AA Internet saver issue 3

treese

Just be warned if you are thinking of investing with AA - they take an OUTRAGEOUS 5 wkg days to "clear" your deposit for withdrawal (despite the fact it has gone into your account by electronic DD transfer from a linked bank account!). Even bits of paper that had to be manually processed between institutions (remember chqs?) cleared in three or less days!
I have also now been waiting for 6 wkg days for a response from their Savings Team whether:
- my money is earning interest from the day it is credited to the account (ie 5 days before it's cleared);
- where these two important bits of info are on the website information advising about this particular Internet account.
I can’t recall seeing mention of “clearance” times, nor from when interest is earned.
Still waiting...

pressuredrop_2

No reason why you wouldn't earn interest from the date of deposit. And five working days to clear isn't unusual. It's all nowt to worry about.

alanq

A Direct Debit is not a Faster Payment. I would expect funds to take 4 working days or more to arrive in the AA savings account just as if the funds had been sent by BACS.

treese wrote: »

Even bits of paper that had to be manually processed between institutions (remember chqs?) cleared in three or less days!

The standard for cheques paid into CURRENT ACCOUNTS is 2-4-6. 2 working days to start earning interest (when a current account earns interest!), 4 working days to allow withdrawals to be made against the funds and 6 working days within which the cheque could bounce and the funds be taken back. A savings account can take longer.
http://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/246/

Birmingham Midshires Ts&Cs (They run the AA accounts so these may well apply to AA accounts)
"If you ask us to pay money into your account by transfer from your linked account we will make a direct debit request to the bank or building society at which your linked account is held. Three bank working days after that you will see the amount of your payment taken out of your linked account and credited to your account (and we will pay interest on it from that day). However, we will not have received cleared funds at that point. You will only be able to withdraw the funds after a further three bank working days when we have confirmation that the payment to your account has cleared. (If the payment to your account does not clear we will correct your account record and recalculate the interest accordingly.)."

Update:
As expected also in the AA Ts&Cs 4.3
http://www.theaa.com/savings/general-investment-t&cs-sep09.pdf

opinions4u

It's a savings account. So if you don't want to save the money don't send it there for short periods.

The clearance time is a very clear anti-fraud measure and makes absolute sense. By minimising fraud losses they can maintain a half decent rate (at least for the first year).

Their General Investment Terms and Conditions state on page 5 that you can withdraw funds deposited via direct debit:

Six bank working days after the day we request the direct debit payment from the bank at which your linked account is held

It also states:

4.3 If you ask us to pay money into your account by transfer from your linked account we will make a direct debit request to the bank or building society at which your linked account is held. Three bank working days after that you will see the amount of your payment taken out of your linked account and credited to your account (and we will pay interest on it from that day). However, we will not have received cleared funds at that point. You will only be able to withdraw the funds after a further three bank working days when we have confirmation that the payment to your account has cleared. (If the payment to your account does not clear we will correct your account record and recalculate the interest accordingly.).

The link provided was found on their web site.

alanq

Account to be withdrawn from 1st November.

https://www.emoneyfacts.co.uk/news/savings-news.aspx?newsarticleid=199874

Stompa

alanq wrote: »

Account to be withdrawn from 1st November.

Thanks for the warning, just opened one just in case I should need it.

Mr_K

Strange timing by the AA. Just when the Post Office have increased their rate to 2.9%, and there are predictions that interest rates will soon be on the rise.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8088964/Interest-rates-set-to-rise-as-economy-recovers.html

Maybe they've reached their deposit target; more than likely their interest rate will now slide its a 'dead' account.

rb10

Mr_K wrote: »

Strange timing by the AA. Just when the Post Office have increased their rate to 2.9%, and there are predictions that interest rates will soon be on the rise.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8088964/Interest-rates-set-to-rise-as-economy-recovers.html

Maybe they've reached their deposit target; more than likely their interest rate will now slide its a 'dead' account.

Seems a bit premature to be saying that; for all we know Issue 4 will be released on 1st November with a higher rate.

Mr_K

rb10 wrote: »

Seems a bit premature to be saying that; for all we know Issue 4 will be released on 1st November with a higher rate.

Well you were half right, issue 4 has been released today but with a lower rate of 2.6%.

Confusing where things are going at the moment with the Post Office and Nationwide increasing rates to 2.9 and 2.99% respectively. But Halifax and the AA have decreased their rates ! Seems the market can't decide what to do.

The sooner the BOE pull their fingers out and raise rates the better, (speaking as someone who's paid off their mortgage )

opinions4u

Mr_K wrote: »

Confusing where things are going at the moment with the Post Office and Nationwide increasing rates to 2.9 and 2.99% respectively. But Halifax and the AA have decreased their rates ! Seems the market can't decide what to do.

I'd guess Halifax has cornered the ISA market and brought in more money for Lloyds Banking Group than anticipated. So they've cut the prices on things like AA and Web Saver Extra to balance things out a little.

opinions4u

Released to the City:

http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/pdfs/lbg/2010/2010Nov2_LBG_IMS.pdf

We have also seen a further increase in customer deposits in the quarter building on the growth delivered in the first half of 2010.