Barclays Golden ISA - issue 3 / 3.25% AER now available

moonshine

I opened one of these in March this year and put in £5100 for the 2010 ISA year. Then on 13th April I put in another £5340 for this years allowance. With the interest for March & April, the amount in the account at the start of May was £10474

I have just checked the interest I got for the month of May and it is £26.63 for the month. That doesn't sound quite enough to me for an account that is supposed to be 3.25% (inc. the bonus) I work it out that I should have received about £28/£29 for a 31 day month's interest.

Am I calculating this wrong or have I been short changed?

TIA for any help

10_66

moonshine wrote: »

I opened one of these in March this year and put in £5100 for the 2010 ISA year. Then on 13th April I put in another £5340 for this years allowance. With the interest for March & April, the amount in the account at the start of May was £10474

I have just checked the interest I got for the month of May and it is £26.63 for the month. That doesn't sound quite enough to me for an account that is supposed to be 3.25% (inc. the bonus) I work it out that I should have received about £28/£29 for a 31 day month's interest.

Am I calculating this wrong or have I been short changed?...

Yes, you're calculating it incorrectly. The interest you receive monthly is 3.20% (3.25% AER). The interest for May is calculated at 29 days (it depends when the last month's interest was paid). £26.63 is correct.

moonshine

10_66 wrote: »

Yes, you're calculating it incorrectly. The interest you receive monthly is 3.20% (3.25% AER). The interest for May is calculated at 29 days (it depends when the last month's interest was paid). £26.63 is correct.

Thankyou for your reply. I thought I might be being a bit dense

Just curious, though, why would May be calculated at 29 days when it's a 31 day month? The last date interest was paid was the 30th April.

10_66

moonshine wrote: »

Thankyou for your reply. I thought I might be being a bit dense

Just curious, though, why would May be calculated at 29 days when it's a 31 day month? The last date interest was paid was the 30th April.

The previous interest period was paid up to (and including) 2 May, the latest period paid from 3 May to 31 May inclusive = 29 days.

moonshine

10_66 wrote: »

The previous interest period was paid up to (and including) 2 May, the latest period paid from 3 May to 31 May inclusive = 29 days.

thanks very much for your help, although I still don't understand why the interest periods don't follow a calendar month. Why would the last interest period be paid up to 2nd May rather than 30th April? Everywhere else I have savings it's always done on a calendar month...

10_66

moonshine wrote: »

thanks very much for your help, although I still don't understand why the interest periods don't follow a calendar month. Why would the last interest period be paid up to 2nd May rather than 30th April? Everywhere else I have savings it's always done on a calendar month...

From experience with Barclays ISA's, if the last day of the calendar month falls on a weekend, then the interest is calculated up to the first working day of the next month. 30 April was a Saturday, so the interest was calculated up to and inclusive of the 2 May. As the 31 May fell on a working day, the interest for May was from and inclusive the 3 May to the 31 May, 29 days. You're not losing out on any days interest, if that's your concern, it's just that the start and end days don't necessarily follow the calendar month.