NatWest e-savings bonus rate extended

agrinnall

I received a letter today from NatWest to say they are extending the 1.85% bonus on my e-Savings account by 3 months, which gives me an extra 3 months to decide where to move the balance to once the rate drops back to 1%. The letter says that the bonus offer is by invitation only, I was wondering if anyone with this account isn't getting the extension?

atypical

Discussed here from post 628. They've offered some a 12 month extension, others a 3 month one:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2754900

Gordon_the_Moron

You can beat the rate they are offering even with the bonus by over 0.3% by moving to a top payer now.

barak

agrinnall wrote: »

I received a letter today from NatWest to say they are extending the 1.85% bonus on my e-Savings account by 3 months.....

So did I, and it shows an interest rate 'Excluding Bonus' of 1.00% Gross and 'Including Bonus' of 1.46% Gross. This is confirmed on the reverse: "The rates including and excluding the 1.85% bonus can be found overleaf".

So 1.00 + 1.85 = 1.46 ?

The launch of this account was so chaotic that I only ever put £10 into it and having failed to persuade NatWest by letter [acknowledged] to close my account, I reduced the balance to zero. I still receive periodic statements. The chaos seems to continue.

SnowMan

barak wrote: »

So did I, and it shows an interest rate 'Excluding Bonus' of 1.00% Gross and 'Including Bonus' of 1.46% Gross. This is confirmed on the reverse: "The rates including and excluding the 1.85% bonus can be found overleaf".

So 1.00 + 1.85 = 1.46 ?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

The clue to explain this is that the letters are signed by Phil Sheehy, Head of Savings, a man of exceptional incompetence.

Because the bonus is for 3 months can just about understand why they quote the AER as 1.47% (1 + 0.25 * 1.85) but to quote the gross rate as 1.46% without any explanation at all is ridiculous and meaningless.

Seems to follow on from the Nat West arithmetic that 2.85 x 0.8 = 2.82 they came up when the original bonus was brought in.

alanq

agrinnall wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone with this account isn't getting the extension?

I got the letter offering me a 3-month extension this morning despite having closed the account near the beginning of the month. This once excellent account has been badly handled by NatWest from launch to beyond closure.

castle96

my letter is a 12 mth offer. the 1% var. + 1.85% fixed, can't work out at the same AER (var), and Gross (var), as the 3 mth calculation of 1.47%/1.46%.... CAN IT ?!

blow them, money moved months ago

oops, sorry - only 3 mth offer on mine, but for those with a 12 mth offer, what are their figures shown as ?, ie including bonus AER/Gross

barak

alanq wrote: »

.....This once excellent account has been badly handled by NatWest from launch to beyond closure.

I agree - except I'm not sure what was ever excellent about it - even the interest rate was soon bettered elsewhere by accounts with straightforward terms.

NatWest are now accepting that the recent letters are incorrect.

Milarky

SnowMan wrote: »

The clue to explain this is that the letters are signed by Phil Sheehy, Head of Savings, a man of exceptional incompetence.

Because the bonus is for 3 months can just about understand why they quote the AER as 1.47% (1 + 0.25 * 1.85) but to quote the gross rate as 1.46% without any explanation at all is ridiculous and meaningless.

Thanks for that explanation. I received an RBS headed letter of this kind today - also signed off by Mr Sheehy. So not actually wrong - just naturally confusing.

If they are sending out the same standard wording from an adapted 12 month extension letter, and have just started to reduce the term for subsequently contacted customers, it would make sense that the text no longer resembles the table [because it was proofread only the first time?]

alanq

barak wrote: »

I agree - except I'm not sure what was ever excellent about it...

Faster Payments out - not available with many other savings accounts.

I could pay cash into my Step account in branch and transfer immediately to eSaver so effectively I had a branch account paying an online account rate.

RetiredInThailand

Indeed. I basically use mine as a current account paying 2.85%, with no strange restrictions/requirements.