Lloyds cash ISA Brittania

Wig

I transferred my ISA last year from Barclays Golden (first Issue) to Lloyds Cash ISA. My Barclays was giving me 2.23% and would now be dropping to 1.79% in November2013.

When I did the transfer I was not told the Lloyds included a bonus. Lloyds has been paying me 2.35%, I only found out about the bonus ending when I got the letter a few weeks ago.

Is the new rate going to be 1% ( I have lost the letter )?

From Lloyds rates pages
Cash ISA Saver with 12 months fixed bonus - for accounts opened between 09/06/2012 and 12/10/2012

Amount deposited Tax Free/AER % (per annum) £5,000+ 2.35 £2,000 - £4,999 2.10 £1 - £1,999 1.85 These interest rates are correct for accounts opened between 09/06/2012 and 12/10/2012.
Interest rates are variable.


Cash ISA Saver off bonus - for accounts opened between 09/06/2012 and 12/10/2012

Amount deposited Tax Free/AER % (per annum) £5,000+ 1.00 £2,000 - £4,999 0.75 £1 - £1,999 0.50 These interest rates are correct for accounts opened between 09/06/2012 and 12/10/2012.



Shall I now transfer to Brittania 2%... How do I get the Brittania 2.35% what sort of account needs to be opened with co-op? Can I do the transfer first and then open a co-op account later and get the increase to 2.35%

Is there any Lloyds penalty for a transfer out?

I think the government should sort this mess out and legislate to have all ISAs accept transfers in and maximum penalty for moving should be 1 month interest or no penalty at all.(except long term fixed rate ISAs there has to be a lock in clause with a penalty to match) This would stop the consumer from losing out all the time.

Archi_Bald

Wig wrote: »

When I did the transfer I was not told the Lloyds included a bonus.

This information was with 100% certainty on their website at the time you applied.

Wig wrote: »

Is the new rate going to be 1% ( I have lost the letter )?

If you have over £5K, the "off bonus rate" is most likely 1%. Confirm it on http://www.lloydstsb.com/rates/savings/cash-isa-saver.asp

Wig wrote: »

Shall I now transfer to Brittania 2%

anything over 1% seems better.....

Wig wrote: »

How do I get the Brittania 2.35% what sort of account needs to be opened with co-op? Can I do the transfer first and then open a co-op account later and get the increase to 2.35%

All the information is on http://www.britannia.co.uk/_site/campaign/coop/bank/isa2011/1yrfrisa/index.html.

Wig wrote: »

Is there any Lloyds penalty for a transfer out?

Unlikely since it sounds as if you had an instant access ISA. What do your ISA T&Cs say?

Wig wrote: »

I think the government should sort this mess out and legislate to have all ISAs accept transfers in and maximum penalty for moving should be 1 month interest or no penalty at all.(except long term fixed rate ISAs there has to be a lock in clause with a penalty to match) This would stop the consumer from losing out all the time.

Thankfully, such legislation will never happen. It's not a mess, it is an open market, and it is the decision of the financial institution how much risk they are willing to take. It would be disastrous if they were forced to take in any amount of money.
Surely it isn't asked too much to check once a year whether you still get the best deal for your savings?

Wig

Archi_Bald wrote: »

This information was with 100% certainty on their website at the time you applied.

Except I didn't apply online, I was ofered it face to face when I opened my vantage accounts to take advantage of the 4% offer, the bonus rate of the ISA was not made clear.

Thankfully, such legislation will never happen. It's not a mess, it is an open market, and it is the decision of the financial institution how much risk they are willing to take. It would be disastrous if they were forced to take in any amount of money.

Ok there could be a compulsory transfer allowance amount up to a certain limit which could be set at say 30K. 30K would probably allow the majority of ISA savers to switch to any ISA offer if they wanted to and would not be so high as to be a problem for the banks

Surely it isn't asked too much to check once a year whether you still get the best deal for your savings?

That isn't the same point, the point was that consumers with ISA's already are locked out from taking their full balance to all the new ISAs on offer.

Archi_Bald

Wig wrote: »

Ok there could be a compulsory transfer allowance amount up to a certain limit which could be set at say 30K.

I absolutely disagree. It must remain the the free decision of the ISA providers what products and terms they offer.

Anyway, it won't ever happen so no point arguing about it.

ColdIron

Wig wrote: »

I think the government should sort this mess out and legislate to have all ISAs accept transfers in

What a daft idea. I suppose the government also ought to legislate that Manchester United should accept transfer requests from any other football player that wanted to move there

Wig

People like yourselves said the same things to me when I said years ago that gas and electricity suppliers should not be allowed have 100s of different tarrifs making the market work against the consumer....that they should only be allowed a couple of different tariffs.

And recently the government expressed an interest to have only 3 tariffs per suppplier. We haven't got there yet but the energy companies are now under pressure to reduce the number of tariffs.

Hopefully my ideas on ISAs will be taken up by government one day.

opinions4u

I think the government should sort this mess out and legislate to have all ISAs accept transfers in

But that would, potentially, mean consumers miss out on the higher rates the likes of Santander and Nationwide have offered on "no transfer-in" cash ISAs in recent years. How is that a good thing?

and maximum penalty for moving should be 1 month interest or no penalty at all.

In fairness, the ISA you have had with Lloyds TSB has not restricted your ability to transfer elsewhere. But again, some consumers would be willing to tolerate higher penalty clauses in return for a higher interest rate. Why do you want to remove this consumer choice?

When I did the transfer I was not told the Lloyds included a bonus. Lloyds has been paying me 2.35%, I only found out about the bonus ending when I got the letter a few weeks ago

All the leaflets, web site information etc make it clear that the rate includes a bonus. I think it was 18 months in your case.

Regardless, the rate was always variable. They could have changed it any time they wanted to. So while the verbal disclosure may have been missing (or you've forgotten it) that rate was never likely to last forever.

innovate

Wig wrote: »

People like yourselves said the same things to me when I said years ago that gas and electricity suppliers should not be allowed have 100s of different tarrifs making the market work against the consumer....that they should only be allowed a couple of different tariffs.

And recently the government expressed an interest to have only 3 tariffs per suppplier. We haven't got there yet but the energy companies are now under pressure to reduce the number of tariffs.

The effect do this will be that everybody will have to pay higher prices. So well done for campaigning for this change

G_M

I'm sure when you took out the ISA with LLoyds, in branch, there was a leaflet.

It is always up to the customer to make the decision to transfer, and to make that decision the customer is a fool if they don't read the T & Cs first!

12month bonus rates are a common occurrance. They are a pain in that customers have to review their savings regularly, but for customers who look after their savings they are a godsend.

Banks make money from inept lazy ignorant customers who leave their savings languishing on low (post-bonus) rates. As a result they are abole to offer (slightly, these days!) higher rates to attract new customers.