Barclays Monthly Saver

Toastie

TomsMom wrote: »

See post #24 above where the Ts & Cs from their website say

Yes i know this, however the adviser said you MUST put a payment in or the account is canceled. I was just repeating what the lady said, and on the saving site it states

'Miss a payment? Yes'

I just wanted to point out what she said, although i would go by the T&C's

Toastie

I have a lump sum i wanted to drip feed, would it be a good idea to set up a YBS savings account with link card, put my lump sum in to that account. Then on the first of each month withdraw £250 and put in to the regular savings account?

I can't see a problem with this, i will maximize my returns and i can always put money in to the YBS account once i get paid.

Anything i have missed? (i did look at the regular savings discussions and articles)

Thanks for your replies!

wombler

Toastie wrote: »

I have a lump sum i wanted to drip feed, would it be a good idea to set up a YBS savings account with link card, put my lump sum in to that account. Then on the first of each month withdraw £250 and put in to the regular savings account?

I can't see a problem with this, i will maximize my returns and i can always put money in to the YBS account once i get paid.

Anything i have missed? (i did look at the regular savings discussions and articles)

Thanks for your replies!

That does sound like a good plan and exactly what these Regular Savers are good for - keep your money at the highest rate available and then drip it into your regular savings account over the year - that way all your money is earning decent interest the whole time. One thing to add is that the YBS Internet Saver (if that's the YBS account you're talking about) allows you to transfer money to 12 external accounts online, so there's no need to withdraw it using the cash card - though I guess it might end up in your Barclays account a day or two quicker doing it "manually" (I'm not very researched on the times taken for transfers to go through these days, someone else might know). Personally I wouldn't think it was worth the hassle anyway - but I guess if you're close to a branch anyway it might be easy enough. Happy saving!

TomsMom

Toastie wrote: »

Yes i know this, however the adviser said you MUST put a payment in or the account is canceled. I was just repeating what the lady said, and on the saving site it states

'Miss a payment? Yes'

I just wanted to point out what she said, although i would go by the T&C's

Barclays staff are pretty good at not knowing how their products work . There have been quite a few posts on this forum telling of experiences of customers knowing more than the staff.

Toastie

Well i just signed up to the YBS, it's a pretty annoying form you have to fill in but it's worth it.

Anyone else had experience of them? I tried to log in but it wouldn't let me, do i have to wait a few days before i can?

The_Fat_el_Hombre

wombler wrote: »

This MIGHT be helpful to anyone who isn't an existing customer of Barclays and can't or doesn't want to go to a branch to open the account, and / or wants to monitor their Monthly Savings account online without opening a current account.

First the story: I went to my local Barclays branch last week to open a Monthly Savings account and turned down the offer of opening a current account at the same time. It was only at the end when I discovered that this meant I wouldn't have access to Barclays online banking services.

Having thought this over I decided that I should open a current account just to get the online banking details so that I could keep track of the balance of my Monthly Savings online as I do with all my other banking. I noticed you can apply for a current account online, but I wanted to check that if I applied for it this way rather than in branch that I'd definitely be able to view the transactions of my Monthly Savings as well, so I called up Barclays. When I did that, a very helpful guy said something along the lines of:

"Oh, don't bother opening a current account, just open an e-savings Reward account and stick £1 in it, then you'll get access to online banking and will be able to view your Monthly Savings as well."

So this is essentially two small loopholes:

Firstly - if you can't or don't want to go to the branch to get a Monthly Savings account, just open an e-savings Reward account online first, get your online banking details and then you'll be able to apply for the Monthly Savings online as an existing customer.

Second - if you want to be able to view the details of your Monthly Savings online without opening an un-needed current account, again just open the same e-savings account.

I should add that I haven't yet received my online banking details, so I can't 100% confirm that this definitely works. Thanks also due to the refreshingly honest guy at Barclays customer service who actively helped me avoid getting their current account!

Thanks for the heads up. I've tried to apply for the account but whenever I click on the option to apply I just get a 'could not retrieve the URL' error message. I've had this for the past week or so when I also tried to apply for a different Barclays account. Anyone else get this problem or is it just me?

Tony2009_2

Tony2009 wrote: »

Just an update - I have now successfully opened a monthly saver account at the Canton, Cardiff branch.

After about 2 minutes queuing, the cashier whisked me away to see Karen the personal banker. In all, it took her about 10 to 15 minutes to open the account for me. The only ID I provided was my passport.

I was asked a couple of questions such as my annual gross salary and my monthly net salary, but not too much. A current account was mentioned, but there was no hard sell. I did make it clear at the outset that I was only looking at opening the monthly saver today.

Because I am not a current Barclays account holder, I do not have online access. To withdraw money, I was told I would have to come to the branch. No big deal for me as I'll only do that in an emergency or when I find a better account.

She told me I should be able to transfer my first payment from my (Lloyds) current account into the monthly saver with standing order almost immediately. She said the main banks have a system where standing orders between them can be set-up and cash transferred on the same day. I tried this online with Lloyds with todays date as the transfer date, but it complained today was in the past?! So I've set it up to transfer tomorrow.

So in summary, I'm happy with the way my application was handled.

I'll post an update on here if have anything else to add - hopefully it will continue to go smoothly.

Well, I said I'd update on how this went....

Oh dear. Barclays sent me a letter today confirming they'd opened a "Nest-egg" account which had a variable rate of interest and a minimum opening balance of £5000. This is not the monthly saver with fixed 6% interest and minimum £20 opening balance that I had been led to believe I had opened.

Worse still, I've already transferred £250 into this account by standing order.

I will ring / visit the branch tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Why do these things so often go wrong?

Tony2009_2

Tony2009 wrote: »

Well, I said I'd update on how this went....

Oh dear. Barclays sent me a letter today confirming they'd opened a "Nest-egg" account which had a variable rate of interest and a minimum opening balance of £5000. This is not the monthly saver with fixed 6% interest and minimum £20 opening balance that I had been led to believe I had opened.

Worse still, I've already transferred £250 into this account by standing order.

I will ring / visit the branch tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Why do these things so often go wrong?

OK, I've phoned Barclays up this morning on 0800 7315387 (thanks to saynoto0870.com) and they have said "there must have been a technical fault". They've confirmed it is a monthly saver that has been opened for me and have agreed to send me a new letter and terms and conditions.

verynewmoneysaver

They have opened mine now.

cslogg

Is the Barclays Monthly Saver limited to one per person.
My wife and I already bank with them and hold a joint account and was wondering if we can have one each.
cslogg