2nd cahoot bonus savings interest reduction

moneysavingobsessive

Just got an email saying that the rate on my bonus savings account will now be 4.55% from 28th April. Why did they have to be underhand and change rates twice in such a short period of time (just over a month)?

Seems a little dirty to me...!

sloughflint

Just out of interest what was it before the current 4.85%. In process of applying for an account.

Kazza242

Just had an e-mail from Cahoot, regarding my Introductory Savings account (opened in June 2004).

"Dear xxxxxxxx,

I am writing to let you know that we will be changing the rate on your cahoot savings account to 4.55% AER on 28 April 2006*. Since we launched the introductory rate savings account, it has been one of the best in the UK. In fact, we were able to maintain this market-leading rate for over 20 months, despite a rate guarantee of only 12 months and the reduction in the Bank of England base rate in August of 2005.

Although it's never good news to hear when we reduce our rates, a cahoot savings account continues to be highly competitive, offering a higher rate than the Bank of England base rate and many other banks, including ING, Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Natwest, Egg, and Alliance & Leicester.

Bank AER
cahoot 4.55%
Alliance & Leicester 4.25%
Egg 4.50%
Halifax 4.50%
ING 4.50%
Intelligent Finance 4.40%
Lloyds TSB 4.25%
Natwest 4.20%
Rates taken from competitors websites and are correct as of 10 April 2006.

Additionally, a cahoot savings account gives you instant access to your money. This means that, unlike some other accounts, you will not be penalised for transferring money in or out of your account. Remember, you can switch money between your cahoot accounts instantly.

Yours sincerely,

cahoot

*The introductory savings account interest rate from 28 April 2006 will be:
Account balance GBP Gross p.a. /AER
Up to 50,000 4.55%
50,000 to 250,000 4.05%
250,000 + 4.00%

The introductory savings account interest rate as at 22 March 2006 were:
Account balance GBP Gross p.a. /AER
Up to 50,000 5.00%
50,000 to 250,000 4.50%
250,000 + 4.00%" "

Oh dear, so it isn't just the 4.85% ordinary savings account that has been reduced. Us, introductory savings account customers have now had a second rate cut in just over a month. :sad: Oh well, it did pay us a really good rate for a long while.

caveat_emptor

Much confusion, Cahoot are still advertising the 4.85% savings account on their website so why didn't they offer this account rather than the 4.55% account?
Website, other than front page, is down at the moment, I wonder why?

Prudent

If Cahoot are offering 4.85% on another account, would it be better to transfer savings over?

Milarky

Just because the '4.85%' figure is still there does not mean that the announced future reduction will not apply. They are simply stating what the price of money is as of today (4.85%) not what it will become shortly (4.55%)

Thanks for the above information, Kazza. I did not receive any notification about the last reduction on 21st March either (just checked my cahoot homepage.) It looks like they tried to send a message on 31st March which I never received. They didn't say which account it refers to for instance and don't actually say what was the change in in the short secure message that they left. If it was not for this forum I would still be unadvised by cahoot. (Forwarned is forearmed.)

evergreen

I got same email saying reduction to 4.55%. Is it worth moving savings now cahoot offering not such a good rate?

frankie

I too had no notification of the March decrease.

Time to look for an alternative but who can you trust!

What about ICCI rates?

derrick

Anyone else noticed the other "price increase", their 0845 phone number has been changed to 0844! 5p per minute at all times.

Zwicky

Milarky wrote:

Just because the '4.85%' figure is still there does not mean that the announced future reduction will not apply. They are simply stating what the price of money is as of today (4.85%' not what it will become shortly (4.55%)

Thanks for the above information, Kazza. I did not receive any notification about the last reduction on 21st March either (just checked my cahoot homepage.) It looks like they tried to send a message on 31st March which I never received. They didn't say which account it refers to for instance and don't actually say what was the change in in the short secure message that they left. If it was not for this forum I would still be unadvised by cahoot. (Forwarned is forearmed.)

You did not receive notification of the March 22 rate reduction because Cahoot did not send one. I checked current interest rates on my introductory account shortly after March 22 and found the reduction. When I complained to Cahoot they pointed out that their terms and conditions state that they only have to notify interest changes "within 30 days" and not prior to the change. They have now somewhat cynically complied with that requirement because the information is included in the email sent out today which notifies of a further interest reduction on April 28 but also noted that the interest rate from March 22 has been 5%.
You may consider that many people will miss this extra detail!

With regard to the current savings account offering it is true that it is still advertised at 4.85% on their web site under the headings "sky high savings" and "monster rate" but you can be sure that it will be reduced to 4.55% on April 28th. I have not been able to find any warning to this effect but maybe I have missed it. Unfortunately it is quite normal for banks and Building Societies to continue to suck in new savers even when they know an interest rate reduction is imminent.

[Deleted User]

Am I correct in saying that the rate on both the normal savings account and the introductory savings account will be the same from 28th April? Therefore there is no real point in having a separate introductory account, and any balance should be transferred over or moved out to realise the interest?

I too was unaware of the reduction in March.