Name and Shame: Alliance & Leicester

ikr2

The Early Day Motion can be found here:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=28293

It has 13 MPs backing it so far:

7 DUP
1 Con
4 Lab
1 Lib Dem

Pretty cross party mix considering it's only a few signatures so far! Lots of DUP members I guess because Campbell is DUP. I'll email my MP now.

anders

Not sure what the A&L's done wrong here! They've decided to no longer offer a certain sort of account. The interest rate it'll be dropping to is still better than some competitors, and people are free to move to another provider. I don't see why the MP is getting involved.

MrLew

anders wrote:

Not sure what the A&L's done wrong here! They've decided to no longer offer a certain sort of account. The interest rate it'll be dropping to is still better than some competitors, and people are free to move to another provider. I don't see why the MP is getting involved.

People are getting upset becasue it's childrens accounts they are targeting.

I for one will be changing accounts for my kids !

MSE_Martin

The above discussion is interesting. As I noted in the mutterings this week. While I support the sentiment of giving A&L hell. Actually I believe in an adversarial consumer society - it is a companies job to try and screw us for cash, and our job as consumers to stop them.

We could of course legislate to protect rates, but choose not to do so. The reason I support the motion is purely for one of publicity. The real way to target a&l is EVERYONE whos child has that account should ditch it - hit it where it hurts.

Yet, it is important it is understood an Early Day Motion doesn't actually carry any real force of law. In fact it is a bit like an MP's petition and is used as a publicity measure to push or deny things MPs believe in. Thus what this motion is actually doing is generating negative publicity for A&L after its rate cut - and thats something I wholeheartedly support.

[Deleted User]

I quite agree with you Martin, at least they sent out a letter clearly stating the alterations they are making to the account, however I think their policy is short sited, many people excluding "money savers", stay with the same bank etc for the rest of their life.
I shall be switching my Grand daughters account before the due date.

rgaw1

Me thinks the MP is trying to jump on a bandwagon. My son had one of these accounts. A&L gave us plenty of notice to move the account - which I did. Business is business. For those who can't be bothered or just let it sit there - that is their choice. Government sticks in nose in too many places - leave banking alone.

rgaw1

MSE_Martin wrote:

For kicking children where it hurts. A&L is dropping the interest rate on its Firstsaver childrens account from a market leading 5.25% to a pitiful 3.65%! Parents have been filling my inbox on this. To suck kids in in this way with high interest then ditch it is horrendous. An absolute disgrace. Shame on you.

Whilst it is a disgrace. They gave us plenty of notice - by letter - which I dealt with straight away. Looked at this site, found the best deal which suited us - and switched it within 48 hours. The cashier at A&L was not surprised she said people had been closing the accounts in droves - so no loss then.

spacecadet_2

Thanks for all the info, I also opened an A&L account for my grandson which of course I will be moving! I will definately look at the Saffron Waldon account, but it looks like wherever you open an account with a good interest rate it is quickly slashed to a pittance. Martin,We need to look for an account that at least keeps the good interest rate for a whole year

twins_2_Be

spacecadet wrote:

Thanks for all the info, I also opened an A&L account for my grandson which of course I will be moving! I will definately look at the Saffron Waldon account, but it looks like wherever you open an account with a good interest rate it is quickly slashed to a pittance. Martin,We need to look for an account that at least keeps the good interest rate for a whole year

A little update on Saffron Walden account...opened two of their BlueBird (I think thats what its called) for my kids. Customer Services has been very helpful and theyy have an 0800 to call not a 0870 number. So far would highly recommend them.....as a mutual they seem less likley to drop the rate drastically.

IvanOpinion

Is this being done simply because of the emotive 'children' word (always good to abuse the 'children' word in any cause) or is the government now going to dictate what rates ALL accounts should offer. If it is the former case then I am sorry but this stinks of government interference and hypocracy, if it is the latter then it stinks even more of government interference - maybe they want to take control over the mortgage rate again.

How would MPs feel if the public could dictate their salaries? They sure as hell would be taking a massive pay cut ... but then again we could abuse the emotive 'children' word and pretend that all savings made might be used for 'childrens' charities or something.

Flamin nanny state

Ivan