No interest in 42 years???

casey1485

We have recently found an old Post Office Savings book belonging to my grandfather, the last entry is 1967 and the balance was 16 shillings and 6 pence. I know this is well under a pound now but, on sending in the book to NS & I the have returned a cheque for the grand sum of 99p as according to the letter they have never given interest under £1. I didnt expect much interest but I did expect a little after 42 years. Does anyone know if this is correct, or who I can contact to check it with. £1 in 1967 was worth a lot more than it is now, so you would think there would have been interest at that time. Any help would be appreciated.

shelovestobuystuff

I found this for you.

BIGGLES BOOK ORIGINAL PRICES

Until decimalization in 1971, Britain has a currency system where there were 240 pennies to a pound and twenty shillings to a pound. A shilling was therefore worth 12 pennies. Pre-decimalization, a sum would normally be written in Pounds, Shillings, Pence (written as £ S D). A "Crown" was 5 shillings but never generally used. They were only minted for special occasions. A "Half Crown" was 2 shillings and 6 pence. A "Florin" was 2 shillings and a "Double Florin" 4 shillings (although this was only minted for four years from 1886 to 1890 and hardly ever used thereafter). A "Ha'penny" was half a penny and a "Farthing" was a quarter of a penny. A Guinea was one pound and one shilling (21 shillings). A "Sixpence" was referred to as a "tanner" in slang and a "Shilling" was also referred to as a "bob". A three penny coin - "Threepence" was pronounced "Thrupence" and two single penny coins making "Twopence" was pronouced "Tupence". Coins after decimalization carried the term "New Pence" (removed in 1982) to differentiate them from old, pre-1971 decimal coins.

so the original 16 shillings & 6 comes to 198 pennies BUT in 1967 there were 240 pennies to a pound.This means that there are 2.4 old pennies to a new penny and your grandpas 198 old pennies was worth only 82.5p after decimilisation in 1971
I may be wrong as I dont know exactly how they awarded value to the old pennies at the switch over but thats what it looks like to me.

Found some more info
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/money.htm
Yes,2.4 old pennies = 1 new penny so it was less than £1.sorry.

casey1485

Thanks for that information. I just about remember the change over, either way, old pennies or new, its under £1. I just wondered if what the bank said was right. That they never paid any interest on balances under £1. As I said in 1967 £1 was worth a lot more than it is now and I thought that there should have been some interest paid in the 42 years. I suppose I need to get hold of someone who worked for the then Government owned Post Office. I didnt expect any interest in recent years perhaps when £1 really isnt worth much but, 42 years ago £1 must have been more useful. Average wages in 1967 was about £12 so £1 was a fair slice.

Again thanks for the info.

shelovestobuystuff

retail index with inflation between 1967 and now puts its value at £11 odds
wages index puts it at just over £22 so yes much more value than the 99p you have been given.
If the cash had been stored in old 1967 pennies under the bed though they would sell for about £3 each on ebay so closer to £600 today;).
I cant find any info online about whether they paid interest on amounts under £1 back then so best of luck with that,hope someone else can help.

casey1485

Sometimes I wonder if its worth putting anything in the bank. It sounds like it would have been better off under the mattress, although not too comfortable I would have thought. I hope someone might know who I can ask too. Thanks for your time and interest.

lincroft1710

Back in late 60s worked in a bank and I seem to remember that only savings/deposit accounts with a minimum of £1 would gain interest. I also recall that PO interest was low at that time, about 3%, so if interest were being paid, it would take about 5 years to reach £1.

It's just not worth bothering about.

casey1485

you are probably right, it was just the principle of the thing really rather than the money, I know its a piddling amount but they have had the use of it for many many years and using todays equivalent say average wage £300, (so they say) it would be approx £25, which would get interest today even a tiny amount. So relatively speaking I would have expected something. But thanks anyway.

lincroft1710

Even in 67, 16/6 wouldn't be a great asset for any bank. While doing annual review of accounts we came across several dormant current accounts with less than £5 in them. Any dormant account with less than a £1 was more trouble than it was worth.

It's a bit anal and I did it quickly, so might not be accurate, but even at 5% interest every year, the total in 2009 would only be £6 odd.

Actually it's probably cost NS at least £6 to process the cheque for 99p!