M&S Bank closing all current accounts

jimjames

JamesRobinson48 said:

tel_ said:

I've checked my balance this evening and my Monthly Saver has been closed.
My interest has been credited as £44.11. 

Please, does M&S Bank specifically refer to all, or part, of the £44.11 as 'interest'?  
I ask because if this is truly interest, then in principle it would be subject to income tax in the usual way.  Whereas if it would be categorised as a 'goodwill gesture', or words to that effect, might it perhaps be exempt from income tax?

As everyone has £500/£1000 personal savings allowance unless you have extremely high cash balances and/or very good rates I doubt that many people will be hit for tax on £45

colsten

tel_ said:

JamesRobinson48 said:

tel_ said:

I've checked my balance this evening and my Monthly Saver has been closed.
My interest has been credited as £44.11. 

Please, does M&S Bank specifically refer to all, or part, of the £44.11 as 'interest'?  
I ask because if this is truly interest, then in principle it would be subject to income tax in the usual way.  Whereas if it would be categorised as a 'goodwill gesture', or words to that effect, might it perhaps be exempt from income tax?

Yes, M&S state this is interest, and calculated monthly at 2.75%.

Interest is always calculated on the daily balance.

masonic

tel_ said:

Divorced_Daddy_001 said:

Does anyone have any suggestions about other decent current accounts to switch to?  As a M&S current account holder (opened in Jan. 2020), I'm not eligible for the switching incentives from First Direct or HSBC.  I don't want free wine from Virgin, so I'm looking for a new current account to switch to (ideally without me having to pay a monthly fee).  Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!  Otherwise I'll just sit and wait to see if any other switching incentives appear before August.

MSE have heard a rumor NatWest might offer a switch incentive shortly, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Thought they'd be keeping a low profile https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56412393

MDMD

tel_ said:

Divorced_Daddy_001 said:

Does anyone have any suggestions about other decent current accounts to switch to?  As a M&S current account holder (opened in Jan. 2020), I'm not eligible for the switching incentives from First Direct or HSBC.  I don't want free wine from Virgin, so I'm looking for a new current account to switch to (ideally without me having to pay a monthly fee).  Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!  Otherwise I'll just sit and wait to see if any other switching incentives appear before August.

MSE have heard a rumor NatWest might offer a switch incentive shortly, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Might we worth holding out for a while, as we have until M&S close down their current account service in August.

It was in a few places. 

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/natwest-current-account-switching-offer-m-and-s-bank-locked-out-incentive-904772

janeskips2

I received 41.43 and Mr received 42.84. How hard can it really be to close everyone's add the same interest and be done with it? M&S could have done this automatically and got rid of half their call centre expenses overnight.

Divorced_Daddy_001

tel_ said:

MSE have heard a rumor NatWest might offer a switch incentive shortly, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Might we worth holding out for a while, as we have until M&S close down their current account service in August.

Yes, that would be worth holding out for (and I hadn't heard about that, so thanks for posting about it) although I'd love to ditch M&S asap because I'm annoyed about them offering a decent incentive to switch to them at the end of 2019 and a little over a year later they're pulling the plug on their current account! 

Divorced_Daddy_001

masonic said:

tel_ said:

MSE have heard a rumor NatWest might offer a switch incentive shortly, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Thought they'd be keeping a low profile https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56412393

Any thoughts about what the impact of this might be for NatWest?

colsten

Divorced_Daddy_001 said:

masonic said:

tel_ said:

MSE have heard a rumor NatWest might offer a switch incentive shortly, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Thought they'd be keeping a low profile https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56412393

Any thoughts about what the impact of this might be for NatWest?

A hefty fine, negative Press, damage to image (which is already pretty bad due to the RBS connection), and more overzealous closing of accounts of innocent people..Desperate attempts to grow the customer base by offering switch incentives and special reward, loan, mortgage, savings, investment and insurance deals.

Basically more of the same they are doing already, plus a fine.

masonic

Divorced_Daddy_001 said:

masonic said:

tel_ said:

MSE have heard a rumor NatWest might offer a switch incentive shortly, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Thought they'd be keeping a low profile https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56412393

Any thoughts about what the impact of this might be for NatWest?

They'll have to put money aside for the potentially unlimited fine they may face. That means some general belt-tightening, some of the cost of which will ultimately have to be passed on to their customers.

jimjames

Looks like M&S are getting their act together. My transfer out is due to take place tomorrow, the regular saver has been closed today and the balance transferred to my current account including £41.32 interest. Number is slightly different from others mentioned here so I may query that but overall it seems to be a smooth process now.