M&S Bank closing all current accounts

Yorkshire_Pud

SamDude said:

General_Grant said:

I read the notice about the savings interest as being that it would be paid up to the date of closure using the interest rate which would have applied if open for a full year, not that a year's interest would be paid.

We may be referring to different things - I'm referring to the Monthly Saver, from their information:

M&S Monthly Saver
We'll make sure you don't lose out on interest you would have earned if your Monthly Saver had remained open for the full 12 month term. If your account is closed before maturity, we'll assume a maximum contribution of £250 has been made in each remaining month to calculate your interest.

To me it reads as 'close early and you still get the full interest as if it had matured at 12 months'.

That’s how I read it too but don’t know if you were a bit too quick to close. Only way to sort it is to phone M&S and ask for your interest.

Did you use the Close now link from within the M&S email, it is a dedicated closure form stating the account balance must be nil before going ahead. More strangely you have to tick a box for ‘your account and any linked Monthly saver has a zero balance’

Does that mean you have to transfer out any funds in the monthly saver first if that’s possible and then they pay the interest later?!

Definitely best to phone first and let them guide through the process assuming they know what it is.

eskbanker

SamDude said:

eskbanker said:

SamDude said:

We may be referring to different things - I'm referring to the Monthly Saver, from their information:

M&S Monthly Saver
We'll make sure you don't lose out on interest you would have earned if your Monthly Saver had remained open for the full 12 month term. If your account is closed before maturity, we'll assume a maximum contribution of £250 has been made in each remaining month to calculate your interest.

To me it reads as 'close early and you still get the full interest as if it had matured at 12 months'.

That seems an optimistic interpretation - surely they'll only offer the compensatory interest if they close it?

The don't state "If WE close your account" or "if YOU close your account".
The fact that it can be misinterpreted is the issue.

Yes, agreed, ambiguity is never good in formal documents, but their actions obviously indicate that their interpretation differs from yours, i.e. you'll have a fight on your hands to make your case, albeit not necessarily one you couldn't win!

born_again

cfw1994 said:

Bit bizarre that their weak excuse was “ The bank's said the move is due to customers switching to online banking, during the last year in particular.”. Yes, we ONLY use it online: that is a reason to keep it open   

It is a very strange reason.

Given FD, HSBC & other banks are pushing hard to get people to bank online as it's is cheaper....

Sounds more like contract with HSBC has come up & HSBC are wanting more £££ for providing them with the same poor service. 
Given M&S, like many retailers are not having a good time. Concentrating on their core business is a wise move.

SamDude

eskbanker said:

SamDude said:

eskbanker said:

SamDude said:

We may be referring to different things - I'm referring to the Monthly Saver, from their information:

M&S Monthly Saver
We'll make sure you don't lose out on interest you would have earned if your Monthly Saver had remained open for the full 12 month term. If your account is closed before maturity, we'll assume a maximum contribution of £250 has been made in each remaining month to calculate your interest.

To me it reads as 'close early and you still get the full interest as if it had matured at 12 months'.

That seems an optimistic interpretation - surely they'll only offer the compensatory interest if they close it?

The don't state "If WE close your account" or "if YOU close your account".
The fact that it can be misinterpreted is the issue.

Yes, agreed, ambiguity is never good in formal documents, but their actions obviously indicate that their interpretation differs from yours, i.e. you'll have a fight on your hands to make your case, albeit not necessarily one you couldn't win!

Just got off the phone, and the CS rep was very apologetic and thanked me for raising it.
The proverbial muck has hit the fan at their end.
They have convened their senior managers to discuss this and identify how to fix it (goodwill credit or another accounting process to calculate and pay the interest).
They said they need to identify how many other customers this affects, and I should expect a call from someone senior to explain how they resolve it (in my favour, obviously).
They should update their wording shortly too. 

Yorkshire_Pud

Even more of a chicken up is if you opt to switch your M&S account. How then does one go about closing the Monthly saver with a nil balance. Do M&S do it and transfer the funds to your current account before it switches?! 

They get paid to do this job! But we sort it for them. Doh!

JustAnotherSaver

Since everyone is pitching how they read it then I read it as if you cancelled right now then your remaining months will be paid up as though you had credited the full whack in those remaining months and not the months you had already paid in, unless you had paid full whack for those. 

Either way I secure messaged them last night for clarification. 

Yorkshire_Pud

How to withdraw all funds from the monthly saver? There’s no option in online banking to do so and it has to be done before the current account can be closed.

MDMD

I’ve just decided to switch mine as I need the cash and it gets rid of two accounts. I secure messaged them and this was the reply

I then called them and they confirmed the same, I even clarified that the interest will be paid even though I haven’t paid in.  If I don’t get the interest I will just raise a complaint.

MDMD

Yorkshire_Pud said:

Even more of a chicken up is if you opt to switch your M&S account. How then does one go about closing the Monthly saver with a nil balance. Do M&S do it and transfer the funds to your current account before it switches?! 

They get paid to do this job! But we sort it for them. Doh!

I was told the best thing to do is switch it and the MS will automatically be closed and paid into the current account before they send the balance over.

jimjames

SamDude said:

eskbanker said:

SamDude said:

We may be referring to different things - I'm referring to the Monthly Saver, from their information:

M&S Monthly Saver
We'll make sure you don't lose out on interest you would have earned if your Monthly Saver had remained open for the full 12 month term. If your account is closed before maturity, we'll assume a maximum contribution of £250 has been made in each remaining month to calculate your interest.

To me it reads as 'close early and you still get the full interest as if it had matured at 12 months'.

That seems an optimistic interpretation - surely they'll only offer the compensatory interest if they close it?

The don't state "If WE close your account" or "if YOU close your account".
The fact that it can be misinterpreted is the issue.

My Reg saver ends in May so I think I'll leave it to finish and then transfer. I could get some interest elsewhere but 0.5% on £500 for 2 months isn't going to give a slap up meal.