NatWest Savings Builder interest wrong

RG2015

I spoke to NatWest at 8am yesterday morning and the customer services man said he was not aware of any problems. He said he would connect me with the complaints section and put me on hold while he contacted them.

Five minutes later he came back and said he could not get through to complaints but had found out from a forum that several people had the same problem as me. I asked which forum he checked and yes, it was this one! So it seems that when NatWest cannot contact their internal colleagues they go to MSE for information.

RG2015

PS: In addition to being extremely resoursful in using MSE, the NatWest person also told me that the error would be corrected in a day or two and that he would give me a courtesy call on Monday or Tuesday to keep me updated. Full marks to at least one person in NatWest so far.

fun4everyone

They never bothered fixing it yesterday, twitter rage pencilled in for Monday afternoon.

EachPenny

RG2015 wrote: »

Five minutes later he came back...

Seems to be the standard length of time to 'consult colleagues' [Search MSE] and come back with an answer.

RG2015 wrote: »

...So it seems that when NatWest cannot contact their internal colleagues they go to MSE for information.

ATTENTION NATWEST STAFF:
Any customers phoning on Monday 5th June to enquire about errors in their Savings Builder interest payments should be offered a £50 gesture of goodwill to be credited to their account.

Well, it's worth trying

EdGasketTheSecond

What happens with this account if say, you get to £5,000, then in the same month withdraw £1000 but also a few days later pay in £100; do you still earn the bonus as you have paid in £100 (but also withdrawn £1000)?

In the above scenario, if in the second month after the withdrawal, you also paid in £100 would the bonus kick in again or would you need to get above your previous high balance of £5000 before earning the bonus?

Its a pretty confusing account!

EachPenny

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

What happens with this account if say, you get to £5,000, then in the same month withdraw £1000 but also a few days later pay in £100; do you still earn the bonus as you have paid in £100 (but also withdrawn £1000)?

In this case, ignoring any interest paid on the account, you'd have decreased the balance by £900 so you wouldn't be eligible for the bonus interest payment. (assuming the £5000 was paid in before the start of the month)

The balance has to increase by £100 each month. I've never bothered if this includes any interest paid as it isn't worth doing the maths - I just pay £100 in each month and take nothing out.

The month end is also based on the second-last working day of each month, not the last calendar day.

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

In the above scenario, if in the second month after the withdrawal, you also paid in £100 would the bonus kick in again or would you need to get above your previous high balance of £5000 before earning the bonus?

Yes, so long as the withdrawal was made before the second-last working day of one month then you would get the bonus interest in the following month, provided you increase the balance by £100.

The £5000 figure is only relevant because this is the balance at which point you stop earning 1.4% bonus and instead get only 0.9% bonus on additional amounts over £1500 (but under £10k).

It is one of the most complicated savings accounts going

RG2015

It is confusing and for no apparent reason other than to deny the bonus to those that do not satisfy the conditions.

That said, the rules are quite clear. As long as the balance on the second last working day of the month is at least £100 greater than the balance on the second last day of the previous month then the 1.4% bonus will be paid.

Matthew1471

Just called Natwest. According to their internal notes they believe the corrected interest payments will be made on the 7th June i.e. this Wednesday. Always find them very helpful when I speak to them

ctdctd

My missing interest has been credited overnight.

System

I don't personally judge the interest to be worth the hastle of juggling it around every month, making phone calls, etc, I keep 1 months cash in the current account to avoid overdraft, the rest is in s&s ISA - emergency fund is conservatively invested