Age Discrimination on Savings Accounts

hansi

There was an article in the Finacial Mail on Sunday about banks being unable to offer better savings rates for the ober 60's as this discriminates against other younger savers. Does this mean that they will be scrapping the young persons railcards and suchlike too? and will it also extend to everyone having free bus passes? This PC garbage is getting out of hand.

chesky369

But there ARE special accounts for older savers already.... northern rock is just one (if you can put up with the appalling website).

Anyway, speaking as an over-60 myself, I would have thought it was in the banks' best interests (as well as society's) to try to target the youngest saver and grab them for life. If you haven't got the savings habit by the time you're 60, then you're probably not going to start.

maninthestreet

I quite agree - and what about car insurance? Will a 40 year old driver with a good driving record now be expected to pay the same for their insurance as a 17 year old boy racer? What about life assurance? Will a 90 year old person be able to buy life assurance at the same cost as a 21 year old?
Presumably there will have to be some exemptions for age restriced products such as cigarettes and alcohol?

cheerfulcat

What the article says is that banks may not be able to offer these accounts in future if they aren't exempted from the new age discrimination laws. The banks are pushing for exemption - so too, presumably, are the insurers?

Hereward

The use of Age Discrimination in the offering of financial products will even out the market a bit. I don't see any reason why people over 50 should get better rates on their savings that a 20 year old. In regards to insurances the use of age to determine premiums is ok if it is justified, the use of age to refuse to offer any cover is not (although, I suspect they could just offer extremely expensive cover instead).

hansi

chesky369 wrote: »

But there ARE special accounts for older savers already.... northern rock is just one (if you can put up with the appalling website).

Anyway, speaking as an over-60 myself, I would have thought it was in the banks' best interests (as well as society's) to try to target the youngest saver and grab them for life. If you haven't got the savings habit by the time you're 60, then you're probably not going to start.

I am aware of the NR account, I have one myself. (and I don't have a problem with the site), my point was that they may no longer be able to have or offer the older savers accounts.

chesky369

Well, unless there are distinct advantages, I can't really see the point of this kind of segregation; it's not as though they're the best payers anyway. And I tend to agree with the poster who wondered why over 60s should per se get a better deal - more fitting to reward you for staying with a specific bank or building society for, say, ten years (instead of rewarding new customers).

Stephen_Leak

I would agree that "differences", such as age and gender in car insurance, etc. should still be permitted, as long as they can be backed up by actuarial evidence, and are not the result of blind prejudice.

margaretclare

I can't imagine why anyone over 60 feels the need to have a 'special' bank or BS account whether current or savings.

I do think it is a good idea that young people are given incentives to save so that hopefully they'll acquire a savings habit before being targeted by the credit card providers. Of course, ideally they would start saving from a much younger age. I recall opening my very first bank account in September 1940 on my first day at school. The school acted as a branch of the then Yorkshire Penny Bank, now the Yorkshire Bank, and I trotted to school with a few pennies and my bank-book in a little hand-stitched bag, every Monday morning.

However, I have heard older people whingeing about 'they can't get such good savings rates as these new ones for young people, must be ageist discrimination'...

Personally I think that the type of account(s) that you need are not necessarily related to age but to your own personal circumstances. I bank online, but there are others who prefer to go to a branch. Some want interest paid to them as income, others want it added to a balance. There are enough different types of account available to suit everyone, I would have thought.

Margaret

Beate

Over 60's get free bus passes or discounts at attractions for a reason. The point is that with a meagre pension you cannot save (or spend) that much anymore, and not everyone was able to save loads or sell their house for 20 times its worth. I for one would not begrudge older people, who have worked all their lives, a few more pounds on their savings than I could get, which is not really true anyway, as there are lots of good savings accounts for everyone out there.

baby_boomer

The banks are looking to cross-sell products to customers with savings accounts.

Although over 60s won't want a mortgage, they may well want equity release, home insurance, annuity advice, lump sum retirement savings' advice etc. And the over 50s baby-boomers are also a lucrative market to tap.

So the banks know what they are doing.

But in relation to the over 60s account thread going strong at the moment, I'm advising my partner's 80 year old father to save in an ordinary account which offers a better return. And I can't really remember when over 60 accounts were ever worth enough to suggest "age discrimination".