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dontgetcaught

I have developed a spreadsheet to check the interest paid by the banks on my current accounts. (amongst other things it controls all 20 current accounts to maximise the benefits to us)

It works out the interest daily and adds it up to give the monthly figure.

I have not taken much notice until my regular saver with First Direct under paid by a few pounds.

This morning I checked last months interest from TSB and Lloyds, Lloyds bang on to the penny, TSB 0.12p short on 6 accounts, So asked spreadsheet to work out actual interest rate, 2.87 not 2.96 as advertised.

alanq

Is that supposed to be 12p? Interest is paid in whole pence.

dontgetcaught

alanq wrote: »

Is that supposed to be 12p? Interest is paid in whole pence.

Yes whole pence 12 per account short

ctdctd

Interest only calculated on working days over the year to give the 3% and we had two bank holidays in May?

EachPenny

Dates debits/credits applied to the account different to the statement dates? (Some banks, e.g. Nationwide, show 'Effective date' as well as the statement date.)

dontgetcaught

ctdctd wrote: »

Interest only calculated on working days over the year to give the 3% and we had two bank holidays in May?

No it is not a working day issue, you get interest every day and if you owe they charge you

dontgetcaught

EachPenny wrote: »

Dates debits/credits applied to the account different to the statement dates? (Some banks, e.g. Nationwide, show 'Effective date' as well as the statement date.)

account only used for interest so £1500 constant thro the month

bowlhead99

ctdctd wrote: »

Interest only calculated on working days over the year to give the 3% and we had two bank holidays in May?

Interest should be calculated on cleared balance at the end of every day, not just every working day.

However if you transfer money in on a non-business day like a weekend or bank holiday, it may not qualify to earn interest until the next working day (depending on the bank concerned). The transaction narrative on the statement usually makes it clear what the pay in/out date was if value date is not same as statement date.

OP: what is the interest payment date?

For example perhaps your interest is calculated for the month to May 30 (being 30 days after April 30) and then next month it will be calculated for the month to June 30 (being 31 days after May 30) so you are receiving 30 days interest this month and 31 next while you thought you might have been receiving 31 days' interest during May because May has 31 days.

Looking at your calculated interest rate you are saying you got 2.87% which is about 30/31 of 2.96%, perhaps it is just a difference in day count. 12 pence is one 365th of the £44.40 interest that would be earned in a year on £1500 at 2.96%. As such, it is quite possibly just a timing difference against your expectation and some months you will be over and some under by a day or two but still get the £44.40 over the course of the full year as long as the balance at the end of every business day is always £1500 or more.

Or, is the '12p = one day of interest' just a coincidence, and did your spreadsheet forecast accidentally calculate interest on a balance greater than £1500 for some of the days (for example because you had some received interest in the account which you had not moved out). Or did you remove £1500 to cycle it into a different account and then only put it back the next day, so missing a day of interest?

EachPenny

dontgetcaught wrote: »

account only used for interest so £1500 constant thro the month

So you use mirrored SO's to achieve the minimum pay-in? In which case, what day of the month do you do these?

B_G_B

Interest period for May was 30 days because Monday 1st May was a bank holiday. Interest on £1500 for this month (May) should be £3.65.

ctdctd

B_G_B wrote: »

Interest period for May was 30 days because Monday 1st May was a bank holiday. Interest on £1500 for this month (May) should be £3.65.

That's exactly what I got on both of mine. :T