Abbey Interest?

stoat

Did anyone else open an Abbey Current Account at the beginning of December 2008? I did, at the time I believe the deal was either 8% fixed for 12 months providing you pay in at least £1000/month and use their switching service, or an overdraft version, I went for the interest option and used their switching service which didn't work 100%, shortly after applying I seem to remember the rate to new customers dropped to 6% so was relieved that I applied when I did.

I recently checked my statements and noticed I'm actually getting nearer 2%, phoned up Abbey who say the rate on my account is actually 5% which is the current deal, but can't explain why it's only about 2%, they only seem to know about what the current offers are, so know nothing about last year or dates when the rates changed. So I have two issues, what I thought was fixed wasn't and their interest calculation, they suggest I visit a branch where someone with calculator training may be available, which I will do next week.

Unfortunately this was my fault, I normally print off the details for any accounts applied for, however, in this case I didn't, they never sent any paperwork to confirm what I'd applied for except two PINs. Did I just dream this account up? did anyone else apply for the same thing? have you checked your interest?


Thanks

simon_templar_2

The rate is variable.

naijapower

Yes it is a variable rate as far i am aware

pcyam

If the advisor at the time opened the account correctly as a switcher and not a normal accoutn the rate shoudl be fixed at whatever teh going rate was for 12months. You only get the higher rate as soon as the £1000 hits the account in that month, eg 1st-16 no credit therefore the you get the variable rate, 17th £1000 credit then its at the fixed rate till the end of the month. (8/6% depending on when it was opened).

I setup my standing order to go into mine for the 1st of every month and back out on the 2nd,.

If memory serves me correctly i think it was 8% on balances up to £2500 in december 08, anything above £2500 is on the variable rate which is 1% now, and after the promotion the rate also drops to the variable rate (again 1% now).

HTH's

alirob12

I have a similar problem, I opened an Abbey account following Martins tip - switch, etc and we ll give you a £100 for switching over if u pay £500 in. (that was around January time ( I think) I havent had any money credited in and after probably 10 calls and 2 visits 2 the branch they are saying that i wont get anything cos I didnt pay in £1000. I am 100% positive tHAT IT WAS £500 i was meant to pay in, as i cam careful with my banking etc. only thing iis I too didnt print off the T&C so can any1 help? Has any1 done it, or can I find an archive post that Martin wrote in the banking section with the £100 incentive if u pay £500 in? Thanks

pcyam

alir!!!2 wrote: »

I have a similar problem, I opened an Abbey account following Martins tip - switch, etc and we ll give you a £100 for switching over if u pay £500 in. (that was around January time ( I think) I havent had any money credited in and after probably 10 calls and 2 visits 2 the branch they are saying that i wont get anything cos I didnt pay in £1000. I am 100% positive tHAT IT WAS £500 i was meant to pay in, as i cam careful with my banking etc. only thing iis I too didnt print off the T&C so can any1 help? Has any1 done it, or can I find an archive post that Martin wrote in the banking section with the £100 incentive if u pay £500 in? Thanks

Sorry it was £1000 credit once a month, though it didnt have to be one lump payment it could have been several payments totalling £1000.

stoat

Ah! I think I understand what your saying about the day of the month being critical when the £1000 hits the account, unfortunately I get paid on the last day working day of the month, so wouldn't be so good for me, if this was the case I could transfer £1000 in from an external source on the 1st of the month, then transfer it out again? may not be worth it though.

If it falls back to their variable (currently 5%), still doesn't explain why for the last two months i've kept the balance at £2500 and getting monthly interest of about £4.40/month (after basic rate tax), even at a flat 5%, shouldn't it be more like £8 (after tax)?

Thanks for your help

stoat

I just went back through past statements and i'm afraid it still doesn't work out, back in January I paid in a large sum on the 8th and kept the balance above their limit but the interest works out at about 3%, one thing I have just noticed is my account has a £500 overdraft facility, I didn't ask for that, does anyone know what the deal was if you took out the overdraft version of this account back in December?

withnell

stoat wrote: »

I just went back through past statements and i'm afraid it still doesn't work out, back in January I paid in a large sum on the 8th and kept the balance above their limit but the interest works out at about 3%, one thing I have just noticed is my account has a £500 overdraft facility, I didn't ask for that, does anyone know what the deal was if you took out the overdraft version of this account back in December?

The "overdraft version" pays next to no interest, you just have an overdraft on the preferred in credit rate (think they charge about 20% for it)

pcyam

stoat wrote: »

Ah! I think I understand what your saying about the day of the month being critical when the £1000 hits the account, unfortunately I get paid on the last day working day of the month, so wouldn't be so good for me, if this was the case I could transfer £1000 in from an external source on the 1st of the month, then transfer it out again? may not be worth it though.

If it falls back to their variable (currently 5%), still doesn't explain why for the last two months i've kept the balance at £2500 and getting monthly interest of about £4.40/month (after basic rate tax), even at a flat 5%, shouldn't it be more like £8 (after tax)?

Thanks for your help

Sorry I just noticed I posted the wrong percentage, it should be

1st0 16th no credit therefore you receive the lower rate of 0.1%, 17th credit £1000 then its on the higher rate of (8%/6%).

The variable rate 1% is applicable for when the amount is over the certain amount (eg currently balances up to £2500, £2500+ is 1%), and also applicable for really old accounts which still sees a credit of £1000 every month.

It also depends on if the advisor opened a Preferred In credit account (to get the better interest rate) OR if they opened you the Preferred Overdraft rate (then the interest rate will always be 0.1% and you get a better overdraft rate). You can easily find out what they opened you by checking your statements or by going into branch.

HTH's

stoat

Thanks for that, on closer inspection the statement does say "at the date of this statement your account is in the preferred in-credit rate option", so at least that much is now clear. Of course the statement doesn't mention what this magical rate is.

Doesn't really matter which way I calculate it, it simply doesn't add up though. Interestingly every month so far the interest paid has been about the same (~£4.40) regardless of whether the £1000 went in at the beginning of the month or the end (?!).

Am I the only one with this problem?