Abbey 7% Fixed Rate Monthly Saver launch 14/07/06

Careful_ly

Dagobert wrote:

Just phoned Abbey (0800 30 20 30):

A £1000 investment in the 2 Year Special Growth Bond qualifies you for the 8% regular saver.

The 8% regular saver precludes you from the 7% regular saver.

Applications can be done by post, no branch visit required.

Have opened these accounts in branch today no real attempt to cross sell to me.

anticlaus105

Put 1k into 5.5 bond and opened 8% reg saver today. They tried all they could to get me to speak to a FA or make an appointment (they even brought one over when I had said no time and was in a rush). Explained I had just nipped out of work and work diff plasces so app not easy to do. They opened the accounts in the end but there was a bit of faffing.

EDIT: Oh and SO has to hit account between 1st and 21st (or poss 24th) to qualify they told me. Better be quick guys to get this months in.

buses7675

Hi All,

I wonder if already being a Cahoot customer would speed that up then, such that they may not have to do the ID check, such that over the phone you could get the accounts opened a lot faster?

Cheers

Steve

Sillychuckie

I wonder if you can open a 2 year special growth bond with £1, get an 8% reg saver at the same time, and then close the special growth bond (but keep the reg saver).
I don't particularly want the growth bond and have enough accounts already as it is, without having to think about an open one with just £1 in it.
I wish Abbey would just make it clear what accounts they have and what offers they have on their website. Its ridiculous.

I'll be popping in on Monday to have a look.
Hopefully this will bring my reg saver count up to 5.

buses7675

Sillychuckie wrote:

I wonder if you can open a 2 year special growth bond with £1, get an 8% reg saver at the same time, and then close the special growth bond (but keep the reg saver).
I don't particularly want the growth bond and have enough accounts already as it is, without having to think about an open one with just £1 in it.
I wish Abbey would just make it clear what accounts they have and what offers they have on their website. Its ridiculous.

I'll be popping in on Monday to have a look.
Hopefully this will bring my reg saver count up to 5.

Hi All,

I'm sure someone said that you need to pay £1000 into an Abbey savings account or open a current account in order to get the 8% rate!

Be interesting to find out what the exacting requirements are!

Cheers

Steve

Prudent

buses7675 wrote:

Hi All,

I wonder if already being a Cahoot customer would speed that up then, such that they may not have to do the ID check, such that over the phone you could get the accounts opened a lot faster?

Cheers

Steve

I never thought of that. I have a cahoot account.

Prudent

Maths is not my strong point. I was wondering how much interest would be due at the end of the year if £250 paid in every month?

Kazza242

Prudent wrote:

Maths is not my strong point. I was wondering how much interest would be due at the end of the year if £250 paid in every month?

For non-tax payers, with the 7% account, the interest would be approx. £113.75. The 8% would accrue approx. £130.

For basic rate tax payers, with the 7% account, the interest would be approx. £91. The 8% would accrue approx. £104.

For higher rate tax payers, holding the 7% account, the interest would be approx. £68.25. The 8% would accrue approx. £78.

*Please note: the interest quoted is an approximate sum that does not include the interest that would be earned if the account was drip fed from another account. The amount you earn also depends upon the day in the month that each payment reaches the account.

Milarky

buses7675 wrote:

One thing I'll hopefully find out when I apply is what happens to the funds after the year is up, does the account convert to an ordinary e-savings account or similar as comparably with Halifax you have to open an additional savings account?

It becomes a 'Monthly Saver' account on maturity and I believe it is still passbook based and cannot be operated online (so no ability to check balances - you have to phone up for that). Official info here

"As the Fixed Rate Monthly Saver account is for a 12-month fixed rate period, the balance is transferred automatically at the end of the term into Abbey's Monthly Saver account. This currently pays a variable rate of 4.75% gross p.a./AER, which is presently higher than any default savings account rate offered by Abbey's competitors."

(Someone else has already posted this link in a different thread :beer:)

buses7675

Hi All,

I emailed Abbey asking about the 7%/8% account, the reply wasn't quti what I asked, but they did at least say that online applications for the 7% one would be available online from the 19th July at this address:

http://www.abbey.com/index/future/savings_index/reward_index/reward_fixed_rate_monthly_saver_index.htm

Not sure if the combined 5.5% 2 year bond/8% regular will be available online, but I tried to phone them with no avail, on hold for 10 mins, thank goodness its a freephone number!

Will try and give them a ring another time, I guess they were just very busy!

Cheers

Steve