Let down by Lloyds

the4bennetts

Hi all

I am very used to moving savings around and keep up to date with rate expiry dates.

However, I rang Lloyds today to query the 2% interest that they had given to the monthly saver account. I opened this account in the branch at a rate of 4% fixed for a year.

Lloyds (after transferring me to many different teams) told me this rate was 4% when I opened the account but was changed after 30 days to 2%.

I am fed up of Lloyds calling to have a chat! as they never seem to chat about rates expiring and it feels just a tick box to get you in. I am livid as the ISA we have would have given more from interest and I didnt know.

Any tips? I saved £50 a month for a year.

jennifernil

A fixed rate cannot be changed. How much interest did you get in total?

Before tax, saving £50 per month @ 4% should give you around £ 12 interest. Precise amount would depend on dates of deposits.

qpop

Further to above post, this is taken from a moneysavingexpert guide:

Don't believe the bad press

Sadly regular saver accounts often receive negative publicity due to a flawed understanding. Many people say they've used regular savers, but only received around half the interest they thought they would... yet that's because they expected the wrong amount, not because they were underpaid. Here's a wee example...

Mr Matt Mattics and his £3,000 savings

Matt has saved a total of £3,000 in a regular savings account paying 10% interest over a year, and is a non-taxpayer.

What Matt expects to earn? His simple sum works out that he's put £3,000 in at 10% therefore he should earn £300 in interest

Why is this wrong? Matt only had £3,000 in there for the last month; it took a year to build up to that amount. You only earn interest on money in the account. So after the first month he was earning the 10% on just £250, half way through the year he was earning it on £1,500 .

How Matt should work it out? Over the year, his average balance was roughly half the £3,000, in other words £1,500... so Matt should expect to earn around 10% of £1,500 over the year, which is £150.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts

What's more worrying is that if it is because of this, nobody knew at the bank!!

opinions4u

the4bennetts wrote: »

However, I rang Lloyds today to query the 2% interest that they had given to the monthly saver account. I opened this account in the branch at a rate of 4% fixed for a year.

I assume you mean 5% gross/AER, 4% net.

Lloyds (after transferring me to many different teams) told me this rate was 4% when I opened the account but was changed after 30 days to 2%.

I suspect they've rather stupidly informed you wrongly.

Any tips? I saved £50 a month for a year.

So only £50 of your money was saved for a full year. Another £50 for 11 months. A further £50 for 10 months and so on.

Your average balance would be in the region of £325. At a rate of 4% net I'd expect around £13 interest. Slightly more or less depending on exact numbers of days involved.

Did you really expect them to pay you a full year's interest on money that hadn't actually been there for a full year?