The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

Molehusband

MiserlyMartin said:

Molehusband said:

I sympathise with you on the ISA problem you mention. Cynergy's practice of obliging customers to repeatedly close old / open new accounts to get a better rate is an absolute pain especially when it comes to ISA's. Their very rudimentary system of transferring to a new account without clearly indicating if it's an ISA, has frequently worried me. Fortunately so far I haven't suffered the misfortune of losing my ISA benefits. Did you raise a formal complaint?

I hope the Issue 53 savings events of the last few days may pave the way for improved customer experience by being able to benefit from better interests rates without the hassle of constantly needing to open new accounts.

I did, yes. Also what made it worse was that I ended up with 3 ISAs opened not one and 3 savings accounts when I opened one due to some system error, so that made it even more confusing which account number was what.

Ah, I think I had the very same issue a month or so ago when Cynergy introduced a new better paying ISA. I went through the usual Fastrack pantomime to open a new one but nothing happened. Some time later I repeated it and once again new new ISA appeared. Yes, after struggling some hours I ended up with 3 or 4 new ISA accounts. I finally got my old ISA transferred into one of them, but then for the following few weeks I was bombarded with emails saying I needed to put money into the other ones. Staff said there was nothing they could do and it took the best part of a month before the defunct empty ISAs finally vanished! It has made me wonder if I might be penalised for opening a few ISAs without funding them.

Molehusband

AndyTh_2 said:

Molehusband said:

soulsaver said:

Molehusband said:

soulsaver said:

I've had loads of Cynergy interest rate movement email notifications.

You get them for accounts you have, not for ones that you don't have.

I've had 12 Cynergy savings accounts of late. Today was the very first time I received an interest rate movement email (reference Easy Access Issue 53). All my other accounts never had even a single rate change. Instead, until now Cynergy always forced me to close & open a new account through Fastrack to get a rate change.

Please give some idea of these "loads of Cynergy interest rate movements" you've had. What accounts were they?

As said, if you haven't got the issue, you wouldn't be notified - so if you to closed earlier issues you wouldn't get rate change notifications on them.

So you prefer to keep open earlier issues which pay a poor rate of interest instead of putting all your money into the new issues paying better rates? That seems an unusual and curious way of operating savings accounts.

They didn't say they were keeping their money in those lower rate accounts, just that they kept them open.

 It's actually useful if you were going over the Personal Savings Allowance, since its annual interest, keeping the account open will mean you delay the taxable event till when you want it.

However it does mean you're not getting interest on your interest by delaying the closure.

Also a valid scenario is keeping one open for the pay in account (to then do an internal transfer to the high rate account), as every time a new issue was added, changing the payee from your source bank account gets re-evaluated for fraud conditions as new payees.

The issue was specifically regarding only Cynergy who recently started opening new better paying accounts around every week or so. I too went through the regular Fastrack pantomime. Since each account was only open for a week or 2, the interest accruing would be minimal, so I doubt tax date would be an issue.
Yes, I fully agree that to keep a single defunct account open can be useful for the reason you mention. It's the apparent truckload of defunct accounts (all with Cynergy) which was the reason for my query.

Nick_C

Molehusband said:

Nick_C said:

Plenty of providers allow you to keep savings accounts open with a zero balance.  TSB, Lloyds, Nationwide, Tesco, Chip, Virgin Money ....

I repeat why is it necessary to keep lots of defunct accounts open when all you need is one single easy access account with the very same provider (in this case Cynergy) to hold your money?

Various reasons, depending on the provider.

Lloyds allow you to reuse a dormant account (sort code and account number) for a new product, which is convenient.

TSB don't have an online function to close an account - they used to ask you to write to them, it might now be possible to send a secure message.  It's easier to just leave the account open.

An account with no money in it keeps your continuous membership with Nationwide, which occasionally gives access to better interest rates for long standing members.

A dormant account with no money in it means you are an existing customer with access to online banking, allowing you to immediately open new accounts if good ones become available.

Molehusband

uptdale said:

Molehusband said:

Nick_C said:

Plenty of providers allow you to keep savings accounts open with a zero balance.  TSB, Lloyds, Nationwide, Tesco, Chip, Virgin Money ....

I repeat why is it necessary to keep lots of defunct accounts open when all you need is one single easy access account with the very same provider (in this case Cynergy) to hold your money?

I think AndyTh_2 gave 3 possible reasons in his reply about an hour ago.  (The third answer would only require one defunct account kept open.  The first two answers are tax reasons which will not be relevant to everyone.)

Interestingly enough I have on a number of occasions in this thread suggested to others that, even if they decide to withdraw from a provider who they consider offers appalling interest rates, it may still be worth keeping one account open with minimal balance. This will enable them to re-enter quickly if things change.
But regarding the matter I was commenting on, it's the apparent truckload of defunct accounts held with a single provider that puzzled me.

Molehusband

Nick_C said:

Molehusband said:

Nick_C said:

Plenty of providers allow you to keep savings accounts open with a zero balance.  TSB, Lloyds, Nationwide, Tesco, Chip, Virgin Money ....

I repeat why is it necessary to keep lots of defunct accounts open when all you need is one single easy access account with the very same provider (in this case Cynergy) to hold your money?

Various reasons, depending on the provider.

Lloyds allow you to reuse a dormant account (sort code and account number) for a new product, which is convenient.

TSB don't have an online function to close an account - they used to ask you to write to them, it might now be possible to send a secure message.  It's easier to just leave the account open.

An account with no money in it keeps your continuous membership with Nationwide, which occasionally gives access to better interest rates for long standing members.

A dormant account with no money in it means you are an existing customer with access to online banking, allowing you to immediately open new accounts if good ones become available.

I have said numerous times in this thread that I feel it can be useful to keep a single account open with minimal balance with any provider and I do the same thing. Key here being single account, but I was querying why someone apparently kept a truckload of defunct accounts open with the same provider.

UncleK

SJMALBA said:

Charter Savings Bank EA Issue 27 - 1.75% (5k min.)

https://chartersavingsbank.co.uk/Products/EasyAccess

Good luck with that. Very painful experience trying to open an account with them earlier in the year.

Nick_C

Molehusband said:I have said numerous times in this thread that I feel it can be useful to keep a single account open with minimal balance with any provider and I do the same thing. Key here being single account, but I was querying why someone apparently kept a truckload of defunct accounts open with the same provider.

You seem to have said several things numerous times, and I'm not sure that this is helping anybody.

But you also asked a couple of questions that I answered.

"How do you keep a savings account open with zero balance? The savings providers I use always demand a minimum balance be kept."

And 

"I repeat why is it necessary to keep lots of defunct accounts open when all you need is one single easy access account with the very same provider (in this case Cynergy) to hold your money?"

Your questions.  My answers above.

isasmurf

Molehusband said:

Nick_C said:

Molehusband said:

Nick_C said:

Plenty of providers allow you to keep savings accounts open with a zero balance.  TSB, Lloyds, Nationwide, Tesco, Chip, Virgin Money ....

I repeat why is it necessary to keep lots of defunct accounts open when all you need is one single easy access account with the very same provider (in this case Cynergy) to hold your money?

Various reasons, depending on the provider.

Lloyds allow you to reuse a dormant account (sort code and account number) for a new product, which is convenient.

TSB don't have an online function to close an account - they used to ask you to write to them, it might now be possible to send a secure message.  It's easier to just leave the account open.

An account with no money in it keeps your continuous membership with Nationwide, which occasionally gives access to better interest rates for long standing members.

A dormant account with no money in it means you are an existing customer with access to online banking, allowing you to immediately open new accounts if good ones become available.

I have said numerous times in this thread that I feel it can be useful to keep a single account open with minimal balance with any provider and I do the same thing. Key here being single account, but I was querying why someone apparently kept a truckload of defunct accounts open with the same provider.

The poster didn't say they had a truckload of defunct accounts open with a single bank.  They were referring to their experience over their whole time as a customer that they have received notifications of interest rate changes for accounts they had open at the time of that change

typistretired

I’m not complaining but this thread is a bit like my CCTV camera which pings when a bird flies across 

leaphaze

Molehusband said:

It has made me wonder if I might be penalised for opening a few ISAs without funding them.

If you're wondering about HMRC, they only know about funded ISA's so you should be OK.