abbey's paltry isa return 0.1%

jh2009

Ive got the Santander 3.5%. To be fair to them, it does say that after the years guarantee is up it will fall to 0.5%. Im sure thats what will be paid.

It also says annual interest is paid on 1 March each year, rather than on the 12th month anniversary, so thats something also to be aware of.

So, the thing to do is take the 3% guarantee over base rate for exactly a year then make sure you transfer to another ISA provider.

Although morally the systems banks use with new accounts is beyond doubt morally wrong (with the elderly/sick/non financially illiterate fleeced) legally sadly theres nothing wrong.

noynoy

hello all. we have had exactly the same thing! We have been with abbey national for 20 odd years have our isa, main bank accounts and mortage of ten years with them, for the last 5 years our isa has been at least £300 last year was £450 was expecting around £300 mark but we got £13 we thought it was a typo anyway went down there and no it really was £13 ! so ok maybe its our fault for not checking every few weeks the interest rate and shifting it around however a do think abbey should have informed us that the rate has dropped so dramtically , especially as i know other banks have automatically swapped accounts over to higher intrest earners (my fils did) . When we asked about this abbey said "we sent out notices with statements , but a few have slipped through the net" . So for them as they say they have informed us, then they can get away with it..even though we don't actually get written statements and i do not recall seeing anything on any online account! Hey ho my fault for expecting banks to look after my money for me..when really it is in fact me that should look after my own money ! £13 is a bit of an insult really..

Anyway on another subject about abbey does anyone know why they pay out isas in march not at the end of the tax year? what happens to the month between march and april the 5th if i pay any money in..seems daft to me why not wait till the end of the tax year so it all runs together? Even the bank teller was confussed!

savemoney

will that mean for arguments sake you put £3.6k in March 2010 until up to April 4th you get interest of 3.5% the after April 5th 2011 you get 0.5 %

jh2009 wrote: »

Ive got the Santander 3.5%. To be fair to them, it does say that after the years guarantee is up it will fall to 0.5%. Im sure thats what will be paid.

It also says annual interest is paid on 1 March each year, rather than on the 12th month anniversary, so thats something also to be aware of.

So, the thing to do is take the 3% guarantee over base rate for exactly a year then make sure you transfer to another ISA provider.

Although morally the systems banks use with new accounts is beyond doubt morally wrong (with the elderly/sick/non financially illiterate fleeced) legally sadly theres nothing wrong.

martinman3

savemoney wrote: »

will that mean for arguments sake you put £3.6k in March 2010 until up to April 4th you get interest of 3.5% the after April 5th 2011 you get 0.5 %

But surely they gave you a copy of the T&Cs didn't they ?

Their website has general T&Cs but the specifics for the Flexible ISA are only on the webpage itself and not as clear as those the Direct ISA for instance.
If it is the same as Direct ISA then the guarantee and bonus will go after 12 months from account opening so you get 3.5% until sometime in March and 0.5% after that.

The examples which other posters have provided is a consequence of condition 7.2 in the ISA T&Cs

7.2

If we change our interest rates, we will either:

(a) Within 3

Business Days of the change, put notices in our

branches, on our website and in 3 national newspapers; or

(b) Tell you personally within 30 days following the change.

So you must ensure that they have your correct contact details and you must check the branch, website or whichever 3 newspapers Santander use to be sure that the rate hasn't changed.

Next time you are in a Santander branch ask them which 3 national newspapers they publish their rate changes in.

PC_Gabriel_Kent

When people are 'surprised' to find they are on 0.1%, what percent did they assume they were on. It is all very well complaining the bank never told you directly by letter or phone call but as an adult you have responsibility to check your own account as well.

randalf72

I did check the rates

and still got stiffed

savemoney

It says after 12 months of flexible isa you get SVR currently 0.5% so how do you avoid not a rubbish rate. Am I right in saying for 12 months you will get 3.5% or greater is rates go up and after 12 months you will get 0.5% but you still retain the 3.5% up until then. I cant get my head around this why some people are getting a poor rate

It seems more problematic with this damn isa, I havent a clue if we decide how to take money out as each of our accounts although same we got different levels of documentation

My daughter only has a receipt that she paid 3.6k in and she joined 2 weeks ago

Me and OH have a cash isa application with our details on, T&C leaflet, user guide

I also got ebanking personnel ID/passcode and to follow in next few days it says registration number, she didnt get that.

We already do online banking with abbey. Its seems complicated, its bad enough opening a account with all ID checks

jh2009

savemoney wrote: »

It says after 12 months of flexible isa you get SVR currently 0.5% so how do you avoid not a rubbish rate. Am I right in saying for 12 months you will get 3.5% or greater is rates go up and after 12 months you will get 0.5% but you still retain the 3.5% up until then. I cant get my head around this why some people are getting a poor rate

Yes, thats how i understand it.

I think the people on here complaining about poor rates are those who've used up the first year of their intro rate, or have old accounts whose rates have been slashed down.

savemoney wrote: »

It seems more problematic with this damn isa, I havent a clue if we decide how to take money out as each of our accounts although same we got different levels of documentation

My daughter only has a receipt that she paid 3.6k in and she joined 2 weeks ago

Me and OH have a cash isa application with our details on, T&C leaflet, user guide

I also got ebanking personnel ID/passcode and to follow in next few days it says registration number, she didnt get that.

We already do online banking with abbey. Its seems complicated, its bad enough opening a account with all ID checks

I received a cash card after two weeks and pin number. No news on online access yet though i may have to set that up myself, i'll probably look into that in a couple of weeks if i dont hear anything else from santander.

Santander printed me out a statement with the funds in my account when i paid my cash isa into this account, so i'll probably keep this.

poppy10_2

Spark wrote: »

I have just found out what interest I have earned this year, I have earned £0.97 on £1200, last year I had £17.55 on £700.

Guardian article today on plummeting ISA rates quotes this post:

The £3bn ISA swindle