Lack of interest spreads from savings accounts to manifestos

I wonder how far a spare £500 could have taken me in this General Election?

The cash would be the deposit required to stand as an independent candidate spearheading a single aim: to stick savers squarely on the political map.

My soapbox style might admittedly be a little soft-bellied – more coaxing than clamouring – but the message would be as hard as nails.

Namely, to lobby Government, banks, building societies and trade bodies to effect a swift series of changes that benefit savers.

Today’s grievances act as a de facto manifesto: greater transparency on your account interest rate; an alert whenever your savings rate moves; clearer account names to avoid deliberate confusion over rate paid; and an obligation to tell you weeks in advance when a bonus rate is set to run out. … Continue Reading

Child Trust Funds, well intended but what a mess!

Messy; tricky to get a firm grip of; troublesome; costly – and liable to keep you up at night. Child trust funds (CTFs), like the youngsters themselves, are proving an absolute handful for politicians, parents and policy wonks. Despite the singularly cherubic premise of tax-free savings for children, the flaws and fissures in this former flagship Government savings policy have emerged into an unsparing spotlight ahead of a general election expected in April or May.

For the uninitiated, every baby born on or after 1 September 2002 is sent a voucher worth at least £250 from the ­government. That can be converted into cash for one of three account types: a safe, risk-free cash deposit; much higher-risk stock markets (with hefty fees); or so-called ‘stakeholders’ which plough your offspring’s money into shares but then funnel the cash back into cash as your child approaches 18 years old (and caps the charges). Anybody can chip in to help too: from parents to grandparents, uncles and aunts to family friends, an extra annual £1,200 can also be parked in the account to give a leg-up to the fund’s value. But that’s not all. The babies benefit from a further £250 government bonus at the age of seven. … Continue Reading

It’s about time savers made their complaints heard

Savers can be a timorous bunch.

If you’re earning a miserable 0.1% in your high-street savings bank account – and I’ll wager hundreds of thousands are – who have you complained to?

Exactly.

Big bouquets, at least, go to those who express their disgust and up sticks with a move to a rival bank for a more generous rate.

Brutal brickbats for the rest who silently fume at the miserly rates on offer yet do nothing about it.

But what savers of all hues do share, however, is an aversion to taking their complaints at crummy rates to the very top – to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Only a ‘handful’ of gripes about piffling savings account interest rates are posted to its door each year – and the majority of those relate in particular to a subsequent poor experience where money earmarked for secure savings ends up being funnelled into an inappropriate investment.

Yet instead of the FOS bearing the brunt of their ire, savers should be bawling out their banks after first having a pop at…themselves.

Savings are generally hard fought for, prised out of taxed salary after all other outgoings. … Continue Reading

Government target for savers

Save Our Savers wants the Government to set a critical long-term savings target for all – at minimum a 6% savings ratio nurtured by a fresh mesh of policies and incentives.

Yet a key part of that aim must be crystal-clear communication: ask any soul – family, friend, colleague, passer-by – what they know about the savings ratio and I’ll wager a fiver you get a vacant stare in return.

The UK’s household savings ratio – whose official name is charmingly redolent of five-year economic plans, pig-iron targets and Orwell’s Big Brother – is sadly shrouded in mystery.

One reason this vital economic signpost is under-publicised is that hardly anybody can grasp what it is, and no wonder.

Here’s how the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the body that calculates and tracks the ratio, lovingly describes it on its website;

“The household saving ratio is household saving expressed as a percentage of total resources which is the sum of gross household disposable income and the adjustment for the change in net equity of households in pension funds.”

Blimey. Got that? … Continue Reading

Inflation up, savings down

Inflation’s many masks – from the Government’s preferred consumer price index (CPI) for managing the economy and monetary policy through to the ‘headline’ retail price index (RPI) used to adjust state pensions and benefits – make it impossible to know its true face.

The stark reality is that we all have our own personal inflation rates, and it’s this that really matters – not the national rates that are little more than an obtuse irrelevance to millions. Sadly the Government doesn’t bother to lift a finger to help address this fraught concern, preferring instead to focus on keeping its chosen CPI figure at 2% as alleged proof of economic competence… … Continue Reading

Nine Ministers in twelve years shows a fundamental Government disdain of savers and pensioners

Save Our Savers asks you to join us and voice your frustration with Government disdain towards savers and pensioners demonstrated by their having been 9 Pension Secretaries of State in 12 years. A Minister must need at least 6 months to master the pensions brief and a minimum of 18 months to develop policies that encourage the savers and savings culture.

What makes the perfect pensions secretary is a bit of a poser.

Acuity, ambition and ardour? Not too much: James Purnell ticked all these boxes and scored very highly on trust with both consumers and the industry until his vaulting distaste for Gordon Brown’s leadership saw him resign in summer 2009.

… Continue Reading