Demise of N and P E family regular saver

ValiantSon

steve65e wrote: »

I have an EasyPlus account from a matured Gold Reg Saver. It pays 1.5%, gives instant access, and changes with base rate, so it's a pretty useful account at the moment. They are also changing these to triple access savers at 0.85% and selling it as an improvement because you get one extra withdrawal per year. I think not!

It's a pretty shoddy way to treat customers. It is their decision not to honour these accounts and nothing to do with whether YBS brand has the same account or not. This has to be worth a complaint.

What do you hope to gain from a complaint? They can offer whatever accounts and interest rates that they want. They've made their decision and your complaint is not going to change that. If you don't like what they have to offer then look elsewhere, but don't waste your time complaining about something that they are entitled to do.

veryintrigued

Paperwork finally received and the N&P Monthly Regular Saver will change to a Yorkshire Monthly Regular saver.

I see a problem on the horizon though for those of us who already have a YMRS - as the terms on pages 18 and 19 confirm only one of these is permitted per customer.

Maybe they'll waive these terms in this case or else the letter is wrong!

patientperson

I understand that the N&P Regular Saver was pulled last Thursday.

Jimmithecat

So am I right in thinking that we continue to get our original n&p rate until 6 July?
I was going to close this down on 5 July.
It has been a great account - I was surprised it lasted this long though....

steve65e

ValiantSon wrote: »

What do you hope to gain from a complaint? They can offer whatever accounts and interest rates that they want. They've made their decision and your complaint is not going to change that. If you don't like what they have to offer then look elsewhere, but don't waste your time complaining about something that they are entitled to do.

Having now received my letter, my complaint will be that

1) It's headline is that my interest rate is going up, when it is clearly going down.
2) I had been previously told that it was a rebranding exercise and that the actual products weren't changing (other than ending current accounts).
3) They haven't even changed it to the most similar YBS product, which is the new single access saver.

I don't believe that they intended to have large amounts of money withdrawn from restricted access accounts paying only 1.5%, and will be telling them so.

ValiantSon

steve65e wrote: »

Having now received my letter, my complaint will be that

1) It's headline is that my interest rate is going up, when it is clearly going down.
2) I had been previously told that it was a rebranding exercise and that the actual products weren't changing (other than ending current accounts).
3) They haven't even changed it to the most similar YBS product, which is the new single access saver.

None of those are grounds for a formal complaint.

1) The interest rate is going up, but they are removing the bonus.

2) It is irrelevant what you had, "previously been told". Banks and building societies are entitled to change the products they offer at any time (subject to appropriate notice, as defined in the terms and conditions) and in line with achieving their core business objectives. No bank or building society can, or will, offer the same products forever. N&P was merged with Yorkshire Building Society in 2011, and the intended withdrawal of the N&P brand was announced in January 2017, i.e. well over a year ago. In that time they have come to the decision that they will convert certain existing N&P branded accounts to certain Yorkshire Building Society branded accounts. There is nothing amiss here, and you are perfectly free to apply for an alternative Yorkshire Building Society account, or indeed for a different product with an alternative bank or building society. Furthermore, you have been given notice of the changes!

3) Irrelevant. They don't have to change it to the account that you believe is most similar, but you are free to apply for the account you believe it should have been changed to.

You don't have any grounds for complaint because they haven't broken any regulations or their own terms and conditions, to which you are a signatory.

steve65e wrote: »

I don't believe that they intended to have large amounts of money withdrawn from restricted access accounts paying only 1.5%, and will be telling them so.

They will have conducted an impact evaluation of these changes and factored in the withdrawal of funds by some people. As part of that process they will have compared what other banks and building societies are offering to reach an appropriate decision that balances some (limited) loss of savings with a competitive offering that keeps their balance sheet in good order. They will not be interested in your - pardon me for saying - uninformed evaluation of the impact on the business.

You don't have any grounds for a complaint. All you will achieve is wasting some time and resources of the building society, which is a pretty fruitless exercise, because these have a cost, and the end result is that the society has less in its operating budget, which directly impacts on the benefits that members have access to. While an individual complaint will have a negligible impact, if every disappointed customer makes a fruitless complaint then the impact is magnified.

The complaints procedure is not for when they do something that you don't like, but rather when they do something that is wrong. In this instance they haven't done anything wrong, only something that you don't like.

Don't waste your time and energy, or the society's time and money. You have no legitimate grounds for complaint.

Speculator

Changeover will happen this weekend.

Might use a big chunk of my balance to top up my Single Access Special Edition saver paying 1.75% until December. (Max bal £22K)

veryintrigued

Customer services advised me yesterday that the interest and bonus on this account will be paid today.

Reed_Richards

The YBS "Single Access Saver" account runs for a year from the date of opening and then converts to another account with a lower rate of interest. Surely that is a bonus account to all intents and purposes. So YBS have not withdrawn their bonus accounts, merely disguised them.

veryintrigued

veryintrigued wrote: »

Customer services advised me yesterday that the interest and bonus on this account will be paid today.

Option to log in has disappeared within the last hour. Up to that point no interest or bonus had been paid.

I understand at lunchtime yesterday circa 500 account holders had requested closure today.