Did you apply for a Barclays Monthly Saver in December?

chaotic_j

My father and I went back into Barclays with print-outs of the MSE site and forum, they said someone else had already been in with this and that we could now have 7.75%

So my fathers was funded immediately via his Barclays Current Account and I paid in £250 cash for mine.

Word of warning:

I was told by a lady in Barclays that if you accidentally pay in twice during a month, it would cancel the contract for the Monthly Savings Account.

Apparently if you had the S/O set up for a certain day, and then that day fell on a weekend, it could end up that two payments are taken one at the beginning of the month one at the end so make sure that the date is chosen carefully..

By the way they also said that there was no notice on their system!

denzil53

My wife and I opened Regular Saver accounts today; we went into the branch without appointments. The process took nearly an hour. I queried the rate and was told 6% but I stuck to my guns over 7.75%, so she went to check and came back saying 7.75% was indeed correct.

We were quizzed over many other financial products, but we know we are sorted (thanks to this site!) so we were able to politely decline all offers.

The lady knew little about the product - she asked if I could let her know when Barclays were doing any more offers!

SoloSailor

I saw todays posting and rushed down to Barclays Wellingborough to open a monthly saver!

The staff there were wonderful, they confirmed there had been confusion over the rate, but confirmed the rate would be 7.75% provided I added "CLEARED" funds by 4pm today(not a cheque!).

I duly went next door and withdrawed £250 from the Nationwide and job done at 15:50, possibly the last person to get this rate!!!

I was talked into opening up a basic current account as well, but that was fine by me. It's all good if you keep control of it!!!

The other good news is the missis opened one up just before xmas and was told she could not pay in by cash on the first payment, so we done a standing order on that one, which should have easily reached the account in time(must check though), so that should also be on the 7.75% rate.

:T Thanks to Sam at Welly Branch!:T

Just need to save the money now.

exel1966

chaotic_j wrote: »

I was told by a lady in Barclays that if you accidentally pay in twice during a month, it would cancel the contract for the Monthly Savings Account.

Apparently if you had the S/O set up for a certain day, and then that day fell on a weekend, it could end up that two payments are taken one at the beginning of the month one at the end so make sure that the date is chosen carefully..

That's not possible ! as payments cannot be taken on a non-banking day there is no way a duplicate payment could be made without it manually being changed to do so by the account holder.

wills

I've never banked with Barclays but having read this thread I phoned my local branch. The friendly chap on the phone was unaware of the higher rate and said it was definately 6% but when asked agreed to confirm with Head Office. He called back and agreed the rate was 7.75% and made an appointment for me to see someone in the branch an hour later.

Myself and my wife went in with ID and cash and forty minutes later we were on our way having opened two accounts.

Thank you MoneySavingExpert and Barclays.

Happy New Year :beer:

Martini1000

I went down to barclays today with all my stuff and 250cash. The staff had heard of the offer but said it had ended on 1st December. I offered the cheque or cash but was told that it had to be done through standing order from my bank. No time to sort that so have set account up but don`t know if i`ll use it yet. They were trying to wind me up but I wished them, as I wish all of you, A Happy New Year

exel1966

NickyDee wrote: »

Technically you could. If you make them on the 20th monthly, but the first payment falls on a Saturday the payment would go on 23rd. Next month if the 20th fell on a week day you would have two payments within a rolling month.

However, I don't think anyone should be concerned with this as based upon their terms and conditions it works on number of payments over the 12 month term (12 payments in 12 months). Even if that weren't the case, I think that it works on a month-by-month basis. Therefore, don't be cheeky and make the payments right at the end of each month just in case.

Confused!!

Sorry, but it's not possible as payments are not based on calendar months, but actual months of Jan, Feb, Mar etc

This is why anyone depositing £250 today and having it cleared should now make another payment on either the 2nd/5th Jan to maximise interest, just as I and the OH will be doing.

It's very standard practice to do this for anyone who operates a regular savings account. My other 13 all operate this way.

By making payments towards the end of the month you are minimising your interest gain as your funds will be in the account for a shorter time.

JOHNG_4

kevin.nicholls wrote: »

More confusion ...

Martin's email says get into your branch and take your cheque with you.

I was told payments had to be by standing order, hence I'm sweating on mine that was set up on December 24 making it to Barclays by December 31.

Can anyone confirm if I could have paid by cheque?

I APPLIED TODAY 31/12/08 at 2.30pm for the same Savings Account with a £250 cheque deposit -Joint Account-2 Passports - Utility Bill. Confirmed the higher rate would apply.We will now receive " by post " details of our account number to qoute for the setting up of a Direct Debit with OUR bank.Hope this helps. ps. Bank closed at 3pm !!!

harriet_gray

My husband and I both tried to open the savings account and were told the rate has been 6% since the beginning of December. We opened the accounts anyway hoping you could provide us with support to gain the 7.75% rate, but reading the forum it sounds like we do not qualify because we wrote cheques for our initial deposit. If we had known the rule about cleared funds, we would have used cash. If you think there is any recourse for us, we would appreciate your advice. Many thanks for your help and advice.

ler01kjh

galvin2 wrote: »

I have just returned from my local Barclays =
I cannot check "Yet Barclays head office has now confirmed, in writing, it's still available at 7.75%" given the time of day on New Years Eve but I would like to see a COPY OF THIS LETTER PLEASE.

Indeed I should like to hear from Martin on this one given the statements made on this site and the denials so far from Barclays branch staff.

Looks like some people should calm down! This site owes no-one any favours. If you don't like the content or if the accuracy is occasionally adrift then you are quite entitled not to visit it again. Perhaps in the new year, you will commit yourself to being slightly more thankful for the hard work of people who generate this site's content, and reflect more positively on the experience consumers had when it did not exist.

A very happy new year to you.

Oh, and I went to the branch today and got 7.75%.