Airdrie Savings Bank

Paul_1977

Is anyone with Airdrie Savings Bank?

I am wondering if they allow you to have an account without the need for a branch.

They seem quite small and safe without being involved in arms trades and all that.

cheers.

Zanderman

No direct knowledge of them - though on looking at their website I'd say avoid them for savings because their rates are pathetically low and for a current account because their charges are so high.

Their best non-ISA rate is 0.3% gross (0.24% net) and that's on £20K+ (an atrocious rate for that level of investment). Their best ISA rate is 0.75%, which is equally unimpressive. https://airdriesavingsbank.com/personal/savings-accounts/savings-rates/

And if you did open a current account with them they charge £5 per month for it, plus 30p for cash machine withdrawals! https://airdriesavingsbank.com/personal/current-account/tariff-of-charges/
(and £5 if you lose your debit card or need a PIN renewed!)

They may be ethical investors, but I'm not sure they're quite so committed to good products for their customers.

Paul_1977

Zanderman wrote: »

No direct knowledge of them - though on looking at their website I'd say avoid them for savings because their rates are pathetically low and for a current account because their charges are so high.

Their best non-ISA rate is 0.3% gross (0.24% net) and that's on £20K+ (an atrocious rate for that level of investment). Their best ISA rate is 0.75%, which is equally unimpressive. https://airdriesavingsbank.com/personal/savings-accounts/savings-rates/

And if you did open a current account with them they charge £5 per month for it, plus 30p for cash machine withdrawals! https://airdriesavingsbank.com/personal/current-account/tariff-of-charges/
(and £5 if you lose your debit card or need a PIN renewed!)

They may be ethical investors, but I'm not sure they're quite so committed to good products for their customers.

I did look at that, I am prepared to pay those charges if it means my money is in a decent place.

Archi_Bald

Paul_1977 wrote: »

I did look at that, I am prepared to pay those charges if it means my money is in a decent place.

I agree with Zanderman - a decent place would pay their customers more than sub-inflation interest rates, and wouldn't levy £5 a month and other charges for a current account that offers no perks. But each to their own.

boo_star

Archi_Bald wrote: »

I agree with Zanderman - a decent place would pay their customers more than sub-inflation interest rates, and wouldn't levy £5 a month and other charges for a current account that offers no perks. But each to their own.

I used to work for a bank that levied a £5 charge for lost cards. Nobody was ever charged it. I think even the big banks had it in their list of charges just in case a serial card loser started taking the urine.

Of course they may actually do it with this bank so it's certainly a risk.

Edit: It's lost cards only so just report it as stolen (probably why the major banks removed it from their charging list.)

Paul_1977

When I say a decent place I mean a good, small ethical bank. I do not care about charges when they are quite low.

They only make a profit of £250,000 per year!

boo_star

Paul_1977 wrote: »

When I say a decent place I mean a good, small ethical bank. I do not care about charges when they are quite low.

They only make a profit of £250,000 per year!

It's nice that you want to do the right thing and invest ethically but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

xylophone

https://www.triodos.co.uk/en/personal/savings-overview/internet-banking/

You might look at the above?

Archi_Bald

Paul_1977 wrote: »

When I say a decent place I mean a good, small ethical bank. I do not care about charges when they are quite low.

They only make a profit of £250,000 per year!

Is that the profit for their latest financial year? They actually reported a loss of £72K (before tax) in their last published accounts. This is for the year ending October 2013. I could not find their report for the year ending October 2014.

As to their ethics: I don't like it if a company doesn't put their customers first, and Airdrie definitely don't when it comes to the interest they pay on savings.

Archi_Bald

xylophone wrote: »

https://www.triodos.co.uk/en/personal/savings-overview/internet-banking/

You might look at the above?

They are even worse as they are not members of the FSCS.

Armorica

Archi_Bald wrote: »

They are even worse as they are not members of the FSCS.

They couldn't be covered by FSCS as non-UK incorporated. There is equivalent minimum protection of 100,000€ for eligible customers across the EU now. As Tridos is Dutch registered, it would be covered by the Dutch scheme.

https://www.triodos.co.uk/en/about-triodos/important-information/deposit-guarantee-scheme/ provides full details.

"even worse" is therefore an exagerration. However, if the OP is well off...due to exchange rates, 100k€ currently means £75kish, rather than the £85k for sterling.