New Savings with Post Office pre-Nov 1st?

The_stingemeister

May be a daft question......but if you opened, say, the PO Online Saver account before November 1st (the date when the full £50k FSA cover is supposed to come in force for the PO) would you still have the protection at a later time? You do see various clauses in accounts stating that if the bank is amalgamated and if you joined at a certain time then you're unentitled to any windfall payable. The point I'm making is that they can backdate anything to get out of a payment, and if anything went wrong they could say the account was opened pre Nov 1st: so hard luck!

So would it be more prudent to wait after that date?

johnmoney05

You can open another one after 1 Nov then....if that worries you!

Just checked the T&Cs. Yes, only can open one!

Stompa

The_stingemeister wrote: »

.....but if you opened, say, the PO Online Saver account before November 1st (the date when the full £50k FSA cover is supposed to come in force for the PO) would you still have the protection at a later time?

I believe so:

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content2?catId=19300232&mediaId=125900776

psychic_teabag

johnmoney05 wrote: »

You can open another one after 1 Nov then....if that worries you!

I think T&C only allow one at a time. (I was looking into whether I'd have to open a new one to get the new 2.9 rate, but it seems not.) And transferring money in and out of P.O. isn't as easy as it ought to be.

Stompa

psychic_teabag wrote: »

And transferring money in and out of P.O. isn't as easy as it ought to be.

Is that just because they don't (I'm guessing) offer FP, or some other reason?

psychic_teabag

Can only pay in using either pull from DD (which takes time to set up initially), or debit card (which seems to take a few days to be credited to account). Can only withdraw to nominated account via BACS before 4pm.

And they seem to lock you out from making transactions for 5 days after making changes (such as changing nominated account, or changing pin).

Oh - just re-reading T&C, you might be able to pay in using BACS. I've not tried that.

johnmoney05

I did open 2 last night. The first one I opened because I forgot I was their existing customer, so I chose I was a new customer. But I didn't want to wait, so after I found out that I was their existing customer, I applied the second one. Both got through. Anyway, I am going to close one now.

The_stingemeister

Stompa wrote: »

I believe so:

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content2?catId=19300232&mediaId=125900776

Think I'll wait the 11 days, its just that I had an afternoon to kill and maybe wouldn't have the time later on to apply.

Sceptic001

The_stingemeister wrote: »

May be a daft question......but if you opened, say, the PO Online Saver account before November 1st (the date when the full £50k FSA cover is supposed to come in force for the PO) would you still have the protection at a later time?

Yes.

11. How does the transfer affect my deposit protection?
Currently, your savings and deposits with Bank of Ireland are protected by the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme,
which is a statutory scheme covering deposits up to a limit of €100,000 (£82,853 at current exchange rates on
11th August 2010). In addition, deposits in excess of €100,000 are further protected by an Irish Government topup
guarantee scheme until that guarantee scheme expires, as explained on our website
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/depositprotection.
Following the transfer on 1st November 2010, the first £50,000 of any deposits you hold with Bank of Ireland
(UK) plc will be protected under the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in accordance with the
FSCS rules (please see question 12) and in line with other UK banks and building societies. This limit will apply
to the total of all balances you hold in Post Office savings products provided by Bank of Ireland (UK) plc, plus Post
Office Cash ISAs, plus any products provided directly by Bank of Ireland (UK) plc.

http://www.bankofireland.com/includes/about_us_new/pdfs/answer_po2.pdf