As ‘switch to fix’ savings accounts begin to mature, we have made several improvements to our maturity process to support customers. Our Savings Head of Service Chris Williams explains.

A key trend in the savings market over the past 12 months has been the great ‘switch to fix’ movement, with savers locking their money into fixed-rate products to secure more attractive returns.

Industry data shows that much of that money has been directed toward one-year fixed-rate products, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of accounts due to mature across the market in the coming months.

To improve the journey for our customers, we have made several changes to our maturity process.

We revamped the online experience earlier in the year so that it is easier for customers to allocate their maturing balance to multiple products, as well as introducing a new calculator to show how much of their maturing balance is yet to be allocated.

Additionally, we have reduced the number of steps in the process to reallocate maturing balances, resulting in a slicker, streamlined experience.

We have also expanded the range of products that customers can move their maturing balances into, adding our ‘defined access’ products, which allow a certain number of withdrawals each year. We recently bolstered our defined access product range, adding a Double Access account to complement our popular Triple Access offering.  

As customers may have opened a fixed-rate account last year and potentially not visited the Paragon website again, we expect our new ‘self-serve’ password reset functionality will be useful. We have also introduced an extra reminder email 42 days ahead of maturity to give customers time to amend any personal details which might require updating before choosing their maturity options.

Finally, I would stress that we may have launched rates that are better than a customer earns on their current fixed-rate, so please make sure you check our range as your account nears maturity. Plus remember our rate guarantee - which is something we offer to all customers who choose to open a new fixed rate account with us when their old account matures.

It means that between giving your maturity instructions and your account maturing, if the rate on the account you have chosen increases on our website, you’ll automatically receive this new higher rate. If the rate goes down, there’s no need to worry as you’ll stay on the rate you selected. So, you won’t lose out within your maturity window.

For more information on our maturities process, visit our helpful FAQ section.

Chris Williams
Paragon Bank
Savings Head of Service