Barclays 10% Regular Saver account

equitydealer

Just one question not answered on the Barclays site - is this regular savers account operated via its online banking service? i.e. can you see the account displayed alongside your c/a and esavings account?

I know you can adjust the standing order online from month to month.

Rubber_Duck_4

equitydealer wrote:

Just one question not answered on the Barclays site - is this regular savers account operated via its online banking service? i.e. can you see the account displayed alongside your c/a and esavings account?

I know you can adjust the standing order online from month to month.

I have just opened my account this morning and you can veiw the account online. It looks as though you can change your payemnts online too if you need to.


The first guy I spoke to this morning (possible from the indian call centre) didn't know anything about the account. I had to be transferred to the UK to set it up. Why can't the call centres all be in the UK. Make life much easier. I'm sure the banks make enough profit to cover the extra expense.

Ooops drifted a little off topic there. sorry

lipidicman

snezhinskproject wrote:

Based on lipidicman's sums above, the loss of interest moving about £1,500 each month from Barclays to A&L would be around £21?

As dagobert pointed out this wasn't right. I was calculating on transferring in AND out, and so allowed for around 10 days for this. Use dagoberts method if you want to pay your salary in and then move it.

The A&L account requires £500 funding and this does not have to be a salary mandate.

For my complex web of standing orders this change would be a step too far so I will give it a miss. I gave the HSBC account a wide berth. At least A&L and Halifax and B&B had some other good products to make them a worthwhile proposition

grumbler

equitydealer wrote:

... can you see the account displayed alongside your c/a and esavings account?...

I already see it ...:D

Dagobert

I just phoned Barclays. The guy knew less about the account than us!

However, he looked at the T&Cs and read out to me that it is only available to customers who have been paying £1000 into their current account for 12 months, in other words that it was only available to existing customers. That contradicts the Barlays Newsroom article.

snezhinskproject

Dagobert wrote:

I just phoned Barclays. The guy knew less about the account than us!

However, he looked at the T&Cs and read out to me that it is only available to customers who have been paying £1000 into their current account for 12 months, in other words that it was only available to existing customers. That contradicts the Barlays Newsroom article.

I am pretty sure that is not correct. I have just been down to Barclays and got the T&Cs for myself (wasn't able to open the account as they told me I needed an appointment, despite my having been told on the phone that I didn't need an appointment - ho hum).

Anyway, the T&Cs say:

"To be eligible for the Regular Saver account you must:

- already hold or open a Barclays personal current account...[and]
- pay £1,000 or more into your current account every month throughout the 12 month term of the Regular Saver account."

I think that is pretty clear. Yet more call-centre imbecility to put on the file. Given that these regular savings accounts are all about pulling in new customers, it's counter-intuitive to offer it only to existing 12-month old customers.

lipidicman

Dagobert wrote:

..it is only available to customers who have been paying £1000 into their current account for 12 months, in other words that it was only available to existing customers....

This is awful and means that...

(if they weren't playing the game of transferring this money out soon after it was credited)

....basically this account is only open to mugs (I'm not trying to offend here, but anyone who is receiving 0.1% interest on £1000 or more a month is being mugged by their bank, no two ways about it)

EDIT, just read that the advice was wrong. Makes sense, this account is designed to tie the foolish new customer into a poor current account and that condition would have denied the account to these new customers

snezhinskproject

To be fair to the call centre staff, the person I called this morning didn't know anything about the product either. She said they simply hadn't been briefed at all on the product, and also had to read the T&Cs herself while I was on the line. So Barclays obviously missed something out logistically on the roll-out of this account.

Anyway, I am virtually decided to open this tomorrow morning (along with a current account - ho hum). However, my one concern is whether paying my salary into the current account each month, and then immediately transferring all but £250 of that money to Alliance & Leicester, might cause problems? There is nothing in the T&Cs specifically restricting what you pay out of the current account, only a requirement on the amount to be paid in. I am sure you guys will have addressed such a point at some time in relation to other offers!

Dagobert

I have more than a handful of current accounts (to get various regular savers). I just satisfy the pay-in conditions and remove the money immediately or stick it in an online savings a/c over the weekend in order not to lose too much interest. None of my current accounts require me to keep the money in the account. I presume Barclays will be no different.

equitydealer

Just phoned Barclays to open the regular savings account but the 'customer services' person said that I need to take 2 forms of ID to my branch. I have been a Barclays current account holder for 8 years!!!

Apparently graduate account holders need ID. The guy obviously knew nothing so I'll be calling again tomorrow and will hopefully be put through to someone who knows what he is talking about. No way I going to Barclays to queue for one hour.

(Also I bet that if I went in person they would try to flog me another of their products)