Fixed rate. You know the fixed rate of interest that you will get for your bond when you buy the bond. That fixed rate does not change during the life of the bond. Treasury announces the fixed rate for I bonds every six months (on the first business day in May and on the first business day in November). A key risk of owning fixed-rate bonds is interest rate risk or the chance that bond interest rates will rise, making an investor’s existing bonds less valuable. For example, let’s assume an investor purchases a bond that pays a fixed rate of 5%, but interest rates in the economy increase to 7%. First of all, current accounts normally only pay interest on the first few thousand pounds of your balance. Moreover, if you have £20,000, you’d make £400 a year with a 2% two-year fixed rate bond, and £260 with a 1.3% easy-access savings account.