Did you apply for a Barclays Monthly Saver in December?

The_Grim_Reaper

anna42hmr wrote: »

...however it will work out the following
opening deposit 24.11.08
then payments in on 18.12.08
18.1.09
18.2.09
18.3.09
18.4.09
18.5.09
18.6.09
18.7.09
18.8.09
18.9.09
18.10.09
18.11.09
account closure on 21.11.09

Please be aware that the dates
18.01.2009
18.10.2009
fall on a Sunday.

It may be prudent to check before these payments are made to make sure you don't get them 'bounced back' (no more than £250 per month) as I did when opening my account. They seem to then class this as a withdrawal and only pay the lower rate of interest.
At least this was my unfortunate experience

thymely

I tried to open a Monthly Saving 7.75% account on 31st Dec in person at Stratford, London branch with cash & all the right documentation plus existing Barclays customer, but unable to open the 7.75% one.

Was told that the managers in that branch had received a text that morning (31/12) telling them that the rate had gone down from 7.75% to 6% & this was because the Bank of England base rate had just gone down.

I mentioned that the 1.5% jump was a while ago and but staff adament that this was the answer that had been relayed to the managers.

The reduced 6% account was already on the bank's system so was unable to open account with 7.75%...so didn't open an account at all.

They also said that the 7.75% regular/monthly savings account had been withdrawn in Nov 08.

I logged a complaint & they're going to send me a letter explaining what happened. If I hear anything, I'll post their answer.

Trying_to_be_good

I applied for the account on 23 Dec as an existing customer with a Barclays current (mortgage) account, the details were all taken in the branch and fortunately I obtained a copy of the instructions.

The instructions clearly stated that the Standing Order was to be set up for 29 December, which should then clear the same day as it's all Barclays. I offered to pay in cash but was assured this would be fine for 31 December.

The account has finally be opened today (therefore missing the 31 December deadline) so have logged a complaint with them, to go with the Tax Haven ISA complaint from earlier in the year. I should've stuck by my resolution ot never bank with Barclays again. This really is the last time.

demotw

thymely wrote: »

I tried to open a Monthly Saving 7.75% account on 31st Dec in person at Stratford, London branch with cash & all the right documentation plus existing Barclays customer, but unable to open the 7.75% one.

Was told that the managers in that branch had received a text that morning (31/12) telling them that the rate had gone down from 7.75% to 6% & this was because the Bank of England base rate had just gone down.

I mentioned that the 1.5% jump was a while ago and but staff adament that this was the answer that had been relayed to the managers.

The reduced 6% account was already on the bank's system so was unable to open account with 7.75%...so didn't open an account at all.

They also said that the 7.75% regular/monthly savings account had been withdrawn in Nov 08.

I logged a complaint & they're going to send me a letter explaining what happened. If I hear anything, I'll post their answer.

Cant believe the amount of trouble some people have had, make sure you register these as complaints. As i stated in previous posts providing the payment was made by december 31st you will recieve the 7.75% rate and i certainly didnt recieve a text regarding a change in rate for the monthly saver on the 31st.

a few other people mentioned no staff available for the day, unfortunatly personal bankers like myself are appointment based, so it is not always easy, but online/telephone banking are able to open such accounts quite easily for existing customers, and not all branches within the area will be fully booked with appointments, especially if someone has come in on the last day.

Again just to re-iterate if you made the payment into account on 31st of december or earlier you will get the 7.75%.

chelseabun_3

Hi demotw,

Thanks for your info. Am I right in thinking that folks who opened and funded their account on 31/12/08 will get the 7.75% regardless of whether the bank staff were aware of the correct rate or not? And just to clarify, I paid in a cheque on 31st to open the acc and was told that it would count as funding the acc on 31st (hence qualifying for the higher rate). Is that definitely right?

Thanks in advance! CB

Bronnie

Hmm! Footnote to my previous post #28.

Opened my account at 7.75% early in the day 31/12/08, as stated, with transfer of £250 from Barclays personal account. Set up S.O for £250 from 31/1/09 into new account. On reflection, decided it would maximise interest to set up S.O.from 02/01/09. Contacted telephone banking before they closed on 31/12/08 and they changed date of S.O.

Rang up on other business today and also got personal account balance which was higher than expected.

Anyone guessed what happened next yet?!!

I asked the advisor to confirm that the S.O. had been paid on the 2nd. Phew!! It had.....
BUT:eek: the advisor who changed the date of the S.O. also reversed the the payment made on the 31/12/08 and returned it to my personal account. Therefore the new account was not deemed opened until the S.O. went in on the 2nd.

And we all know what that means,don't we?!!

fullstop

Bronnie wrote: »

Hmm! Footnote to my previous post #28.

Opened my account at 7.75% early in the day 31/12/08, as stated, with transfer of £250 from Barclays personal account. Set up S.O for £250 from 31/1/09 into new account. On reflection, decided it would maximise interest to set up S.O.from 02/01/09. Contacted telephone banking before they closed on 31/12/08 and they changed date of S.O.

Rang up on other business today and also got personal account balance which was higher than expected.

Anyone guessed what happened next yet?!!

I asked the advisor to confirm that the S.O. had been paid on the 2nd. Phew!! It had.....
BUT:eek: the advisor who changed the date of the S.O. also reversed the the payment made on the 31/12/08 and returned it to my personal account. Therefore the new account was not deemed opened until the S.O. went in on the 2nd.

And we all know what that means,don't we?!!

You will be getting the 6% rate.

Sorry Bronnie, but it is your own fault for changing the S/O when you did, you could have changed it for the following months after the first payment had cleared on the 31st.

boselector26

My first post... yay!!

I managed to get the account at the 7.75% rate.

To cut a very long story short...
I tried to open it in the branch but first they said the rate ended in November and offered me 6% and then they offered me the rate for year of 2008! So if I put £250 in I would get one day at the 7.75% rate before reverting to a 'normal' savings account on the 1st January 2009 (?!!)

After this rejection (by the very smug faced branch manager). I phoned Barclays customer services - who after their shock that I knew the account even existed - confirmed that I can open it. I then ran back into the branch, passed the phone to the branch manager who after a 10 minute conversation with the guy from customer services opened it!!

I was able to transfer £250 from my existing Barclays (although Im considering switching at this point) bank account and set up a standing order.

Im not sure what an extra 1.75% rate would have given me to make this worth it - but What a palava!!

Pippa1

I went to try and open this with the rate of 7.75% and was told that this had ended well before the 31st December and the rate was now down to 5.54%. This information was given to me by the financial guy at the Gordon Street branch in Glasgow. I will be furious if I missed out. Did anyone else have the same problem?

Pippa

easteregg_2

fullstop wrote: »

You don't have to make the first payment by SO, you could pay in by cash or cheque.

I was told I had to pay this by standing order only, so I couldn't pay by cash or cheque.