Marcus Bank Discussion

Banking Personal Banking
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I thought I would start a separate thread for general discussion about Marcus Bank and their products rather than one for just a single post that may, or may not, disappear from view quickly :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

With my Skipton rate to soon drop to 0.15%, when the bonus expires in mid-September, I contacted Marcus to see if they had any plans to evolve the features available through their savings accounts, that I like so much at Skipton.

Namely,

Ability to have two linked accounts

Ability to deposit from an unlinked account

Ability to set up regular payments from the savings account

Ability to set up one-off future payments from the account

I utilise all these features a lot with Skipton, however, I do not think the 0.35% trade off in interest post September makes them still viable for me going forward.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a very quick email response from Marcus, albeit not so with its content.

"Thank you for contacting Marcus by Goldman Sachs.

The linked account is unique to you as an individual and this linked account is active across all Marcus products you hold. It is not possible to have more than one linked accounts. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the option to have two linked accounts. We value your feedback and have shared your interest with the right team."

I suppose at least the feedback will be shared, though I don’t foresee any imminent change in policy. :man_shrugging:

I still have two months to formulate my ideal personal solution to this issue.

As it stands, I am likely to have my Atom (0.50%) linked to the one current account, and my Marcus (0.50%) linked to the other current account, and share my savings between the two.

I just like to have a back-up plan, just in case (however unlikely it may be) one of my current accounts got frozen for any reason, I can still access (some of) my savings.

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Good call on the thread. I’ve a similar perspective on savings, it’s just that there ain’t a whole lot of choice - Atom and Marcus being prominent at the moment (and for some time).

I’ve never saved with Skipton, but they’ve always enjoyed a lot of popularity. Good luck to them.

So anyway - Marcus. From the off, their customer service was a joy - I remember day one when they were undoubtedly inundated with eager customer questions.

The arrival of the app is a plus, albeit not particularly exciting, given it’s not expected to do much right now.

Transfer in and out have always been pretty speedy - and are certainly right up there now.

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Yeah, I agree. Whenever I have contacted them, which hasn’t been vast tbh, they have been prompt in answering my query.

It will be when it arrives to Android.

I changed my linked account with them today. It was actioned within just over three hours! Better than expected.

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I’ll never forget my experience doing this when N26 closed. Had to be done through the post and require a phone call for security. I’m glad that’s not standard from what I’ve heard from other experiences.

Customer support were generally good, but there is that feeling of legacy with a very modern coat of paint when dealing with them.

I am looking forward to their investment products though. I’ve looked at the US version, and it seems very similar to Nutmeg, both in the way it works and the fee structure. Chase now owning nutmeg really makes this thing interesting.

I think fintech banking in the form of current accounts and savings is maturing now, and the interesting stuff going forward is going to be tilted towards wealth management I think, and making investing more accessible to wider audiences. Freetrade is the new Monzo in this regard. Can’t wait to see how it plays out.

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I think you are right.

Freetrade, dozens and even Revolut seem to be developing interesting offerings in this regard.

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With Marcus, I just had to upload a pdf of a bank statement for my new linked account, via their online banking. Easy peasy.

In contrast, Saffron BS allowed me to change it over the phone, after passing security questions :man_shrugging: Changed instantly, before call finished :+1:

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Whenever I’ve CASS’d, Marcus have updated the linked account within hours of me making a small withdrawal.

Last time I requested a manual change (a couple of months ago), they sent me a letter with a code that I had to verify via telephone.

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No, I had none of that

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Marcus are being slow with their transfers today. Withdrew to my Monzo account just after lunch and it still hasn’t arrived.

To be fair, they do say that it may take longer than 2 hours at the weekend but I’ve never experienced it before - it’s usually less than a minute.

Edit: My mother has just called me asking if Marcus is slow today so obviously some weekend maintenance happening.

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I had this. Previously it was instantaneous, but I waited nearly 2 days for it to appear in my linked account.

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Marcus have raised the basic interest rate on their savings account to 0.60%

So now 0.70% with the 12 month bonus.

My funds will remain elsewhere at higher rates though.

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5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Savings accounts recommendations

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I’ve taken the liberty of moving the subsequent conversation about other savings offerings to the more general savings thread.

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Marcus have increased their bonus rate to 0.25%, meaning those that active, or renew , it, can now earn 1.30% AER

https://www.marcus.co.uk/uk/en/savings/online-savings-account

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The underlying rate has now beeen boosted to 1.55%. Add on your 0.25% bonus and that’s a 1.8% rate.

Consider this your reminder to renew your 12 month fixed bonus too.

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Marcus base rate is now 2.25%. The 0.25% bonus is still around making this 2.5%.

This is your reminder to renew your bonus!

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My money still elsewhere.

Marcus not really competing any more imo

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This is interesting: Goldman Sachs just killed its neobank. When will Silicon Valley follow (fastcompany.com)

I wonder what this means for the UK arm of Marcus?

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I don’t think Marcus UK is going under. They’re mainly a savings bank and AFAIK they’re trying to keep under ringfencing rule levels to ensure they have less regulation and more profitability

the article mentions Chime; I’m going to be honest. I’d certainly buy shares in them: I’ve seen the offering and it’s pretty impressive

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Marcus are lowing their underlying interest rate by 0.2% on June 15th.

The bonus is sticking around and staying where it is, bringing the overall rate down from 4.75% to 4.55%.

Good reminder and opportunity to renew your bonus too, if it’s been a while.

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