Standard Life Whas going about the last rate cut and this one??

Aisling108

Hi

I am with Standard Life; they said on the 4th they would review the last 1.5% cut and now there is a new one today?? When will we know whats going on ?? I was So deflated with the fact they didnt pass it on.. I had already splashed out and was planning how to put that extra cash to good use; really gutted. Any information would be so gratefully recieved. I know Standard life are not one of the big players and you all are more interested in other lenders but please let me know if you've heard anything Thanks a million. Xxxx:money:

Isleman

They are a disgrace . They kept the posting on their website for ages saying they will review the rates on 4 December.
This morning they changed it and said they will review it after Boe cut the rates on 4th December and in line with other banks.
And the last one is
" Following today's Bank of England base rate announcement, Standard Life Bank is considering an appropriate response with regard to our rates for savers and borrowers - we will announce any change to our rates as soon as possible"

I have my mortgage with them for 5.89% fixed until April 2009 . Their SVR is probably amongst the highest on the Market at 6.59 %. They proved until now they don't really care about their customers is just their big fat profits.
I wish I could remortgage with somebody else but not many chances at 85% LTV
I will be surprised if they will cut even 1% on their SVR.

Aisling108

I cannot believe they have been getting away with this for so long!!! What can we do ?Is there someone I can complain to??
I havent even had a letter to update this time or last either.. in fact last letter was sorry we are not applying the latest rate cut and that was 3 cuts ago. its so frustrating.. thanks for getting back to me. I know not many people on here are with Standard life so its good to have someone in our corner.
Ash

Isleman

I had a look at this today and just confirms me what I already new . They are on the second place as the highest SVR acording to this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7763546.stm
Check the table :mad:

I found other interesting articles about them :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/29/standard-life-with-profits-funds
and an older one but it proves they like playing dirty tricks :
http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=6130660&sort=recommendations


I am afraid the only thing we can do for this moment is just to comment here.
It would be interesting to find how many mortgage customers SL have .
It would be good if somebody with nice writing skills ( english is not my first language ) will put a nice letter to them and have it signed by as many as we can. Only if we lobby them we can probably change something.
Even so legally they are under no obligation to reduce their SVR . But they should consider if they get a bad reputation it will cost them much more in the future than the profits they now cash in .

treliac

I'm on the SVR with SL. Feeling pretty disgusted at their attitude now. Nothing has been offered since the last rate cut and now, to quote from their website:-

Following today's Bank of England base rate announcement, Standard Life Bank is considering an appropriate response with regard to our rates for savers and borrowers - we will announce any change to our rates as soon as possible.

Think the way it is phrased, savers and borrowers, shows who comes first in their thinking.

If they don't deserve mortgage business, don't give it to them. I shall certainly look to change provider when possible and would be happy to participate in conveying a collective response. But not sure whether it would be worth it.

Anyone interested, please post and lets see who / how many might be involved.

RandyBender

I can't understand why for the past week they've been reviewing their rates due to expected cut on the 4th and now they're still reviewing!

Surely all week they've known there's only been about 5 possible outcomes today, either the rates would stay the same or drop by .25, .5, .75 or 1%.

They could have spent the week deciding on what to do in each outcome and then changed their rates as soon as the cut was announced.

On the savings page it says “Rates correct as at 4 December 2008” So they had no problem reviewing their saving rates today!

kelz85

im the same, have already called and basically got the same response as the website, the guy would not give me any more information AT ALL! Its so infuriating and Id def sign a petition.

aceswest

i telephoned them today and was told in an arrogant manner by an abrusk scot that it was a big ''IF '' not when they passed on the 1.5% never mind todays. Well i will be moving provider as as possible

aceswest

An idea !! Send Gordon brown @ No 10 an email alerting him that one of his beloved scottish institutions is ripping off its customers ! mine has alraedy been sent

Jilly0257

I've been a customer of SL for a long time. I paid off a mortgage with them some years ago having obtained a great rate from A&L however their customer service was appalling so was happy to go back to Standard Life as although they were a bit more expensive the service level was great. I am disgusted by their attitude over the recent drop in Bank Lending rate. I rang them on 18.11 and they said that the only calls there were getting were from customers wanting to know what was happening about the rate cut. They are treating their customers in an unbelievably arrogant manner and I for one will never use them again. I am tied into a three year discounted rate but will consider switching if I can get a deal with someone else. My LTV is very low so hopefully I'll be attractive to someone, clearly loyalty means nothing to SL.

wary

I have a variable rate mortgate with only a very small amount left, with most of it being in a FuturePerfect (I think that's what it is called) mortgage at 6.25% capped for 25 years. I did get a minor interest rate reduction on the variable not too long ago that was worth a few pence each month. But there's been absolutely no reduction on my main mortgage account.

I used to rate SL very highly, and even complimented them on their service. But my opinion has changed in recent years, especially with their incompetence a few year back when I took on the variable mortgage. I also have an endowment with them with just a few years left, so the Guardian article above is rather worrying but not surprising.

I've always been keen to hang on to the capped rate for long-term peace of mind, but now I'm having second thoughts. Will see how they respond to the latest interest rate cuts, but I'm sorely tempted to look around elsewhere.

Is there a name-and-shame thread on this forum?