A & L 12% Savings account

filo_2

quick question for anyone who has one of these:

when i opened the account (along with the qualifying current acct) they wrote to me saying that my £250 would be paid from my from my current acct to the regular saver on the 4th of each month - will this appear on the 'standing orders' or 'direct debits' page of my online banking. nothing has appeared yet and i have had the account nearly a month.

chesky369

Filo - exactly the same thing has happened to me - I was expecting my first £250 to be transferred on 22nd but it hasn't happened and I haven't the energy as yet to phone them up as it's always such a hassle.

filo_2

check you've got the right month - i chose 4th of each month for my payments and got a bit worried that the payment didn't go out on oct 4th but when i read the letter i realised that 1st payment was nov 4th - a&l had given me well over a month to get my current acct funded.

chesky369

That's rather annoying, since I wouldn't have bothered putting the £500 in yet if they weren't going to activate the savings programme for another month. Now I've started it I'll have to put a further £500, as per the agreement before £250 is taken out for the regular save.

filo_2

yes it is irritating - i put 500 in then sent it back to halifax and will have to send it back again. if you do that sort of thing a few times the whole thing starts to become pointless with money drifting around in the non-interest earning interweb.

wheely

i opened my account around 15th of October and they wrote to me on the 19th stating my first Regular Saver payment would come out on December 1st. I'm not putting any money in the account untill my wages go in at the end of November though. If they dont like it I guess they can close my account and I'll go elsewhere.

jimclark1967

filo wrote:

quick question for anyone who has one of these:

when i opened the account (along with the qualifying current acct) they wrote to me saying that my £250 would be paid from my from my current acct to the regular saver on the 4th of each month - will this appear on the 'standing orders' or 'direct debits' page of my online banking. nothing has appeared yet and i have had the account nearly a month.

The payment won't appear on your standing orders or direct debits page so not to worry about that.

They do give you around 6 or 7 weeks before taking the first payment. An irritation for hardened MSE'ers but probably a good thing for the confused masses!

JC

wheely

I agree it could be seen as irritating if you are using it purely for saving but if you are using the account as you main current account it will take a few weeks to transfer wages, direct debits etc. I dont relish the idea of going overdrawn (even by mistake) before I'd even got the account up and running.

(Still, could always claim the charges back!! )

Milarky

My first 'standing order' (still not showing as set up either!) to the regular saver was due out today. A&L are slow to update accounts, and I'm wondering if they don't move the money across on weekends - only weekdays. Does anyone know what they do?

Apart from the swift £50 (ker-ching!) for opening their useless current account there is no satisfaction whatever from such a !!!!!! approach to crediting this high interest account (Contrast Lloyds - who just took a cheque to open and an immediate standing order - which can then be varied after the first payment) A&L 'do' it all for you (or tell you they will) and send umpteen letters...

lovemystudentloan

Hi wheely, I got the A&L account when it was only 5% current acc and 10% savings and I love it. I keep the current acc at £2000 (thankyou HSBC overdraft...) and get £6 a month interest on it :j BE CAREFUL THOUGH, THERE ARE CATCHES! With my account, although the savings account lets you save £250 a month = £3000 a year it only pays interest up to £2500 so I reckon the new version will have the same catch - that's why you can't change the amount you save once you set it:eek: The current acc is similar, only pays interest on first £2000, hence why I don't bother trying to put more in, and although you can empty the current acc if you want as long as your £500 goes in every month, you're not allowed to touch the premier savings account. Be careful with First Direct too. I asked them to cancel my standing order with the Halifax, had to ask them for 2 months before they done it, but they cancelled my A&L standing order too which would have wrecked my plans if I hadn't noticed because if you don't adhere to the T&C with A&L they'll close the whole lot down and dump your money in a rubbish account. Remember to get refered too for another 50 quid, yours truly is of course willing and able....