Lloyds Classic Plus 6% - is your interest correct this month?

Paul_Herring

lindos90 wrote: »

Im guessing there must be some software that could do the job? ...anyone got any suggestions?

A spreadsheet. Excel/OpenOffice Calc/Google Docs.

Presuming you can access your bank online:

On Account Overview, locate your account, select 'Statement' from the dropdown (it's usually preselected) and press [Go]

On the dropdown on the next page, select 'Download a statement' and press [Go]

Enter the date as the 1st of the month for which you wish to calculate, and select '+1 month' from the period dropdown.
Select 'Internet banking text/spreadsheet(.CSV) from the format dropdown and press [Continue]

Save the file under a filename you'll remember in a place you can find.

Paste/load the data into a spreadsheet such that column:
A = date
B = transaction type
C = sort code
D = account number
E = payee
F = withdrawl amount
G = deposit amount
H = running total

In the empty cell at the bottom of column A, enter the date of the 1st of the next month. (So if you're messing with August, you want 1/9/2008 in that cell.)

If you haven't already, ensure that you have at least one blank line at the top of the sheet.

On the first row with data (assume row 2) in cell i2 you want the formula
=(a3-a2)*h2/365
This gives something called elsewhere 'pound days' - it's an interim calculation, and on lines where it isn't the last transaction for that day, it will be zero.

In j2, enter 5.83. This is the gross rate based on a 6% AER on monthly paid interest. I won't go into how this is calculated - ask in another thread if you're interested. Just trust me that 5.83 in this column represents the alleged 6% AER that Lloyds should be paying you. (If you want to use this for other rates, divide the AER on a monthly paid rate by 1.03 for an estimate.)

In k2, enter
=i2*(j2/100)
This is the gross amount of interest you should expect to receive between that day and the date of the next line of your statement (this is why you entered the 1st of the next month - so that the last line can be calculated.)

In L2, enter
=k2+L1
This is the accumulative interest for the month so far

If you pay tax, in m2 enter
=L2*0.8
This is the accumulative net interest for the month so far.

Highlight cells i2-m2, and copy down until at least the last line of your statement (you may want to go a bit further if you want to use this for other months. To ensure you've done it correctly, examine the formula in cell i3 - it should be
=(A4-A3)*H3/365

If you pay tax, the last non-zero number in column M is what you should have been paid (Column L if you don't pay tax.)

Edit: Sorry - forgot the disclaimers: This simple version doesn't take into account :
1) Balances over £2,500 don't earn 6% on the marginal bit over £2,500 - hand edit if you wish any running total numbers over £2,500 so that they read £2,500
2) Balances under £0 are taken into account when they shouldn't (you'll end up with a number lower than you should) - as with (1) edit the running total column of anything under £0 so that it reads £0.

lindos90

Wow Mr Herring! thank you very much, dont understand all of it, but I think OH will be able to do it for my account, and our joint account, thanks for taking the time to describe it all to me.

Looking at my statements, its definatly been going on since June, when I switched from the 4% to 6% account.

Then for each month after, my interest has got less and less, with a separate payment for 'interest adjustment for the previous month'.

Ive also checked that both accounts have been funded by atleast £1000 each month, so its not that either.

Whats anoying me is that even in september they have still underpaid me, so im still owed some, even now its not sorted.

Looks like they are manually recalculating whats owed (although I suspect sometimes applying 4% rather than 6%) but then not setting it up on the system to do it correctly from then on.

Im guessing there has been alot of overtime on offer at Lloyds over the last few months!!:rotfl:

GGrrr!

Thank God for forums like this! :T

SparciaM

This isn't just happening on the 6% accounts. I opened a regular 4% account a month ago and I had an adjustment of interest as well. At first I got 4p on my C/A and 18p on my savings (with the savings having less money in and only being 3%) and then I got an adjustment.

So looks like their whole interest is out of whack.

diygardener

I finally (after 4 phonecalls and over 1 month) received a letter from Lloyds stating the reason I didn't get the full interest for July was because a regular monthly deposit of £1000 had not been made in June.
I get paid well over £1000 regularly on the first of every month, but since the 1st of June was not a working day, that payment was made on the previous Friday. Therefore I got 2 payments in May and none in June.
As that minimum payment was not received in June, the interest for July was calculated at the lower rate (0.1%).
Technically they are correct. This means that for 3 months in 2008 (April, July and December), I (and I guess many others) don't get any interest to speak of because the previous month started on a weekend. This equates to losing a quarter of their advertised rate.
:mad:
What amazes me is how much money they must spend thinking up these restrictions, and then paying people to investigate complaints and write letters like the one I received, just so they can avoid paying out a few quid. Clearly they have no interest (excuse the pun) in maintaining good customer relations - but that's not really a surprise is it!

diygardener

Result at last! By asking on the phone to be transferred to my local branch instead of trying to explain things (again) to central customer support people, I finally got to talk with a sympathetic and knowledgeable person. This has resulted in my being promised an ex-gratia payment equivalent to the higher interest plus a bit to recompense for all the inconvenience.
Also I have been told how to get around the problem of my pay going in before the first of any month. All I have to do is move £1000 out of the account and back in again, and this will apparently trigger the higher interest rate. I will try this the next time the 1st of the month falls over a weekend.
(Of course, this suggests you don't actually need to have any new money paid in at all, simply move £1000 out and in again each month :rotfl: )

Mine's_a_guinness

Thank you so much Paul Herring. You've explained what nobody at Lloyds has been able to. You're a star. :T

LittleVoice

diygardener wrote: »

Also I have been told how to get around the problem of my pay going in before the first of any month. All I have to do is move £1000 out of the account and back in again, and this will apparently trigger the higher interest rate. I will try this the next time the 1st of the month falls over a weekend.

I think you may need to be careful about the 1st of the month. As far as counting money being paid into an account, I believe LTSB count the month as starting on the second working day. I think it's in the T&C but I can't direct you to the exact paragraph.

Paul_Herring

Well I submitted a written complaint to my nearest branch yesterday to complain about the miscalculation of interest for July and August, and got a phone call later in the afternoon from the 'senior branch manager,' and he confirmed that there are still people out there who have not had their interest corrected for August.

They're 'sorting it out' apparently :rolleyes:

AP

Paul_Herring wrote: »

... there are still people out there who have not had their interest corrected for August.

They're 'sorting it out' apparently :rolleyes:

Mine included!

lindos90

Went into my branch on friday, they admitted there was a problem, but could give me no assurance that its been sorted or if next months interest would be done correctly without further manual adjustments.

I also explained that I had done a spread sheet, and the month that my interest should have increased from 4% to 6% on the 11th june, it remained at 4% for the whole of the month even after the manual adjustments.

She said that there was nothing recorded on my accounts to show what date the interest change was from, or indeed what interest rate was currently being applied to the accounts, and had no idea how to work out the additional 2% interest for 11th-30th june, or even how to request it be done manually by the people who are doing the other manual adjustments.

Her only advice was that if I took in a spread sheet for june, showing what interest I should have been paid, that she would add it to my account, based on my calculations!!!!!!!!