Nationwide Bonus Saver (Joint Account) concerns

jbennett_2

Hi,
I have a question regarding a savings account I set up in May 2007 with my girlfriend, known as the Nationwide Bonus Saver (Joint Account).

I’m a little concerned about the account and know for sure that the interest is pretty bad, but can’t find out the exact amount of interest they pay because I have a bad feeling they no longer offer this account?. Does anyone know if this is true as I read it somewhere a few months ago but didn’t take any action.

The reason I don’t want to withdraw the money at the moment is because me and my girlfriend have now saved over the £20 threshold per month for 10 months, therefore at Christmas we should get the bonus as well as the normal interest payment?.

I’m very concerned about the account; can someone put my mind at rest?

One way or another I want to withdraw the money in January as we have saved a substantial amount (roughly a 10% deposit towards our first house) and want to get a better interest account whilst we continue to build up the deposit for the next 2 years. But I am hoping they will pay the bonus in December and I get some interest.

Many thanks

Hungerdunger

I don't know anything about this account, but looking at an old interest rate table (June 2008) it appears that you should currently be earning net interest of 3.42% of which 2.6% is the bonus, "paid if 11 out of 12 monthly deposits, and no withdrawals, are made over the same period. The bonus is variable".

The rate is tied to the BoE base rate, which is likely to drop further over the next month or two.

The only advice I can give you is to visit or phone the Nationwide to confirm exactly where you stand, and once you have qualified for the bonus, to look elsewhere as you should be able to get better rates. Start by looking at ISAs, assuming you haven't taken them out for this tax year and you are tax payers.

whowants2brich

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jbennett_2

Thanks

When you say "a pittance" do you mean somewhere within the 3% range?

Also I presume that they will still have to pay my bonus, regardless of the fact that the account is no longer available?

whowants2brich

Go into a Nationwide branch and ask them. I had that account, but closed it some time ago (as soon as I got paid my bonus) and moved the money to their newer account - regular saver. It works in a similar way but that you can move money in and out, without penalty, and they give you different rates of interest based on the net change in the balance over the course of the month.

I can confirm that the bonus saver is no longer available to new customers, but that you will be earning some interest on it - a pittance, probably! You'd probably still get the 3.25% interest, gross, and if you're talking about a large deposit then it almost certainly won't be worth losing 10 months interest.

Talk to a branch, ask them when your bonus period (the first month when you paid in the minimum) began, and work out when your bonus will be due. It could be that 11 months ago, you missed one payment, but paid one month prior to that, which means that your bonus is in October instead of December. They should be able to tell you this.

And then ASAP, move the money out to a higher earning savings account. What you may want to do is to open up one of the latest ones, where you lock in at a high fixed rate for the next 12 months, then move the money for 10 months at the higher rate (6%+ is easy). Or use some other form of saving vehicle.

Hope this helps!

jbennett_2

Well I can confirm the following:

I had £2,400 in the account on December 2007

and then every month after that I have saved between £1,000 and £1,300 a month and will have £15,000 in December 2008. (Thats the target) which is roughly 10% deposit where I live.

Will be at 14k at end of month and November will only be saving £500 and December £500 aswell, due to christmas ;-)

I have not missed any payments starting January 2008, therefore I would presume the bonus would be due soon hmmm

p.s it probably isn't a substantial amount to most of you keen savers but it's a huge achievement to me and my girlfriend as we are only 21 (should be out drinking on the town haha) and have had to give up on any luxury items or holidays :-(

whowants2brich

And you didn't pay anything in Sept/Oct/Nov 2007? When was the last time you withdrew any money?

jbennett_2

Just checking my online banking this minute, will let you know in 2 mins :-)

jbennett_2

The last time I withdrew money was 8th December 2007

I had £2,900 on this day but withdrew £500 and had £2,400 remaining.

Since then I haven't withdrew any money and put £100 in the account on 27th December 2007 and started 'proper' saving on the 4th January 2008 and have not missed a payment since then

thanks

p.s. we didn't really have our saving heads on in 2007 as it was the first year of saving and we struggled to change our lifestyle and even went on a big holiday in July 2007. This year has been a good year as the penny has now dropped and we have worked hard to make this work.

EDIT
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Just looked at my online statement and can confirm that I have not missed a single payment since 27th December onwards. Had a little slip up in June 2008 and only saved £600 but that doesn't really have any relevance. I calculate that as 10 payments so far?

Hungerdunger

So if the info in my post (#2 above) is right, I wonder whether you could argue that for the period starting December 2007 you have failed in one month only (because you took money out in December) and therefore you will have achieved compliance for 11 out of 12 months by the end of November. But as I said, you really need to get confirmation of all this from Nationwide.

jbennett_2

But then again I have a feeling that they pay on the anniversary date.

Which I presume is December 2008, unless i've got my information wrong.

So basically it's logged in November that I have met the requirement and then payout in December

Guess I should give them a call though.