Shocked at annual interest on savings

Birdynumnum

Hi Everyone,
My first post new to the forum hope I've posted in the appropriate place.

Following my divorce we sold the house and split the equity equally, I put my share in a savings account as I didn't want to tie it up as I had planned to purchase another property and downsize. Long story short I didn't buy and the money remained in the account for a year at the end of which I received £723 interest at 1.5%.

The money remained in the account and a year later I was shocked to see my interest had dropped to £26 for the year. The amount in the account was less the following year but never less than £30K, having contacted the bank I was told the interest rate fell in year 2 from 1.5% to 0.1% 15 times less than the previous year. The bank said they had written to me to inform me of this but I recall no such communication. I said given the difference in interest rates, some 1500% I would have thought it incumbent upon them to speak to me or perhaps write with a requirement that I sign something to say I was aware of the change as letters do get lost in the post.

They said they had no such obligation and that the reduced interest rate was outlined in the terms & conditions which I had signed 2 years previously.

Now clearly empore caveat applies and I should have been more aware, that said I feel that the bank had a duty to ensure I was aware of the reduced interest rate and that their obligation extended beyond sending out a letter, if indeed the letter was ever sent.

Long story short is there anything I can do to recoup my lost interest, I have told them that I simply wish to receive the interest I could have earned on the money which is approx £370, I said that surely no sane person would leave the money in an account earning so little interest and that this fact alone illustrated that I was not aware of the changed rate.Frankly I could have given the money to a monkey and sent him to the bookies with an expected better rate of return.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thrugelmir

Birdynumnum wrote: »

Now clearly empore caveat applies and I should have been more aware, that said I feel that the bank had a duty to ensure I was aware of the reduced interest rate and that their obligation extended beyond sending out a letter, if indeed the letter was ever sent.

Financial institutions now conform to a code. People need to accept a responsibility to review their own financial affairs on a regular basis. Only takes an hour every so often. Piling yet further regulation on the financial institutions even further will merely lower the return . As the cost has to be borne by someone.

talexuser

Well you could start an official complaint through their system but the chances frankly are pretty low unless you pile on the hard luck story, and then perhaps end up with £50 as a goodwill gesture.

This is the way almost all accounts operate nowadays. The bank should be able to prove they sent a letter, you cannot prove you did not receive a letter about change of interest rate. In any case it is your responsibility to read terms and conditions before you sign. I think you will have to put it down to experience, which is a hard lesson for someone who might not have been used to dealing with these sort of issues before. Sorry it's not better news.

ColdIron

You don't have a leg to stand on I'm afraid, they informed you and the information is freely available. You can't not have noticed that interest rates have been at historic lows for a number of years now and unless you had locked it into a fixed rate account your rate was variable. To leave that amount of cash in a savings account and not check the interest rate it was receiving more than once year is simply too long. Take it as a valuable lesson and find the best place for it now by reading some of the threads on this forum, trying to take it further with you bank will be a fruitless waste of your time. Sorry and all that

jimjames

Birdynumnum wrote: »

I said that surely no sane person would leave the money in an account earning so little interest and that this fact alone illustrated that I was not aware of the changed rate.Frankly I could have given the money to a monkey and sent him to the bookies with an expected better rate of return.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Some people do that though and prefer pittance than hassle of moving money. I know someone with £170k in an account getting similar returns. I get more interest per month with £4k in tsb than they do on £170k.

PasturesNew

It's not like the old days when you put money in an account and it chugged along. Now they tempt you with a high rate, then drop it after X months, and it's up to you to faff around and start from scratch each year, perpetually moving money around and accumulating accounts, random letters and offers of insurance dropping through the door weekly and a raft of assorted paperwork of all sorts that comes with it.

B_G_B

Birdynumnum wrote: »

I said that surely no sane person would leave the money in an account earning so little interest and that this fact alone illustrated that I was not aware of the changed rate.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Although I have no evidence to back this up, I would say that the majority of people with savings, have their money in accounts paying below par interest. Certainly true of a lot of people that I know, and something that I did for many years (albeit not with £30,000). If I look at my own record over the years with a couple of hundred here, and a couple of thousand there, earning minimal interest, i could live in a state of constant regret. But there is no point doing that. It ain’t going to change the past.
If you want to make the most interest, short to medium term, instant access, take a look at the many posts ref interest paying current accounts.
TSB, Lloyds, Nationwide, BoS, Santander etc. Takes a little effort to set up / monitor / monthly shuffle etc, but I would expect to earn that £26 pounds on £30,000 in approx 10 days!

Archi_Bald

Birdynumnum wrote: »

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Put your efforts into working out where you get better interest. You could, for instance, read the savings article on MSE, or browse the forum.

Forget about complaining to the bank.

Choose a better nickname next time.

mgdavid

Birdynumnum wrote: »

................ I feel that the bank had a duty to ensure I was aware of the reduced interest rate

they do, they did.

Birdynumnum wrote: »

their obligation extended beyond sending out a letter.......

it doesn't.

Birdynumnum wrote: »

Long story short is there anything I can do to recoup my lost interest,......

'fraid not.

Wheres_My_Cashback

Birdynumnum wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
My first post new to the forum hope I've posted in the appropriate place.

Following my divorce we sold the house and split the equity equally, I put my share in a savings account as I didn't want to tie it up as I had planned to purchase another property and downsize. Long story short I didn't buy and the money remained in the account for a year at the end of which I received £723 interest at 1.5%.

The money remained in the account and a year later I was shocked to see my interest had dropped to £26 for the year. The amount in the account was less the following year but never less than £30K, having contacted the bank I was told the interest rate fell in year 2 from 1.5% to 0.1% 15 times less than the previous year. The bank said they had written to me to inform me of this but I recall no such communication. I said given the difference in interest rates, some 1500% I would have thought it incumbent upon them to speak to me or perhaps write with a requirement that I sign something to say I was aware of the change as letters do get lost in the post.

They said they had no such obligation and that the reduced interest rate was outlined in the terms & conditions which I had signed 2 years previously.

Now clearly empore caveat applies and I should have been more aware, that said I feel that the bank had a duty to ensure I was aware of the reduced interest rate and that their obligation extended beyond sending out a letter, if indeed the letter was ever sent.

Long story short is there anything I can do to recoup my lost interest, I have told them that I simply wish to receive the interest I could have earned on the money which is approx £370, I said that surely no sane person would leave the money in an account earning so little interest and that this fact alone illustrated that I was not aware of the changed rate.Frankly I could have given the money to a monkey and sent him to the bookies with an expected better rate of return.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

You've nothing to recoup as you weren't entitled to more and because of that, never received more.

Hundreds of thousands of people leave money in low paying accounts. They're probably quite sane, though rather forgetful perhaps, ill disciplined, not money savvy, irresponsible with money etc
Maybe you should have given the money to a monkey, but what does that say about you ? The monkey is more responsible than you when it comes to finance?

Your money, your choice to read and understand what you're signing ! Quite frankly I don't believe you wouldn't have been told

dunstonh

The bank said they had written to me to inform me of this but I recall no such communication.

In many cases, details of the interest rate is included with the statements. You also get your annual certificate of interest. So, you appear to have not read that either.

I said given the difference in interest rates, some 1500% I would have thought it incumbent upon them to speak to me or perhaps write with a requirement that I sign something to say I was aware of the change as letters do get lost in the post.

They did write to you. They cannot personally speak to every account holder. That is totally unrealistic and not required.

Long story short is there anything I can do to recoup my lost interest, I have told them that I simply wish to receive the interest I could have earned on the money which is approx £370,

You got the right interest on the account you chose to have.

I said that surely no sane person would leave the money in an account earning so little interest and that this fact alone illustrated that I was not aware of the changed rate.

You left that money in that account and the fact you were not aware of the rate is your own fault (sorry)