Did you apply for a Barclays Monthly Saver in December?

fullstop

demotw wrote: »

since im a personal banker for barclays i should probably clear all this confusion up, the interest rate was changed on the 1st of december to the lower rate, however, barclays assume that it will take a month for the payment to credit the account. This means anyone making a payment prior to the 1/1/2009 ie. new years eve will recieve the 7.75% AER rate. Now although the account requires a standing order to be paid into it each month the first payment CAN be made by cheque which is what would allow people to open the account on new years eve and still recieve the higher rate.

anyone who was told a standing order was required and therefore not recieved that rate needs to go have words with the advisor they spoke too.

I hope this clears up the confusion.

Easteregg, Opened mine with a cheque in November, no problem

exel1966

easteregg wrote: »

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

I think you'll realise by now after reading this thread that you were incorrectly advised.

Bronnie

fullstop wrote: »

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.

Well, to continue, the initial payment was already cleared funds as it was transferred from Barclays personal account and nothing to do with any subsequent Standing Orders. The reversal of this transfer was an error by the Telephone Banking Advisor. After a quick chat with someone a bit higher up the chain, this error has been identified and has been submitted as a Formal Complaint, as the Barclays advisor indicated this is the quickest way to resolve the matter and correct the error.
Contrary to many other posters, I have always had excellent service from Barclays. I'm going start 2009 on a positive note, put my neck on the line and say I'm confident they're going to look after me on this one !
Hmmm.....watch this space!

demotw

chelseabun wrote: »

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

that is correct, if paying by cheque be aware of banks 4pm cut off, this switches to the following working day and wouldnt credit the account until 02/01/09 (next working day) hopefully if this was the case you would have been informed at the time. If it was prior to 4pm then congratulations you got the 7.75% rate.

demotw

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?!!

since it was telephone banking the call would have been recorded. The reason i mention this, if the STO was amended as you suggested but was also recalled which you didnt ask, then this would be bank error, and barclays would need to refund you the loss of interest you will now incurr. Before you make that call to ask for loss of interest, make sure that they didnt say "would you like me to recall the sto", or words to such affect. Barclays cant change the interest rate on the account, but they can refund the difference between current interest and what you would have got.

nathan.bain

demotw wrote: »

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%.

It's reassuring to have a Barclay's Personal Banker confirming I will receive the 7.75% rate. I opened a monthly saver on 31st Dec with a cash deposit at the Bayswater Branch in London. The advisor at the branch had never heard of the higher rate, but I went ahead and opened the account anyway, assured that it had been on Martin's email and therefore must be true. I also called Barclays customer services when I got home, but they also told me there was no 7.75% rate, only the lower 5.8%. I haven't received any paperwork from Barclays yet, but I am hoping when I do, it will clear up my lingering confusion about my account.

demotw - Is there anyone else I can contact to clear up the confusion? I called the standard customer services number, but they quoted the lower rate.

caveman38

caveman38 wrote: »

My story is even more upsetting. I went into a large branch in Hornchurch, Essex at 9:45 but was told that as there was no manager in today, there would be no-one to countersign the new account operatives acceptance of my photo ID. I was referred to another branch in Romford (an even larger branch)
I proceeded to that branch and again paid for parking and after waiting 15 minutes saw one of their CS agents. I was told that the IR was 6% and as I hadn't read this thread and gone armed with more info. I had to accept 6% was pukka as it was on the Barclays web site and stated that it was effective from 1 Dec.
I wasted 3 hours and £2 and came back empty handed.

following my post above, I wrote email complaint to Barclays pointing out my 2 failed attempts to open said account.
What do you think the chances are of Barclays contacting me and saying
"We are terribly sorry Caveman, that you have had so much trouble in opening your Regular saver at 7.75%. If you still want to open the account, we would be happy to accomodate you at the December rate. If you would like to print this email and quote the reference number any one of our branches will be happy to open the account for you. Please accept our sincerest apologies. Happy new year"

christhesparky_2

caveman38 wrote: »

following my post above, I wrote email complaint to Barclays pointing out my 2 failed attempts to open said account.
What do you think the chances are of Barclays contacting me and saying
"We are terribly sorry Caveman, that you have had so much trouble in opening your Regular saver at 7.75%. If you still want to open the account, we would be happy to accomodate you at the December rate. If you would like to print this email and quote the reference number any one of our branches will be happy to open the account for you. Please accept our sincerest apologies. Happy new year"

Think there is more chance of me winning the lottery and the b of e putting the base rate up to 99%

neilm71

We tried to open account on 31/12 but were told it MUST be opened using a Standing Order. Had £250 cash with me but they refused to accept it. They did say that if I got the e-mails from this site printed off then they would escalate for me. They also looked into the rate and confirmed that it was correct but without the SO cleared then we were too late. I will advise on the outcome of the escalation.

keet83

i opened mine on the 22nd because i knew it would go down in january and wanted a fixed high rate account. i was told it was 6% but i'm gonna phone them so they can send me something that states it is meant to be 7.75% :j

thanks for telling us bout this! :T