Notice Accounts

refluxer

winkowinko said:

Is there some kind of rule/law whereby notice accounts must give you x amount of warning time before they can drop their rate? For example the length of the term. Or does it vary from one bank to the next?

It varies from one bank to the next - the majority give you at least the same amount of notice for a rate reduction that you have to give for withdrawals (often plus a week or two) and those who don't allow you to close the account without giving notice.

In the latter case, you normally only get a limited time to act after receiving the notification, so you need to ensure that your communication preferences are set up correctly and that you keep up to date with any letters or emails they send out and read them promptly.

slinger2

winkowinko said:

Is there some kind of rule/law whereby notice accounts must give you x amount of warning time before they can drop their rate? For example the length of the term. Or does it vary from one bank to the next?

Some notice account are "trackers" which will reduce rates relatively soon after a BOE rate reduction.

There are plenty of non-tracker notice accounts that give you the notice period (eg 90 days) + 14 days notice of a rate reduction (or near enough). I've got accounts with RCI, Oxbury, Investec and DF Capital. Personally I wouldn't go for anything that didn't give such notice of a rate reduction.

Aidanmc

What do you think about the BLME 5.15% 90 day notice account?

We will tell you if we reduce the expected profit rate applicable to your Account. You will then have 60 calendar days to tell us if you wish us to close your Account and have your money returned to you. If we do not hear from you within this period, we will keep your Account open, applying the new lower expected profit rate. If, during the 60 calendar day period mentioned above, you tell us that you want to close your Account, we will close it and transfer your money (including any profit due to you) to your nominated bank account 31 calendar days’ later.

slinger2

Aidanmc said:

What do you think about the BLME 5.15% 90 day notice account?

We will tell you if we reduce the expected profit rate applicable to your Account. You will then have 60 calendar days to tell us if you wish us to close your Account and have your money returned to you. If we do not hear from you within this period, we will keep your Account open, applying the new lower expected profit rate. If, during the 60 calendar day period mentioned above, you tell us that you want to close your Account, we will close it and transfer your money (including any profit due to you) to your nominated bank account 31 calendar days’ later.

Personally I don't go for the notice accounts that give you less notice of a rate reduction but let you close the account (although this 60 days is longer than some of those) There are others that give you 104 days notice, eg Vanquis paying 5.10%.

Aidanmc

slinger2 said:

Aidanmc said:

What do you think about the BLME 5.15% 90 day notice account?

We will tell you if we reduce the expected profit rate applicable to your Account. You will then have 60 calendar days to tell us if you wish us to close your Account and have your money returned to you. If we do not hear from you within this period, we will keep your Account open, applying the new lower expected profit rate. If, during the 60 calendar day period mentioned above, you tell us that you want to close your Account, we will close it and transfer your money (including any profit due to you) to your nominated bank account 31 calendar days’ later.

Personally I don't go for the notice accounts that give you less notice of a rate reduction but let you close the account (although this 60 days is longer than some of those) There are others that give you 104 days notice, eg Vanquis paying 5.10%.

Does this BLME account not give enough notice to be able to close it before it reduces the rate or am i not understanding the terms correctly.

To me it seems they give 60 calender day notice of rate reduction, then if you wish to close during this 60day period you can and will receive the funds 31 calender days later (i'm assuming interest for those days also)?

refluxer

Aidanmc said:

slinger2 said:

Aidanmc said:

What do you think about the BLME 5.15% 90 day notice account?

We will tell you if we reduce the expected profit rate applicable to your Account. You will then have 60 calendar days to tell us if you wish us to close your Account and have your money returned to you. If we do not hear from you within this period, we will keep your Account open, applying the new lower expected profit rate. If, during the 60 calendar day period mentioned above, you tell us that you want to close your Account, we will close it and transfer your money (including any profit due to you) to your nominated bank account 31 calendar days’ later.

Personally I don't go for the notice accounts that give you less notice of a rate reduction but let you close the account (although this 60 days is longer than some of those) There are others that give you 104 days notice, eg Vanquis paying 5.10%.

Does this BLME account not give enough notice to be able to close it before it reduces the rate or am i not understanding the terms correctly.

To me it seems they give 60 calender day notice of rate reduction, then if you wish to close during this 60day period you can and will receive the funds 31 calender days later (i'm assuming interest for those days also)?

This is how it reads to me... provided you tell them you wish to close your account within 29 days of being notified, you'll be able to get your money out before the rate reduction kicks in at 60 days and even if you do it during the remaining 31 days (or so) before the reduction kicks in, your notice period is shortened from the usual 90 days down to 31 days which greatly reduces the time you'll spend on the lower rate. It's an unusual way of doing this, but seems fair enough to me. Like all accounts of this nature, you'll get the interest that's due up until the day of closure.

premierfella

I had the BLME in the past but ditched it once I fully got my head around the terms on access following interest rate change announcements. They have maintained a consistently good interest rate over time, which is definitely a positive and arguably mitigates, but I preferred to move my money somewhere else with the full notice period being applied when rates changed.

The BLME terms felt a bit too off for me. Maybe if they allowed early withdrawals under the same terms rather than having to close the account I might have kept the account. Just my personal views on it - the account is a good one for anyone happy with the terms.

slinger2

Aidanmc said:

slinger2 said:

Aidanmc said:

What do you think about the BLME 5.15% 90 day notice account?

We will tell you if we reduce the expected profit rate applicable to your Account. You will then have 60 calendar days to tell us if you wish us to close your Account and have your money returned to you. If we do not hear from you within this period, we will keep your Account open, applying the new lower expected profit rate. If, during the 60 calendar day period mentioned above, you tell us that you want to close your Account, we will close it and transfer your money (including any profit due to you) to your nominated bank account 31 calendar days’ later.

Personally I don't go for the notice accounts that give you less notice of a rate reduction but let you close the account (although this 60 days is longer than some of those) There are others that give you 104 days notice, eg Vanquis paying 5.10%.

Does this BLME account not give enough notice to be able to close it before it reduces the rate or am i not understanding the terms correctly.

To me it seems they give 60 calender day notice of rate reduction, then if you wish to close during this 60day period you can and will receive the funds 31 calender days later (i'm assuming interest for those days also)?

Yes. It's fine if that's what you want. You're never tied into the lower rate. To me the extra 45 days guarantee of the higher rate outweighs the extra 0.05%. Assume you get 5.15% for 60 days and then 4.9% (say) for the next 45 days (somewhere else) that's an average rate of 5.04%, compared to the guaranteed 5.10% from Vanguard for those 105 days. Of course we're only talking pennies here.

SnowMan

slinger2 said:

For the DF 120 and 180-day rate reductions noted above they seem to have given the notice period + 14 days notice (134 and 194 days - near enough). I'm assuming the 90-day account will be next, probably 104 days notice.

I was expecting to get notice of a reduction on the 5.3% DF 90 day notice account (issue 1) but nothing so far.

Does anyone know what form the notice takes when they do decide to reduce rates, is it just the email mentioned above for the 180 day account, or does a message appear in the messages section when logged in as well?

janusd

SnowMan said:

slinger2 said:

For the DF 120 and 180-day rate reductions noted above they seem to have given the notice period + 14 days notice (134 and 194 days - near enough). I'm assuming the 90-day account will be next, probably 104 days notice.

I was expecting to get notice of a reduction on the 5.3% DF 90 day notice account (issue 1) but nothing so far.

Does anyone know what form the notice takes when they do decide to reduce rates, is it just the email mentioned above for the 180 day account, or does a message appear in the messages section when logged in as well?

I have their 4.85% EA account and rate decreases are notified by email with 14 days notice - i've just checked and there is no equivalent secure messages for these rate change emails.