Marcus by Goldman Sachs

Marcus by Goldman Sachs is an online-only UK savings brand. It takes deposits through an account opened and managed on its website or app, and it has no branches to visit. It is a deposit taker rather than a lender to consumers, so the everyday use of the brand is saving money rather than borrowing it.

The brand has been targeted by a clone website, a fake version of its site built to take money from savers who thought they were dealing with the real firm. The FCA published a warning about that site on 28 May 2021, and it was taken down by 11 June 2021¹. That history is why checking the web address matters more here than with most brands.

What Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers

Marcus by Goldman Sachs is a UK bank brand that takes deposits. Its FCA register entry lists permissions to accept deposits, to enter into regulated credit agreements as lender, and to enter into regulated mortgage contracts as lender². In practice, the brand is known to consumers as a savings provider rather than a lender, and it does not run a branch network or a current account.

The register entry lists two current trading names: "The Marcus by Goldman Sachs Website Address is: https://www.marcus.co.uk/, Marcus by Goldman Sachs"². The firm was previously named Goldman Sachs Limited². It was incorporated on 12 July 1973 and is an active company, company number 01122503⁴.

For a saver, the practical points are these. Marcus is a deposit taker, so money placed with it is a deposit rather than an investment. It is regulated as a bank, not as an investment firm. And it operates under a single brand name in the UK, so there is no separate Marcus current account, credit card or mortgage brand to keep track of.

If you are comparing savings options more broadly, the savings accounts guide sets out how easy access, notice and fixed term accounts differ, and the ISAs guide covers tax-free saving. Marcus sits within the savings market rather than alongside current accounts, which is why the current accounts guide is a separate subject.

Saving with Marcus: a UK bank that takes deposits

Marcus takes deposits as a UK bank. That matters for two reasons: the money is held under a banking licence, and it falls within the deposit protection scheme that covers UK bank deposits.

The savings market Marcus operates in is large and varied. UK building societies and mutual-owned banks hold £502.2 billion of retail deposits, accounting for 23% of all such deposits in the UK⁵. That figure describes the mutual sector rather than Marcus itself, but it shows the scale of the deposit-taking market the brand competes in.

Marcus does not publish its rates on this page, and this site does not carry provider rates. The rate on any Marcus account changes over time and is set by the provider, so the figure that matters is the one on its own website on the day you look. What is stable is the structure: an online account, opened and managed through the website or app, with no branch to visit.

For savers who want to hold money jointly, the joint savings account route is worth understanding, because protection limits apply per person rather than per account. NS&I, for comparison, is backed by HM Treasury and protects 100% of savings, which is a different arrangement from the FSCS limit that applies to banks⁶. That contrast is useful when weighing where to hold larger sums.

Borrowing and credit from Marcus

The FCA register entry for Goldman Sachs International Bank includes permission to enter into regulated credit agreements as lender, and to enter into regulated mortgage contracts as lender². Those permissions describe what the firm is allowed to do. They do not mean the Marcus brand currently offers consumer loans or mortgages to UK customers, and the brand is not marketed to consumers as a lender.

Consumers looking for borrowing have a wide field to choose from. UK private non-financial companies borrowed £4.4 billion net through loans from banks and building societies in April 2026⁷. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit, such as car dealership finance and personal loans, was £0.9 billion in March 2024⁸ and £0.7 billion in July 2024⁹. Net borrowing through credit cards rose from £0.5 billion to £0.7 billion in March 2024⁸.

Those are market-wide figures, not Marcus figures. They show the scale of UK borrowing rather than anything about this brand's lending book. If you are weighing up borrowing options, the loans guide and the credit cards guide explain how interest, eligibility and credit checks work, and the credit scores guide covers what lenders look at.

Banking with Marcus online

Marcus is an online-only operation. There is no branch network, so everything happens through the website or the app. That is now the norm rather than the exception: 69% of day-to-day account holders banked online in the last 12 months, and 41% of adults aged 75 and over used a mobile banking app in the same period¹⁰.

When you open an account online, the security steps are the same as with any bank. Independent guidance is to check the online banking security options your bank may provide¹¹. That includes things like two-factor authentication, alerts on payments, and the ability to freeze a card or account from the app.

MoneyHelper offers clear guidance online, over the phone and face-to-face¹², so if you are unsure how to open, switch or close an account, that is a route to a straight answer. The how-to guide also walks through everyday money tasks step by step.

Clone websites and scams using the Marcus name

A clone website is a fake version of a real firm's site, built to look identical so that people enter their details or send money to the wrong place. Marcus has been targeted this way. The FCA published a warning about a Marcus by Goldman Sachs clone site on 28 May 2021, and the site was taken down by 11 June 2021¹. At the time, the firm reported it had seen 24 cases of brand infringement in 2021 so far¹.

Clone sites are one method among many. Criminals might create fake websites, clone the websites of well-known retailers, list fake items on online marketplaces, advertise non-existent products on social media, and send fake invoices and receipts to make goods or services look genuine¹³. They often impersonate trusted organisations such as banks, HMRC and broadband providers to get information¹¹. They might use phishing emails, cloned websites and fake social media or dating profiles¹⁴.

The consequences go beyond a single payment. Criminals can contact you and gain your trust, then convince you to make a payment or provide access to your accounts; set up accounts or take out loans in your name; or access your accounts directly to steal money¹⁴. Criminals can also use AI to clone the voices of celebrities, colleagues or even family and friends to convince you to part with information or money¹⁴.

How to check you are dealing with the real Marcus

The check is quick and it is the same one the regulators recommend for any firm. Search the FCA register using your provider's firm reference number for the most accurate results³. For Marcus, that number is 124659². The register entry lists the trading names and the website address, so you can compare what you are looking at with what is recorded.

The FCA's own advice is to check the contact details match those listed on Firm Checker to avoid scammers pretending to be a real firm¹⁶. That means using the phone number or address from the register, not one given to you in an email or message. The same principle applies to loan providers: check you are using a legitimate loan provider by searching the FCA Firm Checker and using the contact details listed there, not the ones given to you¹⁷.

There are tools that help. Get Safe Online's 'Check a website' tool can check whether a website might be a scam¹⁴. The ScamAdviser website can help to detect whether scam websites, numbers or bank accounts are legitimate¹⁸. Ask Silver carries out other legwork, such as visiting webpages to check for warning signs, looking up the company behind the website, and checking for reports or reviews on the scam or the company behind it¹⁸.

General purchase-scam advice applies here too: be suspicious of any "too good to be true" offers, avoid clicking on links on social media or email offers, type the website into your web browser, use secure payment methods recommended by reputable online retailers, research the company or seller and read reviews, and avoid paying by bank transfer¹³.

Where Marcus customers can get help and complain

If something goes wrong with a Marcus account, the route is the standard one for a bank. Contact customer services first. Then make a formal complaint: the firm has eight weeks to investigate and give a final response. If you still do not agree, or the eight weeks pass, you can take your complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service¹⁹.

The Financial Ombudsman Service can help with complaints about bank accounts and bank cards, insurance for your home, car or travel, and problems with loans²⁰. It also has an online complaint checker that tells consumers if the ombudsman can help and what to do next²¹. You can make a complaint online or by calling the helpline, but the service is unable to speak to you in person at any of its offices or regional hubs²².

For payment problems specifically, the Payment Systems Regulator's advice is to contact your financial provider, such as your bank, by phone, and you can also contact the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are still unhappy²³. If you are unhappy with how a scam report was handled, you can take the matter further by referring it to the Financial Ombudsman Service²⁴.

Complaint volumes give a sense of scale across the market. In 2025/26 the ombudsman opened 22,783 complaints about credit cards²⁵, and in Q1 2025/26 it opened 122 about packaged bank accounts²⁶. In Q1 2026/27 it opened 254 about merchant services²⁷. Those figures are market-wide and are not about Marcus.

In Northern Ireland, Consumerline is an online service to make a complaint against a trader, report a fraud or ask about consumer rights; you give details of what happened and when, the trader's contact details, and whether you have contacted the trader and if they replied²⁸. The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland also sets out other laws that protect consumer rights²⁹.

How money saved with Marcus is protected

Marcus is a UK bank that accepts deposits, so eligible deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The FSCS protects deposits up to £120,000 per person per firm³. That limit applies per person, not per account, so money held in more than one account with the same firm counts together towards it.

The FSCS also covers other things that may matter depending on what you hold. It protects mortgage advice³⁰, and it answers the question of whether it protects financial advice³. Those protections are separate from deposit protection and apply to different products.

If you think you have been the victim of a scam, the FSCS has guidance on what to do¹⁷. The Payment Systems Regulator's advice is to contact Action Fraud to make a report and call your bank immediately so it can protect your account¹⁷. NS&I's own security guidance makes the same point: contact your bank immediately if you think you have fallen for a scam, and report it to Action Fraud³¹.