NTMA increases rates for State Savings products

Hi I am an Irish resident, can I open a UK premium rate ac , if I dont live in the UK
 
Crap !! I have multiple 10 Year Solidarity Bonds at 16%, that are 5 years from maturity .. I wonder if it will be worth my while cashing them in at this stage and re-investing at the new rate of 22 % - Bit of head scratching to be done !
 
TomPetty said:
Crap !! I have multiple 10 Year Solidarity Bonds at 16%, that are 5 years from maturity .. I wonder if it will be worth my while cashing them in at this stage and re-investing at the new rate of 22 % - Bit of head scratching to be done !
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Probably not, for years 6 to 10, you earn 13%, over the last five years, for issue 8 10 year bond.

Only 3% of the overall 16 %, is added by the end of year 5, per the table below.
 

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TomPetty said:
nds at 16%, that are 5 years from maturity .. I wonder if it will be worth my while cashing them in at this stage and re-investing at the new rate of 22 % - Bit of head scratching to b
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In a similar boat - the remaining return over 5 years is approx 12% (averaging 2.4% per year) so broadly the same as the new rate per annum but the big positive is you only lock it in for another 5 years. In 5 years rates could be higher again and you can potentially benefit
 
fayf said:
Probably not, for years 6 to 10, you earn 13%, over the last five years, for issue 8 10 year bond.

Only 3% of the overall 16 %, is added by the end of year 5, per the table below.
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Thanks Fayf - That table is very useful.
 
Hi messyleo - Thats a good point you make about not locking it away for a further 10 years .. and the possibility of better rates in 5 years time. Might be better to leave well enough alone ..
 
I phoned the NTMA helpline yesterday eve after reading this thread as I have a good proportion of the 3 kids children's allowence's tied up in state savings. Initially I had tried registering a single or 3 separate a/c's online using the SSCN number, but it transpires that is only applicable to over 18's. My practice up to now had been to reinvest the 10 year bonds as they came to maturity after a usually fairly good return. However, when I was inspired from here to study what I've reinvested in, I noticed that most of my recent reinvestments have been into pretty dismal Issue 6, 4 year Solidarity bonds with a total return of 2% and issue 23, 5 year savings certs with a total return of 3%. After talking to a most helpful and sympathetic rep on the NTMA phoneline it transpires that one has to complete a separate encashment form for each bond or cert. As he himself agreed, they certainly don't make it easy and it's almost as if its engineered to discourage one from cashing in these low return investments to reinvest in the better issue ones. I suppose they factor in that the average person like me might look at what's involved in dog work and figure it's just not worth the cumbersome effort for circa an extra 1% APR return.
 
There is an online state savings account, where you can cash in, or, invest more, all of which, can be done in seconds online.
This applies to over 18’s only, but i have found it very convenient.

You apply here :

Register for Ireland State Savings Online | Ireland State Savings

Ireland State Savings Online is the easy way to manage your savings. Find out about the benefits of registering for State Savings Online. Begin Registration.
www.statesavings.ie

They send you a password by post, after you sign the online form and post it back
 
Online is definitely much more convenient and straighforward. Just one further tip, if you set up an investment as a joint investment, it seems you cannot avail of the convenience of online features, you're back to the old printed form and posting it in. In the future I think we'll stick to single holder to be able to avail of the online features.
 
fayf said:
There is an online state savings account, where you can cash in, or, invest more, all of which, can be done in seconds online.
This applies to over 18’s only, but i have found it very convenient.
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Mayo1969 said:
Initially I had tried registering a single or 3 separate a/c's online using the SSCN number, but it transpires that is only applicable to over 18's.
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Thanks for those tips. Seems even attempting the online registration with an adult and junior as joint investors is a non runner so. Also I called again this morn to register myself and since I had no existing SSCN number they had to transfer me upstairs to the Prize Bond department for them to send out the necessary forms for completion in order to receive an SSCN number. We'll see how it goes...
 
Anybody with a 10 year investment timeframe would be very foolhardy to ignore the option of investing in equities. Either indirectly via a low charges unit linked fund or, better still due to the lower costs and preferential CGT tax treatment, directly in shares.
 
A few suggestions
  • The registration process is painful, easily identified as something designed by a bunch of civil servants with too much time on their hands - you have to jump through a bunch of hoops. Stick with it, it's worth it in the end as it will significantly reduce the amount of time you waste dealing with the muppets in the long term.
  • Don't bother with joint accounts, they are a waste of time as the "cash-in" and "reinvest" options aren't available for joint accounts. It's only worth the hassle of registering if you are operating a sole account.
  • What @fayf said about cashing in is correct. I cashed-in 6 separate holdings this week and it took no more than 10 minutes. It appears to be secure, uses 2FA and you don't have to return certs or any of that palaver. Just cash-in online and they send the money to your bank account.
  • Note, for mature products, you get a reinvest option. For some reason best known to themselves, State Savings haven't seen fit to make a reinvest option available when Cashing-in. SoO the money gets transferred to your bank account, and you use your Debit Card to reinvest.
 
They really do make it difficult, as a couple we prefer to keep everything in joint names, so as already pointed out by some, we can't cash in or reinvest online. As we both have SSCN numbers we can buy jointly online but they don't accept credit cards and the maximum single transaction with an AIB debit card anyway is €5,000. So if you have €30,000 to put away it will have to be 6 different certs for €5,000 each.

A repayment form for a recently purchased 5 year cert was posted last week so the proceeds should arrive in our bank account soon, then off to the post office on the 01st Oct with the paper form and a cheque for the new 5 year cert @ 9%. A lot of hoops to jump through to cash in and reinvest but at least it is only one form to cash in. Then to reinvest, one form and one cheque for one cert.

Certainly not easy for those joint holders who might have €100,000 in €5,000 certs bought online, that's 20 forms to cash them in.
 
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That AIB debit card limit is ridiculous. They justify it on the grounds of fraud prevention. Strikes me that the have little confidence in their own fraud detection measures if they need to rely on such a blunt mechanism. I keep a BOI debit card just for the purpose of larger transactions as they allow €25k daily. It’s a nuisance but necessary and just about viable. UB was a much more practical €50k per day. PTSB is a complete joke with their €2,500 daily limit.
 
To add insult to injury the following message has been on the State Savings website all day. Evidently the hamster who turns the flywheel that powers the State Savings website doesn't work on Sundays. (Or perhaps he's buggered off to France for the weekend to watch the rugby!)

State Savings Online is unavailable​

We are working to resume service as quickly as possible. Please try again later. We apologise for any inconvenience.
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What's the chances of the rates changing again soon?

Something closer to this would be welcomed! (from 2012)
 

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