Problem with virgin money savings account (warning to potential customers)

EachPenny

SarahD92 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, why have you opened 5 accounts with them? Also, why did you open two online, and then decided to go to the store to open three more at the store?

No problem, happy to answer.

They are regular savings accounts. You can only pay in £250 per month, but they pay 2.25% interest. a lot of people wouldn't bother with them, but as Virgin allow you to open one of each issue (the ones in-store and online count as different issues) so at any one time it is normally possible to start 4. 4x£250 = £1000 per month, so in month 2 you've saved £2000, 3=£3000 etc. Being able to add £1000 per month to the accounts earning 2.25% is a massive advantage with interest rates being generally as low as they are.

Since opening my first accounts there has been one new one launched (hence 5 in total) and another may be coming out very soon. This is one reason why you may have noticed people commenting on this thread in a positive way - Virgin may not be the best bank in the world, but when it comes to regular savers they offer a very good deal.

Earlier in the thread the user Economic said something like high street banks are the best. If you take the advice of many people posting on the threads you've been pointed to by ctdctd you'll see that apart from some current accounts and regular savers, most of the high street banks are in fact terrible when it comes to interest rates - which for savings should really be the number one priority.

I really did mean it when I said I hope you get the situation with Virgin sorted out, and perhaps on reflection you might think about moving some of your money from the existing account (which doesn't sound very good) into their regular savers. Everybody deserves a second chance

colsten

SarahD92 wrote: »

Could you please pm me some safe alternatives to saving accounts that offer better rates? Thanks

The best savings rates are openly discussed on this forum. No PMing required. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5374614

Westie983

SarahD92 wrote: »

Could you please pm me some safe alternatives to saving accounts that offer better rates? Thanks

No point till you sort out the issue with Virgin as they have but a stop on your source of funds.

Sort out this issue then you can look for alternative saving options.

Westie983

RG2015

SarahD92 wrote: »

Could you please pm me some safe alternatives to saving accounts that offer better rates? Thanks

Just out of curiosity, what interest rate are you currently getting from Virgin Money?

moneyfoolish

Nohopeharry wrote: »

Phew, I'm glad you replied with something positive. I opened a few online regular savers about two months ago, and have yet to be asked for paper ID. Had no problems so far myself. Was getting worried there with the contents of the OP.

I've got an ISA, a Regular Saver and a Credit Card with Virgin and have never had any problems nor was I ever asked for any paper ID.

SarahD92

RG2015 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, what interest rate are you currently getting from Virgin Money?

I think 0.65%.

RG2015

SarahD92 wrote: »

I think 0.65%.

Shouldn't be too hard to beat that once you have sorted the ID problem. The Savings Champion website has a good best buy tables section with the top 5 accounts in every major category.

jimjames

SarahD92 wrote: »

I think 0.65%.

Many accounts will beat that rate. Even NSI is higher so why pick Virgin?

SarahD92

jimjames wrote: »

Many accounts will beat that rate. Even NSI is higher so why pick Virgin?

I'm not really that well informed when comes to saving accounts rates, and I think at the time when I signed up, this was reasonable rate.

colsten

SarahD92 wrote: »

I'm not really that well informed when comes to saving accounts rates

Tip for the future: google "best interest rates"