Money&Co. offers good news for lenders and investors looking for a good return on cash. Elsewhere, the story is not so happy.
Savings rates have continued to fall in 2014 despite the scaling back of the government’s Funding for Lending scheme initiative at the end of January, writes the financial commentary website, This Is Money.
Support for the scheme, which helped kick-start the housing market, was wound-down after an announcement in November 2013 meaning banks and building societies were instead incentivised to focus more on lending to small businesses.
At the time of the announcement, a wave of experts predicted there was only one way for savings rates to go – and that was upwards, while mortgage rates were expected to rise. However, now the dust has settled, financial information website Moneyfacts has found average rates across virtually all savings products have continued to fall.
The best rate quoted by the site for instant-access accounts is 1.4 percent with the WestBrom, a building society.
Higher returns are available for investors willing to tie their capital up for five years. 2.7 per cent is offered by Aldermore or 2.65 per cent with investment giant Investec. At the time of writing, Money&Co. is offering two B+ graded investments, with prospective gross yields of 8.5 and 8.6 per cent over four and five years respectively. That’s three times the best bond yield listed by moneyfacts.
Elsewhere the plight of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) Small Business, the borrowing side of the Money&Co. equation is discussed in the Guardian’s report on the Enterprise and Employment Bill. The proposed legislation is widely being welcomed by British SMEs as marking the first time a government has understood that small businesses are worthy of singling out for its support.
The Guardian notes that: “The one area where the bill does receive overwhelming support from SMEs is in forcing banks to share customer data with alternative lenders as well as insisting they advise companies that they turn down for a loan which other lenders they could try…this is a very positive step.”
We have more than £5 million-worth of high-quality prospective loans in the pipeline, but we’re always happy to receive news of new borrowers.
Please note, lending and borrowing carry risk. There’s no profit without risk. Click here for a fuller explanation.