Manchester United savings bond offers 3% rate if United do the double

Savers will earn a guaranteed 1% with a 2% bonus paid out if United win the Premier League and the FA Cup. Should you bother?

Virgin Money is offering savers the chance to bag a table-topping 3% on its new one-year savings account, but there’s a huge catch.

As the name suggests, the Manchester United Double Champions Bond will only pay the rate if United win both the Premier League and the FA Cup in the 2017/18 season.

Fail to do so, and savers will earn a rate of just 1%.

So is it worth taking the punt?

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What’s on offer with the Champions Bond?

Let’s take a look at the basics. You can open the account with just £1, and will earn a guaranteed 1% on your savings. This will rise to 3% if United win the double.

As an added incentive, account holders will receive 10 entries a month for the United Rewards programme – a lottery-style draw where you can win prizes ranging from Old Trafford matchday tickets to signed United replica shirts.

For every £50 you hold in the account each month, you’ll received an extra entry into the draw.

Rajesh Ahuja, savings director at Virgin Money said of the bond: “With a competitive rate of interest, plus the potential for an additional double-interest bonus if Manchester United win the league and Emirates FA Cup, we expect the new Double Champions Bond to be really popular ahead of the start of the new season.”

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How does it stack up against rivals?

Comparing gimmicky accounts with traditional savings accounts is obviously tricky, but in terms of the guaranteed rate, it's rubbish.

The 1% guaranteed return is miles from the best one-year rates currently on offer. Al Rayan Bank has an anticipated return of 2.02%, while OakNorth Bank will give you a rate of 1.86% and Paragon Bank 1.85%.

These all have a minimum deposit of £1,000, but for smaller pots you can still get a rate of 1.8% at Atom Bank with a deposit of just £50.

That means you’ll basically be earning around half of what you could with a top account should you miss out on the bonus.

Speaking of which, how likely is it that United will win both competitions?

It’s obviously impossible to say, so the best we can do is look at what the bookies think.

A quick search of some of the popular betting sites gave me odds of between 22/1 and 28/1.

That tells you the people putting their money behind it consider it pretty unlikely.

So in summary, you can go for a certain rate of 1.8% to 2%, or you can get 1% with an outside chance of 3%.

The sums don’t add up to us, but we can’t definitely say it’s a dud deal for everyone.

Admittedly, you have the unquantifiable element of the monthly prize draw with the Champions Bond, which you won’t get elsewhere.

So you’ll just have to decide for yourself how valuable some United tat is and whether it’s worth the gamble.

What if I really want to chase that bonus?

Let’s say you really believed United are likely to win the double, you could put your money in one of the top-paying one-year savings accounts and then bet some of the additional interest you’ll earn at the bookies.

This way you’ll earn far more if United do succeed, but still be better off if they let you down.

Take a look at your potential returns in the table below.

For this comparison we set a savings amount of £5,000 and opted for the least generous betting odds of 22/1.

We will put £10 of our deposit down as a stake at the bookies, giving us a deposit of £4,990 on the Al Rayan and Atom Bank accounts. If that stake wins, we pocket £220.

What other ‘gimmick’ savings accounts are there?

If that all sounds like a lot of hassle, but still fancy a 'savings' account that gives you the chance to boost your initial deposit, the obvious first choice is Premium Bonds.

True, you’re not guaranteed any return with these Bonds, but you could win £1 million.

Next up, there’s the OakNorth Lottery Bond, which is the middle ground between Premium Bonds and a traditional savings account. Here, you’ll earn a guaranteed rate of 0.7% and are in with a chance of winning up to £75,000.

Finally, there’s the Brexit Bond from Family Building Society, which pays a guaranteed rate of 1.01%. You can bag a bonus of 2.04% if you correctly guess whether the pound will be stronger or weaker after we leave the EU.

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