AA rip off about to happen?

mesizemeals

Hi all wonder if I can get some quick advice - my mother had a fixed 1 yr rate with the AA starting in 2009 and they sent a maturity instruction to her after that had finshed. As I looked after her finds I then re-invested the money in a 2 year fixed rate at 4.1% with them - and now we realise that this matured last Feb 2012. However, my mother didn't receive any maturity letter on this and hence didnt let me know it needed re-investing. Sometimes indeed her post has been sent to the same address in another region and maybe this is what happened? Whilst the AA are now dealing with this - I am preparing myself for a heated discussion if they say my mother has to accept that she only gets 0.1% interest for the whole of last year which is a default rate - she only realised this in fact when the AA sent her a statement which did arrive this month and was horrified as you may well imagine!
In such a busy day and age - I think that the least the AA could have done is contacted my mother with at least a reminder as nothing is ever sent recorded and obviously she didnt get any reminder and has possibly now lost @ £1600 in interest as a result. Any views advice much appreciated! many thanks Steve :T

Hooloovoo

mesizemeals wrote: »

As I looked after her finds ... However, my mother didn't receive any maturity letter on this and hence didnt let me know it needed re-investing.

If you look after her funds, isn't it your job to keep track of these things? Didn't you make an entry in your diary to remind you about the end of the fixed rate period?

I don't see as there is anyone else to blame here.

alanq

You admit that post has gone astray in the past so you have no proof of a "rip off".

Financial institutions get criticised for automatically reinvesting in another fixed-term saving accounts yet the alternative as in your case is moving funds to an instant access account earning little interest. I prefer the latter option to the former.

Sadly the best advice is not to rely on anyone else and keep your own diary so that you are never put into this situation again.

YorkshireBoy

I think you'll have to reimburse her the £1,600. After all, as you say, you were looking after her finances.

I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear though.

Reaper

For the future I suggest you register for free for the Savings Champion "Rate Tracker" and enter all your savings accounts. They will email you to tell you when the expiry date comes up or the rate drops and suggest alternatives.
http://www.savingschampion.co.uk/rate-tracker/

innovate

Reaper wrote: »

For the future I suggest you register for free for the Savings Champion "Rate Tracker" and enter all your savings accounts. They will email you to tell you when the expiry date comes up or the rate drops and suggest alternatives.
http://www.savingschampion.co.uk/rate-tracker/

Yes, then the OP can blame savingschampion if he/she forgets again.

meggsy

OP the AA usually send reminders very early, I had a letter dated September 2012 about my account maturity of 9th December.

Good luck though as you say "my mother didn't receive any maturity letter on this and hence didn't let me know it needed re-investing"

Nicholas-bloody-Parsons

Meggsy is correct. AA are one of the more reliable banks who always write. I had a letter in Nov 2011 and Nov 2012 telling me the one year fix or account was ending. Usually a month or six weeks before maturity.

Personal experience has taught me its not worth relying on the reminders. you must diarise the maturity dates.

If you believe that you did not get a letter, it is worth complaining, as I got santander to cough up £100 compensation once for keeping me in a crappy rate after the fix ended.

mesizemeals

OK many thanks for replies - some harsh I know but in reality I am not a financial accountant or a volunteer custodian of her assets - merely asked on one occasion to invest in the best for her, which I did and reckoned just like the first fixed rate - she would give me the nod when she wanted advice again. As we all have our own family matters, Im quite surprised at the backing for a financial institution who put her on such a terrible rate + if you don't respond to one letter, maybe dont think anything of it? Is this responsible - would any of the critics be happy with something that went amiss to be given 0.10% and think no more - of course whithout being too harsh - who stood to benefit from not checking she had received the letter? Is that responsible with a pensioners money? I think the AA - though not had a call back from them since yesterday morning even though I was assured this would be treated as 'urgent', should have that responsibility when people 'do' rely on reminders - if you have all the time in the world great, but I dont and really see this as a genuine case but will see. thanks anyway! Steve

badger09

mesizemeals wrote: »

OK many thanks for replies - some harsh I know but in reality I am not a financial accountant or a volunteer custodian of her assets - merely asked on one occasion to invest in the best for her, which I did and reckoned just like the first fixed rate - she would give me the nod when she wanted advice again. As we all have our own family matters, Im quite surprised at the backing for a financial institution who put her on such a terrible rate + if you don't respond to one letter, maybe dont think anything of it? Is this responsible - would any of the critics be happy with something that went amiss to be given 0.10% and think no more - of course whithout being too harsh - who stood to benefit from not checking she had received the letter? Is that responsible with a pensioners money? I think the AA - though not had a call back from them since yesterday morning even though I was assured this would be treated as 'urgent', should have that responsibility when people 'do' rely on reminders - if you have all the time in the world great, but I dont and really see this as a genuine case but will see. thanks anyway! Steve

I think some of the comments above were harsh, but equally, you suggested an AA 'rip off' in your heading, which I think is equally inappropriate.

We all need to take responsibility for our own finances, or those of our nearest & dearest. I've been helping my sister sort hers out since she lost her husband last May. She won't remember when various accounts mature, or bonuses expire, but I will, because I've kept notes. I'm not saying I'll check every day, but I won't let her sit on a poxy rate for more than a couple of weeks, let alone a year :eek:

Its very unlikely that AA didn't send out notification on time, as others have said, they're usually very prompt. Its also unreasonable to expect them to keep on writing just because your mum didn't take any action .

le_loup

Please OP, don't use the term rip-off unless you are certain that there has been a rip-off. It's just lazy, careless and what cheap newspapers use to get attention.
However, if there has been a rip-off, let us know because we are all interested. Meanwhile, if you or anyone has a question that you don't know the answer to, you will get all the help you need from us.
Now, would you like to change the header of your post?