“There’s a merry-go-round
of rates being withdrawn and
borrowers are definitely
having to be able to move
quickly,” said David
Hollingworth from the
mortgage broker London &
Country. “The rates on offer
now may be gone tomorrow.”
L&C, one of Britain’s
biggest brokers, said more
people were seeking advice
on how to escape their fixed
rate so they could lock in a
Kate Palmer
was a 6 per cent charge on a
£200,000 loan to make the
move to the new lender.
“A lot of people are asking
if they should be swapping
deals, but the difficulty is that
the early repayment charges
are usually really high,” said
Aaron Strutt from the
mortgage broker Trinity
Financial. “Many borrowers
are biting the bullet and
paying them amid the threat
of rate rises.”
Fixed mortgage rates fell in
the four months to October
but have increased this
month, according to the data
company Moneyfacts. It
found that two-year and five-
year fixed rates went up
0.04 percentage points to
2.29 per cent and 2.59 per
cent respectively from
I was
horrified
that my
savings
had gone

The Sunday Times Business & Money - UK (2021-11-14)

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