Sainsburys eSaver Special - Different interest rates for the same account

linkliter

Based upon when you opened the account there are different interest rates.

Currently I am receiving 0.95% but anyone opening an account now would receive 1.17% for the same amount deposited.
Interest varies from 0.90% to 1.17% depending when you opened the account.

I've never come across that before, that you receive a different interest rate based on when you opened it for an instant access account.

Quite bizarre from Sainsburys, has anyone come across this sort of thing before?

Neil_Jones

Not unusual at all, very common. If you want the latest and greatest rates, phone up Sainsburys Bank and ask to be moved to the 1.17% deal, this will often mean the old account is closed and the money transferred or you get upgraded but keep the same details.

ColdIron

It's quite common, some banks allocate different issue numbers to distinguish them, some don't

18cc

Tesco Internet saver does exactly the same thing

linkliter

As far as I can see Tesco internet pays 1.2%, including bonus but doesn't differentiate based on when you opened the account.

As it appears to be quite common I would be grateful for a couple of examples of a myriad of interest rates for an instant access account based on when you opened it?

18cc

It pays 1.2% now, but if you had opened it a few month ago it would have paid less and would continue to pay less.

ColdIron

linkliter wrote: »

As far as I can see Tesco internet pays 1.2%, including bonus but doesn't differentiate based on when you opened the account.

Tesco Internet Saver started to pay 1.20% about 6 weeks ago, before that it was 1.16% but only for less than 2 months, prior to that it was 1.11% for a few weeks etc etc. These are all the same account differentiated solely by the date the account was opened

As it appears to be quite common I would be grateful for a couple of examples of a myriad of interest rates for an instant access account based on when you opened it?

Here you go, I am becoming a bit lost by the myriad of interest rates for an instant access account based on when you opened it, 16 since the start of last year

http://www.tescobank.com/savings/previous-interest-rates/#internet-saver-3

AirlieBird

linkliter wrote: »

As it appears to be quite common I would be grateful for a couple of examples of a myriad of interest rates for an instant access account based on when you opened it?

It's not common, it's usual practice for all but a handful of banks.

If you want examples
https://static.halifax.co.uk/assets/pdf/savings/pdf/interest-rates.pdf
https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/savings/interest-rates.pdf

Uxb

Here you go for Charter bank
See pdf download at this link below
Their easy access account has had now 8 issues
Each one with different rates
So depending on when you open your "easy Access account" with them you get a different interest rate.

http://www.chartersavingsbank.co.uk/Help/InterestRateSummary

nilrem_2

I recently opened a Sainsburys esaver special account with an interest rate of 1.17% on reading this quote on the account details -:

Rates are variable. This means we may increase or decrease interest rates at any time, for example, to reflect a change in the Bank of England bank rate, or if there are changes in the rates of interest which other firms providing similar products pay. We will write to you to tell you when your interest rate changes.

Which I assumed meant that the rate would increase later due to the increase in the BOE rate as in their other quote -:

We'll be reviewing our interest rates over the next few weeks. This is following the decision by the Bank of England to increase the Base Rate. If we make any changes to your savings rates, we'll write to you to let you know. We'll also publish any changes within this section of our website.

So are people saying that they don't increase rates for existing accounts but offer new accounts with a higher rate which means one needs to open another account and transfer over to get the new rate?
hardly seems like an inefficient way to do things resulting in more 'paperwork' !

Sounds a bit like the Natwest esaver I had, they kept introducing better ones resulting in me having 5 accounts 4 of which had nowt in them! The only time they changed the rate was to put it down, never up. now it pays 0.01%. :eek:

Neil_Jones

Its also marketing too, as it gets you more headline space if you see "Bank launches NEW TOP RATE paying x%" as opposed to "Bank increases rate of Account X which previously paid Y% and now pays Z%".