Abbey regular saver matured 2 months early!

Dagobert

My Abbey Fixed Rate Monthly Saver (Issue 8) (6%) had its interest paid to-day - 2 months early.

Something similar happened in 2007 when some customers were paid interest one month early due to a system error.

Presumably, this also indicates that the Fixed Rate Monthly Saver rate of 6% is no longer effective.

Interest was paid at the correct rate although I found it was 94p less than my calculations.

I will contact Abbey to make sure that account status and interest rate are reinstated.

mary

Mine also matured early. Contacted them this morning. They tried to tell me that this is normal. Told them it wasn't. I had a RS which matured a month ago, whereby I put in 13 payments, making £3250 and then the £150 ish interest was added after that, not before it reached the full term, as this one has done. So I was advised to leave it in there, pay in the next month and then an additional interest payment will be made.

I do recollect this from a previous occasion. Why do Abbey always have to be different with 13 months, unlike the rest of the RS, where 12 months is a year.

With my cynical hat on, maybe they are hoping people will see interest has been added and then assume that's the end of it, withdraw their cash, close the account and thus reducing the amount of interest Abbey will have to pay out to its customers!!!

RayWolfe

I was a victim of the earlier "early closing". After three months I got full recompense. (I also initially got the "this is normal" comment from staff.)
What a shower!

Dagobert

mary wrote: »

maybe they are hoping people will see interest has been added and then assume that's the end of it, withdraw their cash, close the account and thus reducing the amount of interest Abbey will have to pay out to its customers!!!

It will simply be a system error, like the last time, just incompetence.

When I phoned I was given some nonsense, which they seemed to make up to get rid of me. They were not even familiar with the T&Cs of the product: I was told that I received interest early because I started paying in a month late (account opened in December, first payment in Jan as per T&Cs)!

I was atold that interest will be 6% until 1st Feb.

I expect no interest to be paid in February as I bet the status of the account has also changed. My plan is to withdraw on 2nd Feb and chase up any missing interest then.

withnell

I had an amount of interest paid before the term was up, and as the final payment was higher than I was expecting I didn't complain

I think that sometimes its better to leave the complaint until it becomes an issue at the end of the term - if you ask the staff why its been added early they don't really know because its all system generated!

Dagobert

I checked the interest I received for issue 7 to-day (on the 2nd, not on the 1st):

Assuming that the last day of the higher interest was the 30th Nov, the payment is 66p short. They must be rounding down in a few places!

The early interest on issue 8 was also less than what I calculated. Funny that!

Dan29

My Issue 8 (first deposit made early December 2008) is maturing 1 February 2010 according to a letter I received yesterday.

I phoned today to query it and they say their records show it'll mature 1 January 2010.

Does anyone have any idea what they're playing at? I guess I should make a 13th deposit this month to avoid falling foul of the T&Cs?

td_007

Seems their systems are playing up in more than one front. Others including myself have seen lower interest paid on the current a/c when in fact it was fixed for 12 months. Talking to "advisors" is meaningless - go direct to the complaint dept.

Speculator

Dan29 wrote: »

My Issue 8 (first deposit made early December 2008) is maturing 1 February 2010 according to a letter I received yesterday.

I phoned today to query it and they say their records show it'll mature 1 January 2010.

Does anyone have any idea what they're playing at? I guess I should make a 13th deposit this month to avoid falling foul of the T&Cs?

I received the same letter, my account was opened on 3rd Dec 2008.

BTW, you are meant to make the 13th payment this month. The question is if according to the letter, it matures 1 Feb 2010, will I need to make a 14th payment in Jan!?

nicky_boo

Well, I opened the account and made the first payment in November 2008. Didn't miss any payments. Ended up making another payment this month as advised by the Abbey staff to keep their system happy. This was my 14th payment. I wonder if I will finally get the interest payment in January. I do online banking. It looks like my account's status has already changed to Instant Saver. So, what do these guys do? Pay advertised high interest for 12 months, but keep the money for 13/14 months and plus? I keep my fingers crossed that all will be ok in January... As soon as I get the interest paid, I will stop banking with Abbey/Santander.

Dan29

From the t&cs I got with mine, which is apparently issue 7 not issue 8 as I thought: "You may close the account at any time. Closures are only allowed by writing to us at Abbey, Account Closures, PO Box 297, Bradford BD1 1BR".