The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

Mr._H_2

temporary1 wrote: »

6 months notice … shouldn't this be put into MSE's best 'instant access' savings accounts category

6 months is not equal to instant, so: no.

temporary1

Mr._H wrote: »

6 months is not equal to instant, so: no.

But because the interest is variable and has no short-term bonus element for those 6 months , it's not strictly a Fixed rate/Term account either?

Mr._H_2

temporary1 wrote: »

But because the interest is variable and has no short-term bonus element for those 6 months , it's not strictly a Fixed rate/Term account either?

So? It's definitely not "instant access" is it? How could the term be any clearer? Instant Access means you can access your money instantly, without penalty. You cannot do that if the account has a 6 month notice period.

temporary1

Mr._H wrote: »

So? It's definitely not "instant access" is it? How could the term be any clearer? Instant Access means you can access your money instantly, without penalty. You cannot do that if the account has a 6 month notice period.

What a shame. As long as the interest rate increases in line with base rate movement, I thought it was a reasonable, alternative option for MSE's best-buy, variable rate accounts category - in the absence of a dedicated Notice-accounts section. Never mind. Thanks, Mr H.

[Deleted User]

:mad:
This is the text of a complaint I registered with Santander some weeks ago
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I was a customer of Alliance & Leicester until it was taken over by Santander..
My account was blocked and, on the phone, I was told that it was because I had changed my PIN, a known bug in A&L software.
A new PIN would be issued.

About a week later I received a new PIN by post.
I very carefully entered my customer ID and my new PIN.
I immediately received the message 'Your account has been blocked'
This time I was told that it was because I had used a 'favourite' which contained the URL of the 'Your account has been blocked' page.
On the phone I was told this was a known bug. It had not just displayed a message but had triggered the account blocking procedure.

I was advised to only enter the URL of the main page of A&L as even opening the page displaying the error message (with no attempt to logon) is as serious as repeated attempts to enter wrong logon data.

Until such time as you are able to rectify both of these bugs you should add clear warnings on the relevant pages.

It seems that in order to transfer money from my eSaver to the linked current account I will have to travel to a Santander branch. Hardly an incentive to bank with Santander. The other online banking systems I have used do not have systems that fail so readily.

Please reply by email, not a secure message, as I have no confidence that I will be able to log in successfully in the near future. Your comments have no need to be in a secure message."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Santander acknowledged receipt of my complaint but have never emailed a reply.

I did drive to a branch where they closed my savings account and gave me a cheque. Savers should consider whether a slightly higher interest rate is worth the bother.

Steve_xx

Santander are a dogs dinner of an outfit.

altocumulus

When Abbey National changed to Abbey there was a small discernible reduction in customer service, when it was grabbed by Santander the service plummeted. They upheld one complaint from me promising they would learn, and then did the exact same thing a few months later (but on that occasion refused to accept they were in the wrong) [inconsistent].

I still have an account open with them, containing £0.00, for which they send me a statement monthly ....

Old_broom

I think AA, Saga, B Midshires are all part of Lloyds so watch out you don't go over the limit of £85k, because it's one limit for the lot not four limits.

Steve_xx

Old_broom wrote: »

I think AA, Saga, B Midshires are all part of Lloyds so watch out you don't go over the limit of £85k, because it's one limit for the lot not four limits.

They were originally subsidiaries of HBOS.

murphydavid

Old_broom wrote: »

I think AA, Saga, B Midshires are all part of Lloyds so watch out you don't go over the limit of £85k, because it's one limit for the lot not four limits.

Martin has a tool for this "is my bank linked tool" see

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings#whatcounts

It shows Bank of Scotland - not - Lloyds as being linked to these?