A&L Online Saver/ISA closing & cutting rates

deemy2004

KrazyFool wrote:

they are no different from anyone else probably. They must estimate how many will join, the amount of interest they & customer recieves and the point at which they peak so they have to reduce interest before losing out...or something along those lines anyway im sure....

A&L are the worst bank by far !

They did it a few months ago with the child savings account.

People should avoid A&L ! There are many good banks as people have experienced such as cahoot and ING...

Rhino666

The Alliance & Leicester have eclipsed all my previous unfortunate online banking experiences. Chavlike and stupid behaviour with their ill-conceived online saver account has resulted in unbelievably incompetent and manipulative decisions - avoid this idiotic bank !!

After finally getting the online saver account set up at the beginning of June I attempted to make a low value transfer from the linked account to check the process before moving a larger balance in. A good job I did - after 4 failed transfers and as many phone calls to the A&L with varying lame excuses I got a letter on 28th June explaining that all requested payments made between 7th and 16th June had failed. I persevered and finally got some money in. I then initiated a large DD payment from my linked account.

Yesterday (4th July) I get a letter from A&L saying that the interest rate on this account has reduced from 5.35% to 5.0% on 13th June, 3 weeks ago !! This is the first I heard about the rate change and I was not expecting anything like this as the account had been frozen to new customers. I have been able to cancel the DD at the linked account and stop the large payment. I have complained about the appauling handling of this account and apparently someone from the A&L will be telephoning me today to receive my complaint - I won't hold my breath.

In the meantime I have reduced the balance as much as I can and will be closing the account later. I advise anyone with an account with the Alliance and Leicester or who is considering opening the same to think carefully. This is the worst online banking experience I have had to date and shows a catalogue of errors and some extemely bad judgment. According to others on this thread this has not been a one-off for the Alliance & Leicester.

Avoid them !!

isasmurf

deemy2004 wrote:

A&L are the worst bank by far !

I beg to differ... They may be bad, I don't know as I haven't banked with them for a few years. I deal with almost every bank on a regular basis and in my experience there is another ex-mutual bank that is by far the worst bank I have to deal with.

I don't know why people are surprised at the rate cut. It was announced on here, in the MSE newsletter and in several newspaper articles at the time. They could have slashed the rate, but they have reduced it only slightly and still equals most of the top payers in the market. Yes, I won't argue it's bad they have reduced it when there hasn't been a BoE Base Rate cut.

As for the letter 3 weeks after the event, they are complying with the Banking Code which states they have to inform you within a month of the rate cut - and is nothing special to A&L. You'll find most banks will not notify you of a rate cut as it happens but 2 or 3 weeks later.

Milarky

isasmurf wrote:

As for the letter 3 weeks after the event, they are complying with the Banking Code which states they have to inform you within a month of the rate cut - and is nothing special to A&L. You'll find most banks will not notify you of a rate cut as it happens but 2 or 3 weeks later.

Isasmurf,
I've thought about this requirement. I does suit the banks immensely that they don't have to, for instance, give the 30 days notice of an intention to cut in interest rates in the same way they they often say in their terms and conditions that they will give at least 30 days notice of any change which is 'detrimental'. It is plainly detrimental to cut interest rates isn't it?

The point on warning customers that their T&Cs are being 'cut' in a sense is to give them the option to change their product [if they can be bothered or the 'pain' of the amendment is too great].

Of course if banks had to give 30 days notice of this kind I suppose what would end up happening is that Bank 'A' would quickly follow Bank 'B' within a few days in making a matching announcement of an mpending rate cut - otherwise they would loose a competitive advantage by having to hold up their rates longer.

[So the moral is, be glad that someone spots it quickly and posts it here first!]

MarkyMarkD

WaltD wrote:

I have today (4th July) received a letter from Alliance & Leicester, informing me that the interest rate on my Online Saver account was reduced to 5% gross PA/AER from 13 June 2005. Nice of them to let me know 3 weeks after the event!

Also, they are saying that any balance in the account in excess of £25,000 will receive 0% interest from 10 August. So investors will no longer earn "interest on the interest" if they have the maximum balance in the account.

The maximum balance on this account was always £25,000 so the comment in the letter to that regard was only a clarification, not a change.

And as it's annual interest, the "interest on the interest" point only requires the withdrawal of the interest once a year, for the few people lucky enough to have the maximum balance.

WaltD

Plasticman wrote:

This is only for "Transfers to accounts not registered for Internet Banking" so a transfer to your linked current account for up to £25,000 will be OK.

As I understand it, that only applies to a linked A&L account. My linked current account is at another bank, so it doesn't count.

Plasticman

WaltD wrote:

As I understand it, that only applies to a linked A&L account. My linked current account is at another bank, so it doesn't count.

No, it worked fine for my non A&L (Natwest) linked account.

Rhino666

When I asked about the complaints procedure at the Alliance and Leicester I was told that someone would contact me by telephone to facilitate my complaint. Needless to say over a week has passed and no-one has made contact. I have tried to find an email address on their website without success but a quick google search revealed the email address of one of the top men at the Alliance.

His email address, should others wish to voice their dissatisfaction is : -
richard.pym@alliance-leicester.co.uk
I have already email him and would invite others to do the same.

buses7675

Hi All,

The 'Issue 2' Online Saver and Direct ISA are now available on the A&L website, giving rates of 4.5% and 4.75% AER respectively.

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=home&ct=flashsecondary450percentonlinesaverpigl%20

So nowhere near as good as the existing issue 1 versions of each!

Cheers

Steve

Cagey

Don`t know what you are complaining about Rhino, I have been with A&L for years now & opened an on line saver months ago. Have never had any problems with their on-line or phone saver.

As for the reduction on interest. They have made a commercial decision but still remain one of the better interest bearing accounts.
I WILL REMAIN WITH THEM MEANTIME AS THE HASSLE IN CHANGING IS NOT WORTH AN EXTRA .35 % FOR A FEW MONTHS..