I don’t know if this information is accessible to Emma in any way, but it would be great if Emma displayed and tracked interest rates on our connected bank accounts. Going further it would be great if we could be notified if/when the interest rate on a connected account changes and perhaps also notify us if an equivalent account from another provider comes onto the market with a better rate.
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I’m not sure what information Emma gets from the bank, but this is definitely a cool feature.
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Great idea
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Nice idea @o99!
We do not receive such information from the bank but I’ll have the team think about the feasibility of this. I guess we can find ways to calculate it.
Assuming we had the data about interest rates, what other features should we build with it?
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Total interest for the tax year and or calendar year would be great!
Maybe an Interest category?
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For me the main one was already mentioned in my OP. I’d like to be notified if/when the interest rate on one of my accounts change. Banks do send notifification about such changes by post or email but they do so weeks to months before the change. By the time the change takes place I’ve often forgot about it.
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Here is an idea. What if you let users input their interest rate manually and then apply the interest rate to other users with the same accounts. I know that interest rates can vary from person to person, but I would assume that most people in the same bank have the same interest rate. In addition you could look at the ‘interest rate payout’ that happens yearly or monthly depending on your bank.
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Personally, I would like this feature even if it needed completely manual configuration!
I think if Emma tried to work out the interest rate at a “best guess” based on other users, with the tools to edit too, that could work well.
A bit like how it tries to get overdraft data from the bank and info on account type, which can also be manually changed.
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Even as a temporary stop gap - allow users to submit interest rates like how you allow users to add overdraft limits.
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Personally, I’m not sure I would make much use of something that required manual input. For me it has to be automated to be of enduring usefulness.
I wonder how websites that track savings account interest rates get their information??
For example, https://moneyfacts.co.uk/. Presumably not via manual entry/checking?
Perhaps Emma could get information from the same source (or perhaps even partner with such websites) and match information from the source with names of connected accounts. I assume this is possible because Emma seems to have access to savings account names including issue numbers where relevant (i.e., not just sort code and account number).
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Great idea!
It’s a shame they didn’t make this part of open banking. Mandatory account metadata and rate info would make this very easy
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It might be coming in a future version of the Open Banking standard?
I have no inside information or anything, but I think it’s reasonable to assume that over time open banking will eventually become even more open than it is now.
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This is a great idea, would be super useful.
This would be great! Not concerned about making it too fancy - I’d rather have sooner-but-basic than later-but-overcomplicated. Right now I name my savings accounts e.g. Fixed Saver Oct 3%, so that I know it’s 3% until the introductory rate ends in October at which point I’ll need to review it. If we could just manually select the interest rate and the month that would be perfect! Further down the line, of course, you could then add alerts to remind users that the rate on an account is about to expire.
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Yes please! I always forget this, would be nice to have and a good negotiation tool.