Coming back to BS saving

Ted_Bloke

Background and common ground: simple question but first some reflections so as not to seem so foolish.

I remember when I started on mse in 2006 among the first posts I read was someone enraged that a leading building society (which no longer exists) had reduced its interest rate to 4%!

Building societies have always had negative real rates of interest, that is interest less than the inflation rate. However you could not afford to not use them forMoney you wanted to be readily available, or you would be getting an quite a lot of even more negative interest. Of recent years however inflation went down like never happened before and at the same time the interest hasn't been worth getting out of bed for. I used most of the money I had in BS accounts, and then didn't trouble to build it up again for recently saved money. But, remembering the hassle Setting the accounts up, I didn't cancel the accounts. and remembering too that when accounts are inactive you tend to forget them, and what's worse the banks and BS forget them too, I kept a trickle of money going into most of them. that way they have to keep me regularly updated.

To use a horrible cliche, fast forward: inflation is back recently with a vengeance. Very well beyond the 6% real and 4% BS I was talking about at the start.(And we are hearing about the poor housebuyers. In fact I'm sorry for them too, but then let's not get started on what we paid back in the day!) inflation has been running out at 10 or 12%. At last a matter of days or so, the BS are announcing increased rates to lenders. The latest MSE update is giving 2.1% (Santander) as best. Personally I only ever go to mainline banks like that or solid trad building societies, not the obscure ones based on the Faroes that sometimes are given.

so all that is just to say that, not very much remarked amongst the other things going on, in the press et cetera, savers are faced with negative real interests far worse even than in 2006. But unlike a year or two ago they cannot afford to be out of this market.

that was just some general reflections, I have a precise silly question though.

Whenever I open a new account they ask me name of beneficiary. I never know whether to put my name, or that of the Bank/BS. I find out, but by the next time I have forgotten again.  It causes hassle or failure if I get it wrong. So if somebody can state it here I will know to come back here to find out every time. Thank you.

TomDolan

usually, if its a BS account the payee name would be the bank that the BS banks with and the reference will carry the BS provided ref. no. but always check the account guidelines

if its a bank, then the payee name is your name.

Section62

Ted_Bloke said:

Whenever I open a new account they ask me name of beneficiary. I never know whether to put my name, or that of the Bank/BS. I find out, but by the next time I have forgotten again.  It causes hassle or failure if I get it wrong. So if somebody can state it here I will know to come back here to find out every time. Thank you.

When you say 'they' Ted, do you mean the building society when you are filling in the application forms, or your bank (or BS) when you are setting up a payment to go into your new account?

If the former, then it is you.  If the latter, then it depends on how the building society handles incoming payments.  Some have a single account number and a process to allocate payments to your account (in which case the payee is usually the building society name (but check)), others give unique account numbers to each individual member account, in which case the payee name should be your own (but still check).

Sorry there is not a single definitive answer I can give you. (I blame the building societies)

Ted_Bloke

TomDolan said:

usually, if its a BS account the payee name would be the bank that the BS banks with and the reference will ocarry the BS provided ref. no. but always check the account guidelines

if its a bank, then the payee name is your name.

Thank you, my immediate one is a bank, and that worked

Ted_Bloke

Section62 said:

Ted_Bloke said:

Whenever I open a new account they ask me name of beneficiary. I never know whether to put my name, or that of the Bank/BS. I find out, but by the next time I have forgotten again.  It causes hassle or failure if I get it wrong. So if somebody can state it here I will know to come back here to find out every time. Thank you.

When you say 'they' Ted, do you mean the building society when you are filling in the application forms, or your bank (or BS) when you are setting up a payment to go into your new account?

If the former, then it is you.  If the latter, then it depends on how the building society handles incoming payments.  Some have a single account number and a process to allocate payments to your account (in which case the payee is usually the building society name (but check)), others give unique account numbers to each individual member account, in which case the payee name should be your own (but still check).

Sorry there is not a single definitive answer I can give you. (I blame the building societies)

I mean my bank when setting up the payment. I have managed to do one thing I was trying. Actually the payment was to another bank. And I somehow worked out I paid into my own name at that bank. I somehow worked it out but I wouldn't say it's stated very clearly anywhere. What scares me is that a few days ago I made a mistake about this and the result was security put a block on my online access.I can't complain that they are vigilant for fraud on my behalf. but if it means a phone call to bank security that's an afternoon's hell if you know what I mean, so I wish some things were not so ambiguous.