natwest isa 7.32%

COCO

Must agree, the last transfer i did was to ICESAVE, all online and there part played was excellent, the bank I was transfering from was Barclays "tax beater" and they actually wrote out there own cheque wrong!!!! and delaying the transfer, scary eh?.

Milarky

Sillychuckie wrote: »

What if

(part 2)

Given they say of the bonus

Interest paid monthly.
Bonus is for customers transferring in Cash ISA funds from another provider (excludes transfers within the RBS Group) and is calculated on the whole balance in the account for 12 months from receipt of the Cash ISA transfer request. Interest is paid tax free and is paid monthly to the account. The bonus interest will be paid monthly along with the standard interest payment.

It seems clear (to me) they pay 2% on whatever the balance is at whatever point in the year - thus your additions both bump the tier rate and the balance on which the 2% gets paid.

Think of it another way too: If you closed the account after 6 months the first 6 months bonus has already been paid to you (being added each month) - so the bonus is unaffected by a changing balance - it is always 2% of what's in the account.

Thirdly. This is NatWest we are talking about - not the sharpest card in the draw. They would never have thought that up and it's the lack of thought over how they word the thing rather than a 'conspiracy' for my money.

Paul_Herring

runciblespoon wrote: »

Actually, I now realise since it's monthly interest including the bonus the opportunity for funny business is much reduced.

I disagree. The opportunity for Natwest to play funny business is greatly increased. I seem to recall the 'base rate' (-2% on the headline rate) is variable.

Milarky

Paul_Herring wrote: »

I disagree. The opportunity for Natwest to play funny business is greatly increased. I seem to recall the 'base rate' (-2% on the headline rate) is variable.

I think we all understood that it was a variable rate account - no 'cleverness' there from NatWest - and would expect this to fall in line with BOE rates (November? February?) assuming the BOE still plans to cut rates - the sheer uncertainty at the moment should give them cause to sit this out (something they are 'good' at) and only cut rates when they get a clear signal on the economy.

[But even factoring in two rate cuts (and a average reduction) over 11 months that's still about c.6.9%*]

*opps I should have said 'up to 6.9%' because of the tiering. Some people would rather be getting 4.5%?

runciblespoon

Indeed, and given this is NatWest's main non-internet cash ISA it's going to be quite hard for them to relegate it to page 73 of the interest rates booklet and hope nobody notices. Of course they could come up with a new name for their main cash ISA, but it's a bit less likely than if they called this one EasySaverBonusDirectLoadsamoney ISA Issue 59.

My point on the monthly interest was that if there's any funny business it's harder for them to do it retrospectively. If it happens, you just transfer out and walk away with your bonus to date.

pompompo

Baldur, we are only now getting the transfers of old isas through to the LLTSB ISA. We applied to transfer back in March this year. I think all our money has gone through as of this week, but we are now in the 'trying to make sense of their customer recovery letters making various offers stage of things.' I wrote back promptly two weeks ago but have heard nothing. Guess they are too busy rescuing HBOS.

Those of you who are considering transferring to Nat West/RBS who are making the same offer as they are part of the same group, be careful, just ask youselves why they are offering such a big bonus right now with all this turmoil. If they are swamped with applications then they could take as long to go through as ours have done, five months we reckon it's taken. During that time you don't know quite where your money is and you don't really have access to it... Also in the small print on the RBS version of this, it says 1 per cent of the bonus will be paid in 2009 and the other 1 per cent of the bonus in 2010... so don't know if that means you have to keep your ISA with them till then. I might ring the branch in the morning and find out. The good thing about RBS is that you can usually speak to someone in the branch direct. Unlike Lloyds TSB who I am so angry with it renders me speechless.

Baldur

pompompo wrote: »

Baldur, we are only now getting the transfers of old isas through to the LLTSB ISA. We applied to transfer back in March this year. I think all our money has gone through as of this week, but we are now in the 'trying to make sense of their customer recovery letters making various offers stage of things.' I wrote back promptly two weeks ago but have heard nothing. Guess they are too busy rescuing HBOS.

My first tranche of funds actually went through relatively quickly but LTSB couldn't even tell me where my second tranche was, it appeared to have disappeared into cyberspace. I found out this month - it's back with my original ISA provider!

Having been through the whole gamut of contacts/points of complaint - local level, regional level, Eric Daniels (LTSB CEO), CSRC, FOS, etc., I can empathise with you on the CSRC letters, which appear to me to constitute nothing more than cynical 'damage limitation' efforts, offering various and conflicting excuses as to why my transfer instructions had not been followed.

Needless to say, 'customer recovery' is unlikely to be successful as far as I am concerned.

tiptoe_mouse

I'm not sure what Natwest is doing here is legal. The AER is supposed to represent the return on the account after 1 year. But seeing as they are going to pay the bonus rate from the date of the transfer request, and transfers usually take at least a month*, the most time anyone can hope to get the bonus rate for is 11 months (and that's being optimistic). Therefore the AER quoted should be reduced accordingly.

tiptoe

*Except for my two transfers to Icesave, which took less than 2 weeks.

YorkshireBoy

tiptoe_mouse wrote: »

I'm not sure what Natwest is doing here is legal. The AER is supposed to represent the return on the account after 1 year.

AER is a purely illustrative figure. That's why all statements contain the words "would be", ie...

"This is a notional rate used for interest bearing accounts which illustrates what the gross credit interest rate would be if paid and compounded on an annual basis."

Although annoying when used on accounts such as these, there's nothing illegal about it.

runciblespoon

I've just spoken to someone in their Manchester call centre (while recording the call, which they were happy about).

1. The bonus rate starts from the day the cheque is received from the old ISA provider, so there's no loss of bonus while waiting for it. Obviously if you pay in cash then the bonus will start straightaway.

2. This account is only open for opening at the bonus rate until 31st October. However past that date you'll still be able to transfer in other ISAs or pay in cash up to the ISA limit and receive the bonus amount on them

3. They will accept partial transfers out (and partial transfers in)

CSA seemed very clued up about the product and answered my questions with only a brief recourse to the manual