Meaning of "Interest is not paid on balances over £5,000"?

clivep

The Bank of Scotland Vantage interest rates for my new current accounts are:

Balance AER % Gross %
£1+ 1.50 1.49
£1,000+ 2.00 1.98
£3,000 up to £5,000 3.00 2.96
Interest rates are variable. Interest is not paid on balances over £5,000.

So if the balance is £5,001 then does that mean:
1. As the balance is over £5,000 then interest is not paid i.e. I get no interest at all.
2. I still get interest on £5,000 but no interest on the extra £1?

In his guide Martin explains the situation with Santander as "You can save more than £20,000 in the account, but won't earn interest on anything over £20,000" but there is no similar explanation for the BOS account.

In the Vantage info it does state "If you do not meet all the Vantage conditions we will not pay interest on the amount in your account. We also do not pay interest on any amount over the Vantage upper limit".

Am I right in thinking that this does mean that interest on the £5,000 is indeed still paid if the balance is over £5,000.

realaledrinker

"We also do not pay interest on any amount over the Vantage upper limit".


What's not clear about that?

EssexExile

clivep wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that this does mean that interest on the £5,000 is indeed still paid if the balance is over £5,000.

Yes, they could've made it less ambiguous.

Dobbibill

clivep wrote: »

2. I still get interest on £5,000 but no interest on the extra £1?

This is the correct answer.

Ideally, if you hold the maximum interest bearing funds in the account then when the interest is paid, cream it off to another interest bearing account

Norscbu

Dobbibill wrote: »

This is the correct answer.

Ideally, if you hold the maximum interest bearing funds in the account then when the interest is paid, cream it off to another interest bearing account

The first time I did that (move 1000 in, 1012.xx out) I was instantly suspended from online banking and had to phone them. Their reason was (apparently) that it's unusual to transfer out "odd" amounts like this. This was after the first month with them, so I'm not convinced.

Kernel_Sanders

clivep wrote: »

So if the balance is £5,001 then does that mean:
1. As the balance is over £5,000 then interest is not paid i.e. I get no interest at all.

Do you think they would stop all interest for those holding £5000 as soon as the interest is applied? It's not like buying internet data, where you get penalized for buying extra above your monthly norm (per MB).

Superscrooge

Norscbu wrote: »

The first time I did that (move 1000 in, 1012.xx out) I was instantly suspended from online banking and had to phone them. Their reason was (apparently) that it's unusual to transfer out "odd" amounts like this. This was after the first month with them, so I'm not convinced.

I do this all the time. Pay in the monthly funding required and then pay out any excess not attracting interest. Never had it queried as an 'odd' amount!

I also agree the statement on the BOS website 'No interest on balances over £5000' is somewhat ambiguous and can create the impression that if you had a balance of £5001 you would receive no interest. Thankfully that is not the case.

clivep

Superscrooge wrote: »

I do this all the time. Pay in the monthly funding required and then pay out any excess not attracting interest. Never had it queried as an 'odd' amount!

I also agree the statement on the BOS website 'No interest on balances over £5000' is somewhat ambiguous and can create the impression that if you had a balance of £5001 you would receive no interest. Thankfully that is not the case.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

If I re-ordering the interest description on the Vantage webpage I get:

Balance _________ Interest
£1-£999.99 _______ 1.50%
£1,000-£2,999.99 __ 2.00%
£3,000-£5,000 ____ 3.00%
£5,000.01+ _______ 0.00%

This is with the last line being an interpretion of the phrase "No interest on balances over £5,000" with the meaning of "balance" being in accordance of the rest of the tiered rates. My wife and neighbours also read it this way.

What they really mean (as the helpful replies have clarified) is "Where the balance is over £5,000 then no interest is paid on that part of the balance that is over £5,000" (which I'm sure could be worded better).


My wife's and my BOS accounts have each been set up with standing orders from/to our Santander accounts as follows:

£500 from Santander sole account.
(£500 + BOS direct debits - £12 BOS interest) from Santander joint account.

£500 to Santander sole account.
£500 to Santander joint account.

On setting up the 2nd BOS standing order for my wife's account the anti-fraud detection kicked in and we had to call them to get it unlocked... freephone for this is 0800 9177017.

I set up the standing orders on my BOS account OK but then when I came to make another transfer the anti-fraud detection locked my account as well.

Kernel_Sanders

clivep wrote: »

If I re-ordering the interest description....

Maybe you should make sure your own house is in order before attempting to copy edit others....

No_6

I did simple maths at school MANY years ago
and would never asked the 1st question .

TrustyOven

No_6 wrote: »

I did simple maths at school MANY years ago
and would never asked the 1st question .

It's not a question of maths! Stop blaming the OP.

The problem is the ambiguous nature of the English language.

"Eats shoots and leaves" type of a problem.

"Interest is not paid on balances over £5,000."
- Original.
- on the event that your balance is over 5000, "Interest is not paid."

"Additional interest is not paid on balances over £5,000."
"Interest is not paid at all on balances over £5,000."
"Interest is simply not paid on balances over £5,000."
"We will pay interest on a balance of up to £5000, but no further interest is paid on balances above £5,000."
- a much clearer sentence.

As you can see, qualifiers change the meaning of the sentence.


"Interest is not paid on balances over £5,000."

[B]if (balance.Amount > 5000)
{
    printf("Hahaha you don't get any interest!");
}
else if (balance.Amount >= 0)
{
    // calculate interest due and deposit the money
}
[/B]