Age Discrimination on Savings Accounts

margaretclare

baby_boomer wrote: »

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".

No, the age discrimination complaints that I quoted were in the other direction - older people were complaining about accounts targeted at younger people were age-discriminatory against THEM.

We haven't 'sold our house for 20 times its worth' but we do find that - both having our own retirement incomes - we're able to save more than at any time in our lives before. DH had 2 expensive divorces in the 1980s and 1990s. I had widowhood coincidental with redundancy and a few years' scratching to survive. Prior to that, we brought up families, had mortgages etc, in fact there'd still be a mortgage here (until we're 83!) if we hadn't done equity release to pay it off.

So, yes, we're enjoying saving. Just as well we DO have savings. Roof replacement last year, we have the builders in at this moment building us a garden wall between us and next door (doing a first-rate job too!) then there's the drive that needs re-doing, and we're still planning to go away for Christmas. How would we do it if we hadn't got a savings habit?

Margaret

chesky369

Beate - bus passes are given by the government (or local government) as a public service. Banks aren't in it for the good of the people, and, as you say, the over-60s accounts aren't necessarily better. Baby Boomer's quite correct to advise an ordinary account to her father.

baby_boomer

margaretclare wrote: »

No, the age discrimination complaints that I quoted were in the other direction - older people were complaining about accounts targeted at younger people were age-discriminatory against THEM

I was just making an observation about the original post, Margaret .

Beate

chesky369 wrote: »

Beate - bus passes are given by the government (or local government) as a public service. Banks aren't in it for the good of the people, and, as you say, the over-60s accounts aren't necessarily better. Baby Boomer's quite correct to advise an ordinary account to her father.

Point taken. I was just commenting on sentiments like there was no need for better rates for pensioners, why should they be treated better than youngsters, etc. I agree that in actual fact most over 60's accounts aren't much better, I just wanted to say that if they were, I wouldn't mind that at all.

malc_b

What about the other direction? One of Martin's best saving account at the moment is the B&B Internet saver at 6.51%. But B&B limit that to over 18's. Why? Credit cards and writing cheques fair enough but 16-18 yrs can be working, have bank accounts, debit cards, hold an ISA, and other saving products (Halifax Web Saver for one). Why are 16-18yrs discriminated against? And is it legal? It certain has dubious morality, same as all discrimination.

chesky369

Malc - if you dig up a thread that's nearly a year old, could you lmention that fact, otherwise people tend not to notice the date and think the information in it rather odd - like discussing northern rock in this way.

malc_b

OK, but surely the whole point of threading is to link relevant information together, whatever the time frame. Starting new threads just because the old thread is old means information is not linked. Hence, following that principle threads can be discontinuous in time. But I agree I could have said "picking up on this thread" and it wouldn't have hurt.