30 days loss of interest

lozzer

I opened up a post office savings account online that had a 12 month introductory bonus of 1%

It clearly stated that any withdrawals would be subject to 30 days loss of interest.

I assumed that it was a notice account but the truth is that any withdrawal will always lose 30 days interest.

Is this common?

It strikes me that in any year you will only get 11/12ths of the advertised rate.

The fault is mine for not checking clearly but the product seems mis-advertised.

Reaper

You haven't said which account it is but if it is the Reward Saver then you just have to give notice.

Easy access: withdrawals are free of charge with 30 days’ notice

alanq

lozzer wrote: »

The fault is mine for not checking clearly...

I agree. With any product it is vital to read and digest the Ts&Cs and not make assumptions based on what you expect to find.

I don't think that it is all that common for easy access accounts to have penalties for all withdrawals. It is quite common to have say 4 withdrawals a year without penalty and lose an amount equivalent to a number of days' interest on further withdrawals during the year.

lozzer

The account is an online reserve.

"....you can make withdrawals whenever, with the loss of just 30 days interest on the amount withdrawn. There are no notice periods."

That means you will *always* lose 30 days interest on *everything* you save. There is no escape.

VT82

lozzer wrote: »

"....you can make withdrawals whenever, with the loss of just 30 days interest on the amount withdrawn. There are no notice periods."

And that's definitely not preceded by 'You can make x penalty-free withdrawals per account year. After this,...'? If so, that's truly shocking!

grizzly1911

I can't see that account on their website.

There is a Reward Saver:-

Flexible withdrawals and easy access to your savings when you need it, subject to a loss of 30 days’ gross interest on the amount withdrawn. Alternatively, access your savings free of charge by providing 30 days’ notice. Please note you can only have one 30 day notice withdrawal pending at any one time

I would be surprised if an account did not have a free withdrawal on giving the prescribed notice.

xylophone

These on-line reserve accounts seem to be "by invitation only" - what kind of customer is on the invitation list? http://www.postoffice.co.uk/interest-rates#Online Reserve Issue 4

Why would anyone choose one of these?

lozzer

You are offered one of these if you had a pre viols savings account with them.

What sort of person?

dumwit:mad:

innovate

Yep, just had one of these offered since apparently I am a "dear valued customer" to them. It's an outrageously bad offer, certainly for me, and I will gladly pass on this almost obscenely bad account.

innovate

lozzer wrote: »

The fault is mine for not checking clearly but the product seems mis-advertised.

Yep, the fault is yours entirely, I am afraid. The product is not mis-advertised, they are stating very clearly what the withdrawal (and other) terms are. And they are free to offer whatever miserable T&Cs they feel like, as long as the T&Cs are not in breach of their licence. Bad interest rates and/or withdrawal penalties are not a breach of licence if they are defined in the T&Cs.

lozzer

innovate wrote: »

Yep, the fault is yours entirely, I am afraid. The product is not mis-advertised, they are stating very clearly what the withdrawal (and other) terms are..

Sorry, where was this explained very clearly?

I had to dig quite deep to find out what I quoted earlier. I said it was my fault for not reading the small print. Be pleased if you could show me the big print.

It is very unusual to not give notice to withdraw.