(edit title) Savings accounts/investments in Sweden...?! Any interest? Options

[smartie]

Hi
I moved to Sweden a couple years ago and got married to a Swede, so it looks like I'm stuck here
Due to my hard-to-explain employment circumstances, I have no automatic pension contributions. My Swedbank 'sparkonto' has a non-existent interest rate. What/how is the best way to have a real savings account in Sweden, with a decent interest rate or return? I have no idea what is offered by banks or the government, e.g. akin to an ISA in the UK, etc... Thanks!

[Ancient Mariner]

This is a good question. It seems to me that there is little inducement for Swedes to save and not many possibilities to do so risk-free. There are no tax-free accounts corresponding to UK National Savings and ISAs, no building societies, and the so-called savings accounts provided by the banks offer derisory rates of interest. And a Kapitalförsäkring is taxed on its value even if this has gone down over the year.

[Furu]

What/how is the best way to have a real savings account in Sweden, with a decent interest rate or return?

https://www.sevenday.se/index.htm

http://www.sparkontoplus.se/

[gplusa]

If it's a pension savings scheme you are looking for, you can claim your tax back on the first 12 000kr per annum that you place into a specific retirement saving account.

[aesnordic]

Hi, if you would like a cost free meeting to discuss the best ways to save and invest for the future please have a look at our website www.aesinternational.com/aes-nordic or www.aesfinance.com alternatively email us at aesnordic@aesfinance.com with your queries.

We are the only financial advice company in Sweden primarily giving advice to the expat population. We may be able to advise you in area's you may not have thought of. We are of course fully regulated by the Swedish finance inspection to give investment advice.

Hope to hear from you soon.

The team at AES.

[Essingen]

If it's a pension savings scheme you are looking for, you can claim your tax back on the first 12 000kr per annum that you place into a specific retirement saving account.

Only really worth doing if you pay a higher rate of tax than basic rate as you pay a small yearly tax on the value of your pension fund (plus fund charges of course) and then pay income tax when you eventually draw the pension.

[Furu]

We are the only financial advice company in Sweden primarily giving advice to the expat population.

All major banks in Sweden offer that service.

[pokaface]

Also a useful link:

http://sweden.deposits.org/

comparing best deposit rates at a given time.

[Ymail]

https://www.sevenday.se/index.htm. http://www.sparkontoplus.se/

Handelsbanken's 2 year interest is 1,84% whereas SEB 2 year fixed interest is 2.44%
SparkontoPlus gives 2 year interest as 3,70 % 

Is seems the SparkontoPlus is giving fixed interest of more than double of Handlesbanken and more than 50% of SEB.

How could it be possible for one bank to give so much extra interest than market rate??
Does it mean HB/SEB gives too little to their customer or SparkontoPlus trying to gives too much extra and going to burst some day?

[Kibiri]

Those small online banks or bank-like companies need to give better rate otherwise nobody would bother to use them.

To compare interest rates check www.compricer.se or www.finansportalen.se - Also when you see extra high rates, pay attention if they have insättningsgaranti.

[Yorkshireman]

SparkontoPlus is offered by Bluestep. Bluestep bank was created to fill a niche market of providing loans to people with not so good credit records (ie. betalningsanmärkning), but still have equity in their properties they can loan against. Most other banks will not loan to this group of people.

Bluesteps lending rate is higher by a few percentage points than the standard market rates, so it follows that they therefore can offer a higher savings rate to others.

btw... With regards going bust, the Swedish Government provides a deposit guarantee if a bank becomes insolvent, it is around 500.000 SEK per account. If the economy looks dodgy with a bank, it is always best to split it into several accounts if you have high value savings

[Bender B Rodriquez]

btw... With regards going bust, the Swedish Government provides a deposit guarantee if a bank becomes insolvent, it is around 500.000 SEK per account.

It is 100000 EUR nowadays.

[Willy]

I'd avoid the dodgiest-sounding offers – even if there is insättningsgaranti – but you can definitely find respectable niche banks offering decent interest rates: SBAB (state-owned even), Forex, IKANO, ICA, GE Money Bank, Volvo, Lantmännen...

[Essingen]

It is 100000 EUR nowadays.

Yes, and if the account is jointly owned it is EUR 100,000 per person.

[uduck]

Are these banks any good??

https://www.fundior.se/

and

http://www.24spar.se/

There are no insättningsgarantin but their interest rates are quite high. Anyone with experience with them?