Skipton Building Society Questions and Answers

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative

geepster wrote: »

Hi Caroline,
I have a Skipton Websaver account and have just noticed that the interest rate has reduced from 2.60% gross to 2.40%.
I don't remember being informed of this change so do you advise account holders of interest rate changes? (I may have missed it of course).
As a matter of interest, why has the rate been reduced because the base rate hasn't changed.
I know it's not a huge amount but we need to earn as much as we can these days.
Thanks.
geepster

Hi geepster,

Sorry for the delay in replying.

We sent out advance notice of this rate change by email on 10 September advising that the new rate would be effective from 10 November.

We regularly review our savings rates against the market and from time to time will adjust rates based on the analysis. As a building society our aim is to help people save for the future and finance the purchase of their home, so we need to balance these costs.

I hope this helps,

Caroline

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative

MarkFromMullion wrote: »

It's good to see Skipton helping people here.

Having recently opened a Regular Saver can I suggest you make it easier to find the sort code/account number for paying in. For example it could be included with the account number on the welcome letter and it would be handy to have it in the passbook.

To see what I mean, go to your home page and type sort code into the search box. The results aren't very relevant are they?

I do have the sort code now, thanks to others here whose search powers are better than mine, so this is just a suggestion for the future.

Regards,
Mark.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your post.

Yours is a really good suggestion - we'll look into what we can do to make this information easier to find in our website and materials.

Thanks again,

Caroline

ultrawomble

Rollinghome wrote: »

It's not financial alchemy exactly. By making £500 payments back to back the effect is just to have an extra £500 sitting in the account throughout the period - which unsurprisingly you'll get paid interest on.

But unless you specify and deduct the amount of interest lost on that extra £500 that could have been earned elsewhere that year then your “gain” is meaningless. Had the £500 stayed in a Lloyds Vantage account at 4% it would have earned £20 or £16 net that would need to be taken into account. While the initial £500 is sitting in the lower paying account from 3 Dec to 30 Dec there will be another small loss to be taken into account.

The account opened on the 3 Dec 2010 would mature on 3 Dec 2011 and your £6000 would then be able to earn further interest elsewhere for the rest of that month in whatever deals are available in a year’s time. With the account opened on 30 Dec 2010 the £6000 will have to sit there until the end of the month. And of course you do need to take into account all the interest lost during transfers for money that will be in the account for only a very limited period.

Sigh......

The point I am making is how to maximise the interest from a regular saver account. I'm not trying to show anything else. If I get the same or better interest running 1 account rather than 2 then it's less hassle for me.

Most people fund their regular savers direct from their current accounts, which typically won't be paying any interest - unlike the LTSB Vantages. Many people also get paid at the end of the month...... so are more likely to be able to fund an initial last day of the month payment.

VT82

I've only ever had two regular savers.

The first took payments out of my current account with the same provider. No loss of interest, and even if it did, it would have been current account interest at 0.1%.

The second I either paid in cash in branch for an instant credit to my regular saver, or I transferred in from my savings with the same provider. No loss of interest as it was an instantaneous transfer.

Rollinghome's reality check might apply to some people, but is becoming decreasingly relevant as more transactions are instantaneous. And the point about the last payment only counting for half the final month is moot, as it is needed to fulfil your 12 monthly obligations to get interest on the whole year in most cases.

Gordon_the_Moron

Hi Caroline :-)

I opened my account in the Lincoln branch (I live miles away from Lincoln but was there visiting family on the day and went shopping, having no idea there was a branch in Lincoln I just went in on spotting it rather than opening the account remotely as I had planned after reading about it on this site)

I had no such problems regarding opening it as someone who posted earlier saying they needed an appointment, I have never been a Skipton customer before and was in and out with the account open in about 15 minutes (luckily because I'd been out on the lash in a town centre the night before I had my ID on me !!!), excellent service from a gorgeous young lass called Casey, no problems going through all the details and opening the account, couldn't have asked for more :-)

One quick question I forgot to ask her though whilst I was there, what exactly happens if you miss a payment one month? I could not find the answer on Skipton site or in any of the literature, more out of curiosity than anything as I'm sure I won't do this as I've set up a standing order to pay the account.

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative

Hi Gordon the Moron,

Thank you for your message, I’m please to hear that your experience at our Lincoln Branch was a good one, thank you for your comments and welcome to Skipton Building Society!

In answer to your question about the regular instalments into your Regular Saver, the account is designed for minimum subscriptions to go in each month but we do appreciate that in some months, this may not be possible for whatever reason. In this event, we wouldn’t close the account or impose any penalty. I’m sure most people would endeavour to make a minimum monthly payment to make the most of this type of savings account so if they haven’t they must have reasons why. We are however thinking about removing the requirement for minimum deposits in the future, based on feedback.

I hope this answers your question.

Regards,

Samantha (I'm replying on behalf of Caroline today)

Nessie23

Hi Caroline ,

I opened my regular saver at the Holborn branch last week and I can only second Gordon's comments, the branch staff were very helpful and efficient and had the account open within 5/10 minutes, so top marks there!

What I would like to know is whether it is possible to monitor the regular saver through Skipton's internet banking facilities. I did ask this over the phone and got told it was not possible, is that correct?

Being able to 'see' the account by internet banking would be very useful to keep an eye on the account especially for those of us who don't live near a branch.

Thanks,
Nessie

psychic_teabag

Nessie23 wrote: »

What I would like to know is whether it is possible to monitor the regular saver through Skipton's internet banking facilities. I did ask this over the phone and got told it was not possible, is that correct?

I can see my regular saver online through my existing Skipton online account (for an e-bond). Maybe you just need to put £1 into one of the online savings accounts ..?

premierfella

psychic_teabag wrote: »

I can see my regular saver online through my existing Skipton online account (for an e-bond). Maybe you just need to put £1 into one of the online savings accounts ..?

I can second this - if you have any of Skipton's online accounts you can see all your accounts, including recent transactions and balances (even my ex-Scarborough My Savings account shows up).

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative

Nessie23 wrote: »

Hi Caroline ,

I opened my regular saver at the Holborn branch last week and I can only second Gordon's comments, the branch staff were very helpful and efficient and had the account open within 5/10 minutes, so top marks there!

What I would like to know is whether it is possible to monitor the regular saver through Skipton's internet banking facilities. I did ask this over the phone and got told it was not possible, is that correct?

Being able to 'see' the account by internet banking would be very useful to keep an eye on the account especially for those of us who don't live near a branch.

Thanks,
Nessie

Hello Nessie,

Thanks for your post - I'm really glad to hear your experience was a good one.

Although psychic teabag and premierfella have already responded, I wanted to come back on this too. They are correct in saying that, if you have an online account with us already, you can see any other savings accounts with us when you log in.

Thanks,

Caroline