Name and Shame: Alliance & Leicester

D.A.

rgaw1 wrote:

Me thinks the MP is trying to jump on a bandwagon.

A DUP MP jump on a bandwagon?? Perish the thought.

lipidicman

IvanOpinion wrote:

Is this being done simply because of the emotive 'children' word ....

e·mo·tive( Pronunciation Key (-mtv)
adj.

1. Of or relating to emotion: the emotive aspect of symbols.
2. Characterized by, expressing, or exciting emotion: an emotive trial lawyer; the emotive issue of gun control.

Like so many of your posts Ivan!

ikr2

My MP has emailed me within 24 hours basically saying that it's a free market and to move accounts like he has done for his child. He said he would look at the EDM but reading between the lines is unlikely to sign it.

I think I was miffed because I only opened the account 5 months ago!

Also their suggestions of alternative products was really thin. In these days of low interest rates a cut from 5.25% to 4.0% is a relative cut of over 20% in actually interest.

bunny_3

I had recently opened an account with A&L for my daughter - big mistake as they have appalling changed the rate, absolutely disgusting !

Can anyone let me know about any good childrens saving accounts and any good accounts to put CTF funds into?

Thanks !

scottmartin

As an A&L branch employee, I think one of the main reasons that the company decided to withdraw the FirstSaver account and cut the rate is because of the large number of adults using the account as if it were their own, making regular deposits and withdrawals.

Personally I cannot see what all this fuss is about. 3.65% is still a competitive rate for a book based savings account. If you're no longer happy with it, close it and go elsewhere, but don't be upset if in response to publicity like this the company decide to increase the rate again and you cannot re-open another account.

isasmurf

IvanOpinion wrote:

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

What's this got to do with the Government? It is an EDM by a DUP MP, nothing to do with the Government.

Wig

I agree with the EDM, and will ask my MP to sign it. But I don't think he will cos he's a moron.

My main agreement with the EDM is that the A&L have sucked in loads of kids (parents) and has now drastically cut the rate by 30% I think generally this practice is deplorable no matter what sort of account it is.

And I say "thank you" to the MP for trying to help bring this to more peoples attention. And I hope the MP will be in parliament to vote against ID cards in any shape or form.

MarkyMarkD

But as I've said before, and scottmartin has confirmed "from the coal face", either:

(a) the balance in the accounts is so small that it makes no real difference what the rate is; or
(b) the balance in the accounts is huge because the parents are using it for their OWN money and pretending it's their children's.

Really, there must be hardly any customers whose children are losing a significant amount over this. And A&L gave two months notice which is more than most institutions would do in the same circumstances (and exceeds the Banking Code requirements).

IvanOpinion

isasmurf wrote:

What's this got to do with the Government? It is an EDM by a DUP MP, nothing to do with the Government.

Lets see ... people are being asked to waste their MPs time by raising this, it is going to waste MPs time when it is raised for discussion and it is could even waste parliament time. Either we have a free economy or one totally controlled by the government ... which do you prefer? ... taking into account that I see loads of posts on this board complaining about government interference and a nanny state... or are we going to show our hypocracy again by saying the government can interfere as long as it suits our purposes for it to interfere, in all other cases where we do not want government interference then it should butt-out.

Maybe they should also consider curbing the 'today' economy by not allowing any loan company to offer credit at less than the base rate + x%. Maybe the government should have control over all savings rates and keep them low to help manage inflation (jeez they are already raiding our pension schemes). How about they slop on 20% capital gains on ALL house sales (to help bring down house inflation) etc. etc. I am deliberately being facetious but where is it to stop?

By all means ask the question but I personally think that there are far more important issues that need to be resolved by our MPs rather than someone wasting time by jumping on a 'bandwagon' that is none of their concern. If you don't like it then move account - or maybe the government will stop people from doing that as well. I also agree with Marky Mark D that I am sure many adults are abusing it by using it as a store for their own money ... wouldn't it be funny if the result was that only the child named on the account could get access to the money - that would wipe the smile of a few fraudsters.

Ivan


PS: Oops, normally I do not allow Ivan to post outside of certain boards but sometimes accidents happen

anders

What a weird discussion. The members on this board pride themselves on their shrewd move-to-the-best-rates attitudes and their willingness to go to wherever they can get them. And then to move on when somewhere else is better still. Now there are complaints that it may be time to do just that! And on top of that the company involved gave those affected MORE notice than they needed to....and have dropped the relevant rate to one which is still better than many others offer!

Also why the Westminster involvement...there are REAL corporate rip-offs they choose to ignore (even actively support) so I don't see what their real reason is for making comments over this one.