Auction Your Money

Online Stock Trading - Alternative Investments - Auction Your Money

Investment Ideas - Auction Your Money

Here is a novel idea of what to do with your cash. If you have a minimum of £30,000 to invest you can now offer your money up to the highest bidder and let them fight it out. A company called MaxBips came up wih the idea under which in these strange economic times, banks and building societies who want your money in their coffers can bid in what are described as "no-obligation half-hour auctions". It sounds like a reasonable idea to me, so maybe it's time to have a look under the mattress and see how much I've been sleeping on recently. The minimum term for investment is 1 day (overnight) there is no maximum term.

MaxBips launches today and in addition to the quote from the bank MaxBips will provide financial metrics, credit ratings, and details of deposit protection .

Aloysius Fekete, MaxBips MD said "Whether you are holding cash in uncertain times or wanting to manage your cash more effectively, MaxBips allows depositors to quickly obtain several competitive interest rates quotes."

Investment Quorum CEO Lee Robertson, who have been using MaxBips on a trial basis for the last 6 weeks to deposit their clients’ cash says "Everyone has got that much more nervous – cash has become a big point of discussion with clients."

He added that it is quicker and simpler to use MaxBips than to contact banks separately when trying to deposit funds belonging to a national charity.

With stockmarket investments so unpredictable Fekete said the idea was sparked by the liquidity problems in the market. MaxBips acts as an introducer has an introductory offer of unlimited access of £49 p.a. which it charges to the saver.

Savers can specify the deposit term, 30 days to 2 years, then wait for th bankers to mak ean offer they can't refuse.

Only banks covered under the UK FSC Scheme or the Irish government’s 100% deposit guarantee can make a bid. Overseas banks must be authorized to operate in the UK by the FSA and be included in the UK compensation scheme.

After the auction you have 30 minutes to decide if you want to accept any of the bids. Mmmmmmmm power.

Last week for a 1 yr deposit of £50,000 rates ranged from a low of 1.2% from HSBC to a high of 4.6% from Anglo Irish Bank, which according to Moneyfacts, was the same as the best rate available at the time for 1 year fixed-rate bonds. But rate cuts on Friday brought the best auction bid down to 3.95% from ICICI – which was in fact below its ‘public’ rate of 4.3% - so clearly a bit odd and hardly a bargain.

Aloysius Fekete says: “At a time when interest rates are falling, MaxBips is a boon to investors by helping them to potentially increase their returns significantly. When you’ve got people and businesses trying to extract every percentage point they can possibly get, without exposure to risk, this is the tool.”

But you still need to check that the rates you are being offered are better than those generally available.