Regular Saver - have i been ripped off?

iva_2

I see now. Still people should be complaining even if the discrepancy is between £130 and £52, and not between £300 and £52 as some have mistakenly believed. I also corrected my first post. It now reads: "A Barclays adviser told me that it is a system error: when the standing order date falls on a weekend, the transfer is dated next Monday. It is inevitable that the condition of "the same day of each month" is broken." I think it should be widely announced on this forum and in a Martin's newsletter.

oldfella

A Barclays adviser told me that it is a system error: when the standing order date falls on a weekend, the transfer is dated next Monday. It is inevitable that the condition of "the same day of each month" is broken.

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mine paid out correctly when this had happened several times during the year

Jake'sGran

QUOTE
Personally I am able to gain a rate of 7% effective on my entire savings (ie through drip feeding from one account) using these accounts. They provide allow one to get by far the best cash rate in the market place today. To say that they are a rip off or misleading in someway just suggests a complete misunderstanding of a relatively simple financial concept.[/QUOTE]

I don't remember using the words "rip off" and I am perfectly capable of understanding how to work out what I will get at the end of the term/year. It will not be the headline rate! Good for you if you can be bothered messing about drip feeding money from one account to another and watching to make sure the dates are right. Me, I like to keep it simple and have done well out of it using lump sum investment. Some of the banks do like to mislead people and I have received one lot of compensation this year as a result of a legitimate complaint. I don't hesitate to tell the Ombudsman when a bank or any other financial institution does not tell it the way they should.

krisskross

My 10% one matured last month. It paid £123 net interest. I have opened another Barclays one, bit higher rate now. I save from another savings account then use the proceeds of the high rate one to fund my ISA, so hopefully am getting the best return I can.

SeanW

Wonder why drip feeding is a pain, one transaction a month, takes about 1 minute. If your savings offer direct debit, it's one 5 minute job!

12+11+10...+1 = 78 by the way.

Paul_Herring

SeanW wrote: »

12+11+10...+1 = 78 by the way.

Oops. Corrected, thanks.

cissybay

Thank you for raising this OP; I'm glad it's not just me. My 10% Regular saver also matured recently and I got my statement today. Despite having paid 250 in every month and the rate quoted on my statement being 10% I have receive only £54.74 (£68.42 gross) interest. Now I understand that I'm only getting 10% on what's in the account (and to those who crititcise us regular savers, it's the only way I can save - I don't have a lump sum) but clearly I've not got 10% of even that. I queried the interest this morning but the lady on the phone fobbed me off with 'it's calculated on a monthly basis'. Having read this thread I'm now calling again, armed with the arguments, so thank you!

regularsaver1

how did you get on?

cissybay

OK. Here is what Barclays told me.

After being in held in a queue for 30 mins I finally got through to a real person. (note: use freephone 0500 007 234 instead of the usual telephone banking 0845 number - if you press the buttons to explain that you already have an account, you get put onto exactly the same system as the 0845 number... but for free!).

I explained that I wasn't happy with the interest calculation. The lady asked me what interest I had expected to receive; I said about £130. She said yes, that was about right, unless I had breached the conditions of the Regular Saver Account. Had I received a letter telling me that I had breached the conditions? No.

She said that there was a problem with the interest calculators and that this had happened a few times; I had been paid the wrong amount. She tried to put me through to Retail Banking to rectify the problem, but they had gone home for the night (they close at 8pm - shame about the half hour wait in the queue!).

So she offered either to log a complaint or suggested I call back tomorrow before 8pm. I logged a complaint; they will call me within 48 hours.

So there you are! I wonder how many people will conveniently not call to complain, netting Barclays a massive profit? The experience has given me the necessary kick to finally persuade me to switch to a better current account!

RobLondon1984

I also have a similar problem. I was told that my account would recieve 3.45% gross interest, but when I got a tax certificate after closing my account, I calculated that I got 1.16% gross interest. I proberly need to complain, do I go to the branch or do it over the phone?