Skipton Building Society Questions and Answers

apt

I have often opened Skipton regular savers with cash and the conditions for this one '6. You can pay into your account by cash, cheque, transfer, internal standing order or bank standing order. A passbook will be issued.' suggest cash should not be a problem. Did the branch make a mistake?

anna42hmr

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative wrote: »

Hello anna42hmr,

We have also recently launched a regular saver that lasts for one year, so if you open one in branch now, it could act as a Christmas Saver. The details are here:

http://www.skipton.co.uk/savings_and_investments/savings_accounts/regular_saver/

Many thanks,

Caroline

many thanks for your response, i appreciate it

adindas

I do not know, but I offer to pay in cash but I have been advised that the branch are not allowed to take cash.

I have not got my T&C yet, is that any that can be download from the internet ?

Thank you

ADINDAS

apt wrote: »

I have often opened Skipton regular savers with cash and the conditions for this one '6. You can pay into your account by cash, cheque, transfer, internal standing order or bank standing order. A passbook will be issued.' suggest cash should not be a problem. Did the branch make a mistake?

Baldur

adindas wrote: »

I have not got my T&C yet, is that any that can be download from the internet ?

The Ts & Cs appear to be a combination of this page:

for your convenience you can make payments in by cash (branch only), cheque, debit card, standing order or transfer

AND this page entitled "Further terms and conditions for the Regular Saver Account."

Don't know if Skipton have agencies as well as branches, like many other Building Societies; if they do did you apply in a branch or an agency?

adindas

Thank you for this. It is clearly mentioned but we could pay in cash.
It could the one that I am visiting is an agent or probably they just want me to pay in cheques it is they will benefit from this. eg. they could delay until the first date of the month

ADINDAS

Baldur wrote: »

The Ts & Cs appear to be a combination of this page:
AND this page entitled "Further terms and conditions for the Regular Saver Account."

Don't know if Skipton have agencies as well as branches, like many other Building Societies; if they do did you apply in a branch or an agency?

ctdctd

adindas wrote: »

Thank you for this. It is clearly mentioned but we could pay in cash.
It could the one that I am visiting is an agent or probably they just want me to pay in cheques it is they will benefit from this. eg. they could delay until the first date of the month

ADINDAS

I think you will find you visited an agent not geared up for cash.

Your account is open in November so you can make your next payment on December 1st. I think the 2nd date you mention will be when the cheque is cleared funds so you can take it out again.

HTH

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative

adindas wrote: »

Hi Caroline

I manage to open RSA (5% APR) today in one of you branch. I wanted to pay my first installment £500.00 in cash but the branch say that they can not accept cash therefore I paid it with cheque which is quite unfortunate, as there is a delay the money go into my a/c. I think this need to be changed.

On my pass book that I got today it was written:
23/11/10 CHEQUE (01/12/10) XXX (branch code) etc.
What this actually mean.
Does it mean that my first installment is on 01/12/10, therefore I can not pay £500.00 in December and need to wait in Janus for second installemnt.

Does it eally take 7 days to clear the cheque ? This is actually disadvantage to me as I intended to pay in cash but because it was not allowed, I need to pay by cheques I have lost the interest for several days.

ADINDAS

Hello adindas,

Thank you for your question.

Is it possible for you to send me a personal message telling me which branch you visited? I can then speak with them and get a response. I have been informed that there should have been no problem accepting cash for this account, unless it was in unbagged coinage.

Many thanks,

Caroline

adindas

Dear Caroline

Thank you for your response and good gesture. I prefer not to reveal the branch code as I could accept that it is normal that everyone make a mistake.

I do not really mind as long as they do not do it on purpose. It is a disadvantage for me but it is not a big issue as very small amount of money.

ADINDAS

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative wrote: »

Hello adindas,

Thank you for your question.

Is it possible for you to send me a personal message telling me which branch you visited? I can then speak with them and get a response. I have been informed that there should have been no problem accepting cash for this account, unless it was in unbagged coinage.

Many thanks,

Caroline

Skipton_Building_Society_Representative

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Caroline,

A glance at your products reveals that you seem to be offering 'clean' rates. But to be honest, many of them are not competitive. I would be very interested to know what the 'thinking' is your end?

You see there are lots of people (myself included) who are retired, with quite a stash of free capital. OK, we might have an underlying pension income, and a modest amount of Equities in ISA's (best left to obtain growth). So we have to save the 'cash' and live on some of it. As you will be aware, it is not possible to beat inflation. The best we can get is just over 3% - by using a complete mixture of (a) the usual 'laundering' of £1,000 through Lloyds Vantage/Santander Current/Halifax Reward (we are a mercenary bunch!), (b) Fixed rate bonds for 2 years or so, (c) a modicum of Regular Saver accounts, and (d) the 'bonus' accounts which last for 12 months and pay around 2.75%/2.99% (with diary notes to move it after 12 months).

So (and I'm certain you have discussed all this in your products departments) you have a dilemma. At, say, 2.5%, even though 'clean', you are not going to get any large chunk of my savings. Or lots of other people in similar circumstances. My own income is too important to me to think too much about 'Service' or 'Building Society' etc. and to 'lose' 0.25% or more.

Similarly, I can understand that if you give a bonus - say to a 3% rate then you will be flooded (me included) but of course we will all politely wave goodbye after the bonus finishes. But so many banks are doing this. Do they need the cash (for lending) more than you do? Can you borrow on syndicated loans at a cheaper rate? Or maybe you aren't lending and don't need the 'savings' money? Possibly you simply want to concentrate on 'semi-competitive' rates for those who are loyal to your name, or simply prefer Building Societies because all of a sudden they don't trust the evil banks?

I'd be interested to learn of any comments on this issue?

Hello Loughton Monkey,

Thanks for your question - it's one we get asked a lot.

I'm glad you've noticed that our rates tend to be 'clean'. Our aim is to offer straightforward, innovative and transparent products and we like to avoid false bonuses and gimmicks that may later disappear. This means that our accounts don't always top the best buy tables but we prefer to offer dependable long term value that means our customers don't need to keep moving their money around from one bonus account to another.

That said, we are occasionally able to offer higher rates and I'm told that we've had 310 best buy table mentions so far this year.

A lot of our customers do value the service aspects that we offer - and we want to reward them by offering consistent rates.

I can't comment on why other banks are able to offer higher rates or what their lending strategies are. We are offering mortgages ourselves, and I understand that quite a few of those best buy table mentions were in fact for our mortgages.

I hope this helps,

Caroline

danmck_2

Hi

Why were no Skipton representatives present on the threads when the SVR was increased from the 3 points above base rates "guarantee" to 4.95%?

Currently special conditions, as defined by Skipton, are when the base rate is below 2.7%. Will Skipton be reconsidering this figure each year (especially in light of all forecasts stating that the base rate will stay low indefinitely)?