Alliance Leicester directsaver slowness

humanbeing_2

I transferred a substantial amount into this a few days ago but although it shows on my balance it doesnt yet show in my "available balance".

Is this a way of them not paying interest on it for a few days until they consider it cleared? Cahoot seems to clear straight away.

masonic

It should be earning interest even if it is not available to withdraw. IIRC, it will start earning interest the day after it is credited.

tom188

By cheque or by electronic payment?

masonic

tom188 wrote:

By cheque or by electronic payment?

Can you pay into the Direct Saver by cheque?

maple41

They do seem to be one of the worst for slow transfers. 4 days to get money from another bank account by DD and then have the cheek to tell you it is not "available" when it does get to your account.
Strange that when making a payment by DD or transfer to pay for example a CC bill it can appear off your account the same day and appear on your CC account either the same or the next day (differnet company). Me thinks this is how they "pay" for their high rates.

YorkshireBoy

maple41 wrote:

They do seem to be one of the worst for slow transfers. 4 days to get money from another bank account by DD...

My OS2 account only takes 3 days, eg action Monday & funds arrive Wednesday.

...and then have the cheek to tell you it is not "available" when it does get to your account.

There's a reason for that. DD's can be recalled. See your T&C's. Anyway, why would you pay money in if there was even the slimmest of chances you wanted it back again within a few days?

humanbeing_2

I dont really mind if it doesnt show as available, as long as they are still paying interest on it.

Im still not entirely convinced about this A/L account, with the withdrawal penalty and this shennanigans too it may be easy to lose that extra 0.5% or so over the cahoot account which i use and seems fast and simple to transfer money.

Graham_Devon

I have found this rather slow aswell. I swapped my money from my Egg account to this.

2 days for my Egg withdrawal to show into my current account. 6 working days to show in my A&L Direct Saver.

I did a small test to start with when I first opened the A&L account. Took ages for it to get there.

Set up another transfer on 12th Jan. It states action date of 17th Jan. Even after that action date it doesn't become available.

My major transaction of the bulk of my savings was instructed on 7th Jan. Hit my account on 12th Jan and shows as a balance. But, its still not available and were on the 14th Jan now. Thats a whole week.

This will be ok if the interest is being earnt, but why does it take so long? Why this action date always 3-4 working days after? Why is it then still not available?

I only did this because egg were paying 5% and will always pay the base rate, whereas A&L were paying 5.64% so thought it was a good move.

Now my ICICI account is paying 6.65% I'm a bit concerned. I have a nominal amount in ICICI and they have been fine for me but just didnt trust them quite as much as a UK estblishment.

Starting to wish I had never transfered to A&L if they are going to be this slow.

The money you tell it to transfer does stay in your current account until the action date, but why. Friday I tell it to transfer it, maybe wednesday it leaves my account!

Anyone have any idea whether A&L are going to raise the rate? Seems like a complete waste of time now if they don't! Not going to start moving it all again! I got drabs of interest left in 3 accounts now!

agal

I banked with A&L for 12 months and eventually got fed up with their dubious banking practices, one of which was their ability to "hide" money that should have appeared in a current account. For example, if I deposited £1000 CASH into my A&L branch on a Monday morning it did not show up straight away on the internet banking website as my Nationwide Flexaccount does. Nor would it appear by the end of that day. Nor would it appear on the Tuesday, it was actually WEDNESDAY before the £1000 CASH deposit would show up on the website. Therefore I couldn't move the £1000 from Monday to Wednesday or rely on DDs being paid with it on Tuesday.

Graham_Devon

Got to admit. I never chased the higher rate interest payers. But 5.64% compared to Egg's 5% seemed worthy. I have a smaller amount in an ICICI account anyway, so didnt dip into the Egg Money.

I never chased the rates becuse of the problems associated. At the moment I'm starting to wish I hadn't! Nealry 2 weeks it took in total to transfer the money, and egg's part was 2 days from Withdrawal. Plus with my Egg account, it was done by debit card, so as soon as I transferred it showed there and then and was earning interest.

Will give A&L a couple of months, firstly to try the service out fully and secondly to see if they increase the rates as they are no longer any better than ICICI and probably Icesave soon, and have the withdrawal penalty attached.

Just can't understand why something I instructed on 12th would only be 'started' on the 17th and then, taking a few days to become available.

If anyone has a definative answer to whether my money is earning interest between 12th and 17th I would be grateful. It certainly was on Egg's 5%.

For the (now) 0.4% higher rate, if it's not earning interest over those 5 days, I may aswell have left it with Egg.

humanbeing_2

Mine was paid in on 9th Jan, now the 15th and still doesnt show in the available balance column.
It was a direct payment from my current account so i dont see whats taking time to clear.

I dont think ill put any more in there, there are now plenty of competitive accounts around and even if the A/L rate is a bit higher its no good if your money dissapears for a few days on transfer.