New A&L Isa rate - 5.2% variable

babe_ruth_3

Not sure if I am in the right place here to ask a question but maybe someone will tell me if i'm not. This is my first time. Anyway the question is - I want to transfer my current isa with Abbey to A&L Issue 2. The people at A&L local branch tell me that I have to go to abbey and ask them for a transfer form, fill it in and give it back to them(abbey)
I thought Martin said that the new provider do it all for you? Does anyone know which is correct?

isasmurf

Paul_Varjak wrote:

and to switch out of the account costs £25!

Catch up Paul - that was dropped months ago.

isasmurf

babe_ruth wrote:

Not sure if I am in the right place here to ask a question but maybe someone will tell me if i'm not. This is my first time. Anyway the question is - I want to transfer my current isa with Abbey to A&L Issue 2. The people at A&L local branch tell me that I have to go to abbey and ask them for a transfer form, fill it in and give it back to them(abbey)
I thought Martin said that the new provider do it all for you? Does anyone know which is correct?

It depends on the bank/BS. In truth it doesn't really matter whether it's your new provider or your old provider (as long as you have your new account details). I suppose by getting you to go to your old provider it saves the new provider a little in admin costs.

babe_ruth_3

Thanks isasmurf. I just looked in A&L site and they have a transfer form which i can fill in and take to my current provider. Do you think I should wait till year end when the interest has been added to transfer? Or will it not make any difference if I do it now?

isasmurf

babe_ruth wrote:

Thanks isasmurf. I just looked in A&L site and they have a transfer form which i can fill in and take to my current provider. Do you think I should wait till year end when the interest has been added to transfer? Or will it not make any difference if I do it now?

If you close the Abbey account when you do the transfer, all interest accrued up to that date will be added to the amount transfered. The way that I like to think of it, is the interest is calculated daily and put into a separate pot that you cannot see. When the interest payment date comes the contents of that pot get added to your account. If you close it earlier then the payment date, the contents of the pot at the closure date get added to the account.

In short, timing doesn't matter. You'll get your interest.

babe_ruth_3

Thanks for that isasmurf. I think I could get to like this talking to other folk about money. Only problem is, its so time consuming. Anyway so is talking to someone at a call centre who, in my experince give you the wrong information anyway. Thanks again.....

xfg

I just called the number to transfer my existing ISA and I just got a load of *abuse* from the woman on the phone! I couldn't believe it! *All* I asked was what is the current rate for Issue 1, mentioning that I'd had letters from A&L detailing reductions (and just accepted it thinking it was the same for everybody!) and she interrupted me and insisted all ISAs were 5.20%. I told her politely that I was sure it wasn't and just wanted to know how much the difference is if she could just look for me - she started being very argumentative and I then asked to speak to another represensative.

Welllll she absolutely lost it! She started yelling that I was insulting her intelligence at the she's a Senior Customer Advisor who had worked there 28 years!

She demanded to know where I got the info from that it was different - I said I only found out Issue 2 even *existed* from Money Saving Expert. She said "What?!" I said "Y'know, Martin Lewis, he's on the telly *all* the time." .... "Well he doesn't work for A&L does he?" (priceless!).

I asked to speak to her supervisor - they're *never* in the office are they... ? And she ranted on a bit more before hanging up on me!

I'm absolutely speechless, anyone would thinkg A&L don't want existing customers to get a better deal...

So can anyone *here* let me know what the current interest rate for the Issue 1 is? I daren't ring A&L back!

Milarky

The information is at:

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=previous-rates

I believe

Direct ISA Issue 2†
.................... Annual Gross ..............Gross AER*
£1+................ 4.50%...................... 4.50%

Rates effective from 02/09/05 †Accounts opened from 11/07/05 to 08/01/06.

It should be plain from the fact that the 'Issue 2' includes a bonus of 0.70% that the previous account version (Issue 1) pays 4.50%. It's a shame that A&L haven't stated this explicitly anywhere, however, I agree

xfg

I took this:

Direct ISA Issue 2†
.................... Annual Gross ..............Gross AER*
£1+................ 4.50%...................... 4.50%

to mean that the 0.7% was an addition to a previous Issue 2 rate not the amount of improvement over the issue 1.

Going to pluck up some courage and ring up again.

5mins later....

Issue 1 is 5.15 with no bonus.
Issue 2 is 5.2 including the bonus.

The man on the phone said that in the long run Issue 1 may be the better deal depending on how the interest varies; so I'm going to have a think and decide what to do.

isasmurf

Milarky wrote:

The information is at:

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=previous-rates

I believe

Direct ISA Issue 2†
.................... Annual Gross ..............Gross AER*
£1+................ 4.50%...................... 4.50%

Rates effective from 02/09/05 †Accounts opened from 11/07/05 to 08/01/06.

It should be plain from the fact that the 'Issue 2' includes a bonus of 0.70% that the previous account version (Issue 1) pays 4.50%. It's a shame that A&L haven't stated this explicitly anywhere, however, I agree

Ah, but they do quote Direct ISA Issue 1 somewhere.... and here is where