Do you not use a credit card regularly?
I understand your points but I think it’s a non-issue for me and my use case because I use my credit card for basically all spending and I’ll deal with the transfers later on.
If you don’t do that, then yea I wouldn’t be impressed with delayed transfers. It must be even worse when they have system issues at your bank.
I do, but don’t always keep one to hand. They’re often for the most dire of emergencies only, or pre determined purchases for section 75 protections when I need them. Didn’t have one on me that day with the trains as I was only visiting family and didn’t expect to need it!
That’s fair, I think it’s just a nice reassurance to have. Marcus are quick, but they have left me waiting over a day at the weekend before.
This. I still split smaller amounts into my Marcus account for redundancy. They’re both linked to different accounts too, though that was by accident, but it helps for resiliency too. Atom is linked to Monzo, Marcus to Barclays. So that’s my visa/MasterCard coverage too.
I think this is an important tactic that many may overlook.
My savings accounts are also linked to two separate current accounts to give me just that feeling of resilience in case of system issues.
Obviously though, balances in the respective savings accounts do vary (and are not vast).
My Atom is linked to Monzo and the speed of transfer is ridiculously instant.
Marcus average used to be around 15 minutes.
Skipton is about 45-60 mins
I’ve found Marcus to be fast most of the time. Other times they can be very sluggish.
I’m not that bothered to be fair if it takes minutes or a few hours or so, I never get myself into a situation where I’m going to need instant access to money by a transfer. Could be the day when the faster payments system has a wobble and collapses.
Agreed. That’s where credit cards come in.
Buy time.
Atom rate decreasing to 0.5% from 21st December, as per mail received today. Bummer.
There will be little reason to hold savings anymore. Everything can just stay in Monzo pots/Starling spaces for easier access. Or invest anything that’s not an emergency fund*
*This is not financial advice, just my own humble opinion. Everyone should undertake their own research and make their own informed financial decisions
I’d expect so too.
Honestly, if thinks keep heading down this road, I’ll wind up questioning if an emergency fund is even worth it.
May as well throw everything into stocks and use my credit card as my emergency fund should I ever need it. Stocks are easy enough to liquidate in time to cover a credit card bill.
cries and opens freetrade
(only invest if you understand the risks)
A good call for those who can leave their money in there long enough to ride the highs and lows, I agree.
If I had a 10-15 year crystal ball, I may even try it too 
I’ve been playing on a very small scale for about 6 months now, and compared with savings, I have done pretty well, both investing, and trading.
I’d never recommend it to anyone who couldn’t afford the losses though.
After all, it’s just another form of gambling.
Yes savings in a bank account shouldn’t be compared to stocks. Stocks have been in a good run but they can fall quickly. If someone sees their shares fall by 50% it’ll feel very different to the current situation in the market. Stocks should be invested in with a 5 year plus time horizon, nothing else.
Indeed. The percentages, or split percentages, get increasingly more pathetic. Means that in real terms, you’re losing money because inflation is higher than interest earned.
I opened a Marcus account when they started. Last year I calculated what my now pathetic interest would amount to, then calculated what I could get for certain dividend stocks. Ended up taking 50% out of my Marcus account, and putting roughly 50% into a renewables fund (TRIG) with a steady history and roughly 50% into Hipgnosis. I don’t expect either to do gangbusters, nor do I expect either to fall, and I should get more from dividend return than I would from leaving the money in Marcus.
I accept this isn’t a given, and that there is some risk. But for me, the risk of ‘losing’ money by leaving it in Marcus was a much greater risk. I certainly wouldn’t advocate taking money out of savings and ‘betting’ it on what one might hope to be the next Tesla!
The 50% of my previous holdings that I still kept in Marcus is my absolute buffer; that is, I know that I’m losing money in real terms there, but it’s my emergency fund and what I’ll need to dip in to if I have any unexpected catastrophic bills, or if I lose my job and need to keep myself going until I find another one. It sucks that I’m not making any real gains on it, but I absolutely can’t lose it (so mustn’t be invested) and I absolutely mustn’t spend it unthinkiningly (so it must be segregated from my normal bank accounts.
I was clearing out some old paperwork the other day and found an advert for a savings account offering 8% interest. I miss when that was considered, if anything, a low rate 
12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Dozens (including Project Imagine and PI1) Discussion & Feedback
Thought of another investment that is FSCS protected that pays more
Freetrade pay 3% interest on plus accounts cash balances that are FSCS protected as a brokerage.
If you keep the 4K in there it more than pays the fee
4,000 x 1.03 = 120 / 12 = £10 a month, which is equal to the Freetrade Plus fee.
It’s certainly a great deal to keep your cash waiting to be invested but if you aren’t waiting to invest or using it simply to cover the Plus fee and enjoy the benefits for “free” then it is not worth it.
Marcus Banks starting robo-advising accounts in the US for 0.35%, interesting to see if they open it over here
