Anyone Used Flagstone

Anyone Used Flagstone

Author
Discussion

Al Gorithum

Original Poster:

4,204 posts

215 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
Came across these guys when looking for decent deposit rates, and the concept seems to be good https://www.flagstoneim.com/business/

Anyone had any experience with them?

dalenorth

873 posts

174 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
I looked at it but went with Insignis instead and it’s been great tbf.

LooneyTunes

7,589 posts

165 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
I’d make the same general comments as in this thread:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

ParkerTalbot

52 posts

38 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
I use them, has been a good/easy to use platform, feel free to ask any questions!

C69

546 posts

19 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
It's an interesting concept from a convenience perspective, but bear in mind that Flagstone will take "up to 0.3%" of the gross interest received as a management charge.

Looking at the Personal (rather than Business) product, this is reflected in the net rates being offered. They appear to be lower than if you went the DIY route. The choice of accounts isn't particularly extensive, either.

I guess the question to ask is, does "up to 0.3%" represent good value, or could you keep that for yourself and use a spreadsheet to monitor several separate savings accounts instead?

ParkerTalbot

52 posts

38 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
For me (mainly on the business cash side though I do have a personal account too) it's being able to easily view everything in one place and chop and change as interest rates change (or as, say, a 3 month fixed term ends). They also generate a statement at the end of each financial year for tax purpose for the lot rather than having to calculate it separately for each account.

Am paying 0.23%

SS2.

14,519 posts

245 months

Tuesday 7th May
quotequote all
I've used them for a while and remain very happy..

There's a wide choice of products on the platform, and the web interface makes it so easy to view your current position or to move money around.

Al Gorithum

Original Poster:

4,204 posts

215 months

Wednesday 8th May
quotequote all
Thanks all - very interesting.

Regarding their fees, it seems that they take them from the Banks - not us. Their website says:
[b]How does Flagstone make money?
For each savings account you open through Flagstone, we receive a small share of the interest (up to 0.30%).

We deduct that share before we feature any savings account on our platform – so the rate you see will always be the rate you receive.[/b]

So their advertised rates are net after the commissions. Considering that the advertised rates are higher than what I can get with the individual banks, that seems impressive. I applied for an account yesterday.

Greenie

1,835 posts

248 months

Wednesday 8th May
quotequote all
Haven't been with them long but I like the product. Website is clear and easy to use - and moved deposits around accounts is very easy.

Fee I pay is 0.17%.

Al Gorithum

Original Poster:

4,204 posts

215 months

Wednesday 22nd May
quotequote all
So I opened an account. The things I like so far are:
1. Very easy to use.
2. Interest earned is accrued daily and shown on the account.
3. A good mix of instant access, notice and fixed term accounts.
4. The best savings rates for business I could find.
5. Their fees are deducted at source (not paid by me).
6. I've spread the risk over many banks up to the Govt backed £85k threshold, but see everything in 1 account.

BeastCoast

21 posts

67 months

Currently looking at Flagstone for some business funds and digging into the FSCS protection. Flagstone state:-

"All client funds on the platform are held within a bare trust structure, with Flagstone acting as trustee and you, the client, holding the position of sole beneficiary at all times. This means, you will hold absolute entitlement to your funds on the platform, meaning FSCS protection will apply to you directly and not Flagstone"

The seems legitimate on the face of it but would welcome the opinion of PH'ers much smarter than me

LooneyTunes

7,589 posts

165 months

I’d refer you to the link I posted previously…

BeastCoast

21 posts

67 months

LooneyTunes said:
The FSCS protection is reliant on the quality of information provided by the deposit aggregator.
Can you expand on this? Are there more details that the bank require for FSCS protection than Company Name, Address etc....

LooneyTunes said:
Bear in mind that not all of these firms actually open/manage accounts in your name
Is that covered by the statement in my previous post? They utilise a blind trust in our company name.

LooneyTunes said:
then add in the fact that these providers will be attractive targets for fraud/hacking, and it becomes more obvious why top class operations, IT, and security are critical
This is a fair point and something I will consider.

LooneyTunes said:
Overall, from the information I could find, I couldn’t make the counterparty risk stack up for me.
Can you define counterparty (I am extremely new to all this)

2and3and4

48 posts

5 months

Used them for 1 year fixed rate bond with an Israeli bank that matured a couple of months ago.

No problem at all. Easy. Straightforward. Did what it said on the tin. Good CS too.