Natwest e-Savings - 3.12%, instant access

rb10

If you have a Natwest account, it may be worth logging into online banking to see if you have the offer for a 3.12% AER e-Savings account.

Granted, customer service is not their strong point, but the rate is good!

The details are:

Natwest wrote:

Open an instant access e-Savings account today and get a bonus of 2.08% Gross pa (fixed) until 28th February 2013 added to the standard variable interest rate of 1.00% AER/Gross pa (variable). Start with £1
Bonus period starts on the 15th day of the next month after your account is opened.
This bonus interest rate offer is open to selected customers only.

There is a fact sheet at http://www.natwest.com/Downloads/personal/savings/esavings_info_sheet.pdf - it appears they have learnt some lessons from last year's fiasco.

Unfortunately the account opening process is not smooth ... whilst it's an easy online application, it's taking over 24 hours for them to actually open the accounts.

alanq

Thanks for the information. Something flashed up while I was in online banking earlier and I thought I saw something about 3%. I couldn't get back to it or find out what it was about. Thanks to you I had another look and found a link to the offer.

I had last year's account but closed it when the end of the bonus was approaching and I was not one of those offered an extension. (and 2.89% wasn't very competitive anyway). I was offered an extension AFTER I had closed the account!

Considering that the new e-Saver offer was only available via a link from online banking I was not impressed that I had to fill in screen after screen with information that NatWest already has.

I agree that this year's fact sheet seems a lot clearer. However, last year the account information said that anyone using online banking would have their e-Saver account open in a couple of days. Mine took a couple of weeks to open as nothing happened until I was sent paperwork to complete and return. That pushed the bonus date back a month. Let's see what happens this time.

I am really disappointed with NatWest's delayed bonuses. I wonder how many of the unwary are caught out depositing a large balance before the bonus kicks in. NatWest will not be getting more than £1 from me until it does.

stringer_bell

Thought I might give this a try, as my ING direct is becoming full and I already have a Natwest current account that I still have

any max balances on this account? Couldn't see any on the pdf

shirehorse78

I checked, and I don't have the offer online.

I called Natwest last week after reading about people having their eSavings bonus period on the previous issue extended and had my bonus rate extended too.

I'll call them again on Monday and see if I can switch to this account. If anyone else is in a similar position and has tried this, let me know if you had any luck!

atypical

No offer for me either. I was offered the previous one year bonus extension that makes the account 2.89%.

tsmiggy

I have a existing e.saver account,and i have never had any offers.I did inherit a sum of £40,000,and i moved it into that account.When i called to ask the question the reply was negative,and no offer.My wife also as a Nat West account,and she got the offer.Needless to say i have now transfered the money out of the Nat West and into Northern Rock ooppppssss Virign Money.I have to say this selective offer stuff does p##s me off.

Gromitt

I don't really see the point of being selective. If they are not going to offer you a good deal then you are obviously going to go elsewhere as plenty of other banks/bs are offering decent rates of 3.1% (ok, mostly BSs from my experience)

ChiefGrasscutter

Look,
They are not going to offer 3.1% to those of use who will move our money at the drop of a hat. They know that we know that there are better rates than this around - so there is no point in bothering to speak to us.
Most bank/building Soc CEO's hate us...indeed one many many years ago dismissed this group of customers as "rate tarts"...and the rest of the sentence left the reader with the distinctive impression that we were regarded as sc*m.

For those who don't ever move their money NatWest will quite happily continue to pay them a post bonus rate of 1% or worse on their money. The banks love this sort of customer.

Then there are the ones in the middle.
The ones these selective rates are aimed at are those who might move their money if they can be arrrrrrsed that day, or maybe next day, or maybe sometime. So Natwest offer them just a little something to keep them happy, not market leading, but just something to stop 'em actually bothering to move.

shirehorse78

I could move my money to Coventry BS for a rate of 3.15%, and will if I don't get their 3.12% offer (which seems likely now).

But if I can get 3.12% from Natwest I'd take it for ease of use along with my Natwest account.

2.89 vs 3.15 is a no-brainer, but 3.12 vs 3.15 I can live with.

rb10

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Look,
They are not going to offer 3.1% to those of use who will move our money at the drop of a hat. They know that we know that there are better rates than this around - so there is no point in bothering to speak to us.
Most bank/building Soc CEO's hate us...indeed one many many years ago dismissed this group of customers as "rate tarts"...and the rest of the sentence left the reader with the distinctive impression that we were regarded as sc*m.

For those who don't ever move their money NatWest will quite happily continue to pay them a post bonus rate of 1% or worse on their money. The banks love this sort of customer.

Then there are the ones in the middle.
The ones these selective rates are aimed at are those who might move their money if they can be arrrrrrsed that day, or maybe next day, or maybe sometime. So Natwest offer them just a little something to keep them happy, not market leading, but just something to stop 'em actually bothering to move.

No, they will offer it to 'rate tarts' - they've offered it to me, and if they looked at my current/previous accounts with them they'd see that I've done nothing but take advantage of them, and have moved my money in/out as soon as rates have risen/fallen.

alanq

rb10 wrote: »

No, they will offer it to 'rate tarts' - they've offered it to me, and if they looked at my current/previous accounts with them they'd see that I've done nothing but take advantage of them, and have moved my money in/out as soon as rates have risen/fallen.

Ditto. I didn't fund my previous eSaver with more than £1 until the bonus kicked in. I began reducing the (at one time significant) balance as more competitive rates became available elsewhere and closed the account completely when no offer of a new/extended bonus was forthcoming.