A&L 5.38% Direct Saver

ashm1

Hi,

Am I missing something....

-you have to 'pay' to withdraw any funds (either at closure or any withdrawl )
-base interest rates may well be 5.25% by March!
-£5000 minimum deposit, 100K maximum!
-"No interest is earned on balances outside the minimium and maximum investment limits" advert Independent on Sunday. 22October 2006.

I'm not 100% sure what the last quote means because it's a £5000 deposit account.

Any ideas ?


Kind regards,

Ashley.

MarkyMarkD

What do you think you're missing, Ashley?

(1) You don't pay anything to withdraw. If you withdraw the full balance on the first of a month, you don't lose any interest either. You don't have to close the account to do this - the minimum operating balance is £1.
(2) This is a variable rate account. Whilst base rates may rise, this affects any other "best buy" variable rate account, and they may not track the base rate either. As A&L have introduced this as "best buy", I doubt they would fail to track a BBR increase in November as the whole account launch would prove to have been a waste of effort.
(3) No. £5,000 minimum balance to earn interest. £100,000 maximum balance. Transactions can be any amount, and the account can be opened with £1.
(4) As above. It's NOT a £5,000 deposit account, it's an account on which only balances over £5,000 earn interest.

MarkyMarkD

ReportInvestor wrote:

I object to an account being able to advertise itself in the Sunday press as the best instant access account when it pays a withdrawal of £1 stops all interest on £999,999 for that month.

That's a perversion of the meaning of "instant access" IMHO.

I don't agree.

You can withdraw the whole balance, instantly, on the 1st day of any month without losing a penny in interest. That's instant access.

It's obviously NOT a good transactional account. But if you've got £5,000 (or more, up to £100,000) you can put some money in a transactional account with a rate almost as good, and any amount you don't intend to touch into the Direct Saver.

As one account in a portfolio, it's a great account to have.

As one's sole savings account, it's completely inappropriate.

ashm1

Hi,

Sorry I missed the tiny variable bracket in advert.

So less than £5000 and your money will 0% interest. I need to do some sums and look at that day one withdrawl. Might be good as an extra account.


Kind regards,

Ashley.

babe_ruth_3

WindyMiller wrote:

Has anybody else had a problem opening this account?

Yes. I received my letter quoting my new directsaver account number. It took about a week for it to apear on my list of accounts on tinternet only trouble was they had named it online saver issue 2.

I emailed them and received a reply same day :eek: saying that they had now amended it but unfortunatley they had renamed direct isa

Emailed again (still same day) and got a reply appologising and this time they managed to get it right.:T

Whats up with their staff? Seems like a&l set on anybody these days, that applies to branch staff too. You used to have to be brainy to work in a bank.

lipidicman

Right this has me worried! I just found this definition of calendar month
[SIZE=-1]This is the period starting from one date (normally the date of a notification) to the same date in the following month less one, or if that date does not exist in the following month, the last date in that following month.

[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]That was from a UK government agency. If A&L take that definition, then you will always be hit with a penalty. ie withdrawing on the first day of the month will make no difference.

Why are these things never clear! Going to dig around

http://www.answers.com/topic/month
[/SIZE]month (mŭnth)
n.

1. A unit of time corresponding approximately to one cycle of the moon's phases, or about 30 days or 4 weeks.
2. (Abbr. mo.) One of the 12 divisions of a year as determined by a calendar, especially the Gregorian calendar. Also called calendar month.
3. A period extending from a date in one calendar month to the corresponding date in the following month.

So let's hope it is 2, not 3 (not referred to as a calendar month here, so that is good)
A&L don't define it in their T&Cs

[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]

littlemissmoney

I hope A&L use definition 2

Yesterday I made my first transfer into my DirectSaver account. In my A&L current account it shows the money going out, then put back again, then taken again! What's that about? Is that ok?

sailornick

Secret_Wookie wrote:

Spotted this one today

A&L direct saver paying 5.38%

minimum balance - 5k
No interest in any month a withdrawl is made.

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=dsaver&cm_re=al1rfshpprim-_-02-_-htmlprimarydsaverOct06&ct=htmlprimarydsaverOct06

Is this too good to be true?

Certainly is ! - you lose THE LAST MONTHS interest on ALL YOUR SUM INVESTED IF YOU MAKE JUST ONE WITHDRAWAL AND EVEN WHEN YOU CLOSE THE ACCOUNT YOU STILL LOSE THE TOTAL INTEREST - SO THE MAX INTEREST YOU CAN EARN IS ONLY 4.93% A WASTE OF TIME.../!!

ReportInvestor

Hi sailornick and welcome to the site .

I also find this account very annoying, but please don't SHOUT at people.

If you'd also taken the trouble to read the whole thread, you'd have seen that your statement is not true if you withdraw the lot very early in any month. So if you're careful, you could be OK.

But it definitely needs a "smarter investor" not to get fleeced by the Alliance & Leicester. And A&L know that most people haven't got the time or gumption to do the right thing.

whambamboo

ReportInvestor wrote:

Hi sailornick and welcome to the site .

I also find this account very annoying, but please don't SHOUT at people.

If you'd also taken the trouble to read the whole thread, you'd have seen that your statement is not true if you withdraw the lot very early in any month. So if you're careful, you could be OK.

Has anybody verified this for certain?