4% AER at Clydesdale and Yorks Bank until March 2015

talexuser

It's bad enough changing energy and insurance every year to get the best deals. Is this a trend to go through the hassle of changing bank accounts too? You know I'm exaggerating but this business of trying to get bank accounts in the hope that afterwards everyone will be too lazy to switch when the rates disappear is getting ridiculous. Ok, rant over, let's get back to chasing the best rates

passau91

This is my take on this news.

I bank with Halifax. I think they are great, they don't upset me and their online banking works a treat, especially now that their 'faster transfers' are pretty much instant!*

I have a Reward Current Account (which pays me £5 per month) and the related Clarity Reward Credit Card (which pays £5 per month if you spend more than £300 on it in a month), which I treat as a debit card, because I follow the maxim of 'paying it off IN FULL(!)':D. I've had this combination since April 2009 and there is no news of it ending.

This therefore matches the Clydesdale/Yorkshire Bank deals on my balance which is usually much less than £3,000 - so I'd say that was much easier to manage. Of course, if you can manipulate the Clydesdale/Yorkshire account in addition to a Halifax account, you'd be quids in.

And you don't have to find an obscure branch...

I hope that adds something to the mix.

*The only letdown is that they just renewed my cards, but still do NOT have contactless payment cards in general circulation (although my mother does have them from Halifax with exactly the same account structure)

Archi_Bald

passau91 wrote: »

Of course, if you can manipulate the Clydesdale/Yorkshire account in addition to a Halifax account, you'd be quids in.

That's what people here are interested in (it's the Savings and Investment board, not the current account board). Banks will of course be looking for 'proper' current account customers but as long as they pay better interest in current account than in savings accounts, they will inevitably attract savers. Very few, if any, of these would switch their existing current account.

Eco_Miser

Perhaps I'm going blind, but I can't see a link to the actual, legal, terms and conditions - just a summary on the page linked to above. In particular, I want to know what happens if £1000 is not credited in any particular month, and is the month a calendar month. (I would be upgrading a YB Current Account Plus which aleady receives a variable income from dividend payments on the last day of the month, so it's concievable something could go wrong)

Archi_Bald

The CB T&Cs are here: http://www.cbonline.co.uk/resources/0/7/07481e804f9daefc84b797c817e3d067/078032-DualPersonal-and-PrivateBanking-DU191.pdf?CACHEID=07481e804f9daefc84b797c817e3d067

Account-specific terms are in clause 5.3.

Quick glance suggests they might downgrade you to a non-interest paying account if you fail to pay in the monthly £1K more than once.

I haven't looked for their definition of "month" but it appears to be a calendar month.

YorkshireBoy

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Quick glance suggests they might downgrade you to a non-interest paying account if you fail to pay in the monthly £1K more than once.

...but they'll give you 60 days notice, so hopefully you can get it reinstated once 'nudged'?

I haven't looked for their definition of "month" but it appears to be a calendar month.

YB (so I assume CB too?) work on calendar months, not statement or billing periods like other banks.

However, credit interest on this account doesn't follow the calendar month protocol, because it's paid on the last business day of the month (so could be 2-4 days earlier some months depending on weekends/Bank Holidays).

Milarky

YB,

Do you know what the cut off time for faster payments is with these banks? Also, do they only count Monday to Friday as their bank 'working days' so that Saturday & Sunday transfers are dated the next banking day?

Thnx

YorkshireBoy

Milarky wrote: »

YB,

Do you know what the cut off time for faster payments is with these banks?

Sorry Milarky, I haven't used my YB account 'in anger' for several years now so can't really help with that. IIRC though, their updates used to happen around 10:30pm, with Monday's credits being visible (and 'available') at 10:30 Friday evening, but things may have changed now.

Also, do they only count Monday to Friday as their bank 'working days' so that Saturday & Sunday transfers are dated the next banking day?

Section 3.3 et seq from Archie's link above may answer that question?

Archi_Bald

Freefone for CB and YB CS: 0800-234-6550

I applied on that number. Call takes over 30 minutes, and they give you a thorough grilling for why you want the account. Moderate pressure to switch from your old account, but they seem to relent when you say you want to give them a try first. So I am now the proud owner of another current account. Might try for a second one in a couple of weeks time - they said they are happy for people to have one each at CB and at YB.

Anyone still desperate for a Maestro card: you can choose between A Mastercard debit card or a Maestro.

unwina

According to this

http://www.cbonline.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/Faster_Payments/

fp are £5000 max online and normally 2hrs

check here for other banks

http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/resources_and_publications/faster_payments_value_limits/

I've entered my details waiting for a call back to see what happens