According to a study carried out by the Abbey National recently a number of UK people are dipping into their savings in order to pay their ongoing bills.
The Abbey National was looking specifically at money held in ISAs and, having seen around GBP6 billion taken out of them asked customers what the money had been used for. Just over 30 percent of people said it was to cover day to day expenses, the most popular answer provided.
Although it can seem easy to use savings to cover costs the issue comes a little later said an Abbey National spokesman. If a cash ISA had the maximum put into it then any withdrawals cannot be made up later, leaving the account holder with a reduced return through interest.
The Nationwide Building Society has introduced half a dozen new investment bonds, with interest rates ranging from 6.5 to 6.7 percent.
The bonds cover investment periods of between 6 months and three years, therefore providing real options to suit different investors. Two of the new Nationwide Building Society bonds are e-bonds and are applicable to new FlexAccount customers while another one is valid only for customers who have been with the Nationwide for at least 3 years.
A spokesman from the Nationwide Building Society felt that the six month bonds offered an excellent return over such a short period of time and that the longer period bonds would prove excellent investment options for those happy to put their money to work for up to three years.
Egg, best known for the Egg credit card has just introduced a new bond that is linked to the FTSE100 performance over the next 3 years.
Called the FTSE 26 percent guaranteed equity bond, Egg card customers who invest in it will enjoy FTSE 100 index gains made over and above the starting level of the bond up to a maximum of 26 percent. Should the index finish lower than the starting point of the investment then customers are guaranteed the whole of their capital invested back.
An Egg card spokesman suggested the investment bond would suit customers who are naturally cautious but would like the chance to earn a higher return than that offered by simple deposit accounts.
