Club Lloyds Monthly saver approaching 12 months

oldfella

I opened this towards the end of April last year, and moved the payment date to the 1st of the month for the May payment.

I have now made 12 monthly payments so was expecting the standing order to be deleted, but it looks like it will make a 13th payment on the 1st April.

My reading of the T&Cs is that this is OK.

Anybody else in the same position or would like to comment ?

thanks .. Mike

Herbalus

There was a large thread about it this time last year. Some big discussion about whether you could open one and fund £400 on 30 April and then start the SO on 1 May. Turns out you can so I think you'll be ok.

bowlhead99

I think the pertinent bits are
"You must set up a standing order to pay an amount of between £25 and £400 into the Account each calendar month it is open, You should arrange for the first of these payments to take place within 30 days of opening the Account. "

"You can make as many withdrawals as you like into your Club Lloyds current account, but you can only pay in once a month by standing order and can’t replace what you’ve withdrawn. This standing order must reach your account by the 25th of each month for it to be counted as that month's payment."

"You must pay in money by standing order each month. The amount you pay in each month is limited. "

So if you first paid on say 20th of Apr 2014, that would be counted as April 2014 and then your payment on 1 May 2014, 1 June 2014 etc would be counted as those month's payments as they're all before 25 of the respective month. One would assume you shouldn't then also put money in during April 2015 as it would be a 13th payment, but the T&C does not explicitly say you can only have 12 payments, if they are working on calendar months and your first 12 months of the account spans 13 calendar months. So perhaps this will be completely fine.

Alternatively, if you opened it on 29 April 2014, then the money didn't reach your account by 25 April 2014... so would perhaps be counted for the next "month" (ie 29 April to 28 May, or 1 May to 31 May depending how they do it); then when you contribute again on 1 May 2014 you have doubled up so the new money in your account won't qualify for interest until the following month. In that way, you can keep going but when you get to the payment on 1 April 2015 it is not going to qualify until May by which time the account will have converted into a rather less useful Easy Saver account paying half a percent or so...

I seem to remember the thread from last year that Herbalus mentions but don't quite remember the conclusion

Really what you should be doing as a MSE coming into the last month is work out where you are going to put the money next! £4800 or so will earn £16 for the last month so if you have a good alternative use for it that could earn something close to that (e.g. Santander 123 pays £12), and have any real doubt about the Lloyds T&C, you could always just hop off early with no harm done - or use the cash to top up your Lloyds current account into the £4-5k range if it isn't there already.

As a side note, you mentioned you thought the SO would be deleted: unlike DDs, SOs are instigated and controlled by the customer not pulled through by the bank. If you don't stop sending them cash it will just pile up in what turns into a low interest easy saver account, so make sure you cancel this SO in due course.

oldfella

thanks for the quick replies
the first payment was the 23rd April so OK there
I dont have anywhere that will earn close to 4% for the last month so will probably make the 13th payment and let it go to completion

Archi_Bald

You realise you can start a new regular saver when this one has matured?

oldfella

yes indeed, and looking forward to 23rd April !

5erge

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You realise you can start a new regular saver when this one has matured?

This is what I found out today. I'm not sure if you can transfer what you've already accumulated in your current Club Lloyds Monthly saver but if not it doesn't really matter too much, it just means a further year of 4%.

noh

13 payments are ok or at least they have been with all the previous Lloyds regular savers.

kar999

I've just received a letter from Lloyds confirming the account "ends" on 31 March 2015 and becomes "on the next working day" (1st April) an Easy Saver with 0.5% interest.

I made my first payment on 1st April 2014 and the 13th one would have been 1st April 2015 so clearly there is no chance that a 13th payment will go through.

colsten

5erge wrote: »

This is what I found out today. I'm not sure if you can transfer what you've already accumulated in your current Club Lloyds Monthly saver but if not it doesn't really matter too much, it just means a further year of 4%.

You cannot transfer any existing balance. It is an entirely new monthly saver account, same T&Cs as before, i.e. deposit max £400 a month by SO, 12 months duration, 4% AER.

kar999

It also appears that I'm being prevented from applying online for a new Club Saver as my old one hasn't matured yet.

Let's hope they don't drop the rate on 1st April!!

colsten wrote: »

It is an entirely new monthly saver account, same T&Cs as before, i.e. deposit max £400 a month by SO, 12 months duration, 4% AER.

Maybe not....

From today's letter.... "Open a new Club Lloyds Monthly Saver for another 12 months. You will get the rate available on the date you open your account, which may not be the same as your current rate"

Customer service have just confirmed that you can't open a new account until the old one matures......

...... anyone want to bet on it being less than 4% after the 1st April??