Paragon Bank

Paragon Bank is a specialist bank that offers a wide range of savings accounts, mortgages, and loans to both individuals and businesses in the United Kingdom. Paragon Bank was created in 1985 and is a part of the Financial Times Stock Exchange 250. They are currently servicing over 1.5 million customer accounts, trusted with over £9 billion in savings deposits and are managing £13.4 billion worth of loans.

Paragon Bank is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. One of the Financial Conduct Authority's main roles is to protect the customers of a regulated bank or other institution. They do this by ensuring that the authorised banks: (a) treat their customers equitably, (b) afford them with suitable products and services and (c) respect their customer's financial security over their own gain.

Savings

You can choose from the following accounts:

Fixed rate which means that there will be no change to your interest rate. At the time of writing, a 5-year fixed rate account would give you 1.39% monthly interest.

Access which means that you can choose how to access your savings. As it currently stands, a triple access account would allow you to make 3 withdrawals every year and give you 0.65% monthly interest or would allow you to make 4 or more withdrawals every year and give you 0.25% monthly interest.

Cash ISA which means that you can get tax free interest on your savings. At the time of writing, a 3-year fixed rate ISA would give you 1.19% monthly interest.

LISA which means that if you intend to keep money in a savings account for longer than usual if you are saving for a house, for example, then you won't pay any tax on the interest, and you may also be eligible to receive a 25% government incentive on all of the money you deposit if you are aged 18 to 50.

Mortgages

You can choose from the following mortgages, but you must go through one of Paragon's selected brokers:

Residential which is for buyers who are going to be living in a property themselves. You would perhaps turn to Paragon over a high street bank or building society for a owner-occupied mortgage if you have a complicated income, are seeking an interest only mortgage, are interested in borrowing into your golden years or are self-employed. Paragon offer fixed rate mortgages for either 2 or 5 years at the start of the term. The smallest term is for 5 years, and the largest term is for 30 years. The loan-to-value is up to 85%. Paragon's Standard Variable Rate is 5.10% at the time of writing.

Buy-to-let which is the mortgage you need if you are going to be a landlord renting out a property to a tenant.

Second charge which may be appropriate if you need to borrow more money against your property. For example, you already have a first mortgage on a property but because you've either made a lot of payments to reduce the amount you owe, or because the value of the property has risen significantly, you have more equity in the property to borrow against. You can use the money raised for any reasonable purpose.

Loans

You can choose from the following loans and either deal with things yourself if the loan is for you as an individual or through one of Paragon's selected brokers first if the loan is for a business:

Motor finance with loans provided between £2,500.00 and £150,000.00.

Asset finance for businesses to allow you to invest in assets which help keep your business running.

Development finance if you are a developer who is involved in building either residential property or student accommodation.

Invoice finance if you are a business that needs the period in between raising an invoice with a client and receiving the money to be covered.

The bank has won many impressive awards over the years and won three awards in 2021 alone including 'Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Specialist of the Year', 'Best Internet Account Provider' and 'Best Cash ISA Provider'.

According to Feefo, a website that collects independent customer feedback, one customer stated that they have had 'a consistently and comprehensively excellent banking experience' with Paragon. Another customer stated that the service is 'excellent', 'straightforward and easy to complete online'. Paragon's rating on Feefo is 4.5/5 based upon 1146 reviews.

However, Paragon's rating on Trustpilot, another website that collects independent customer feedback is 3.2/5 based upon 335 reviews. 42% of reviewers were happy to describe Paragon as 'Excellent' whereas 40% of reviewers described Paragon as 'Bad'.