Am I mistaken about Interest Rate %'s on Virgin Money M Plus Account

Band7

RG2015 said:

Band7 said:

Molly4 said:

k_man said:

Molly4 said:

k_man said:

Molly4 said:

phillw said:

Molly4 said:

My understanding of this is I would be paid 2.00% Interest every month on a Balance up to £1000 on the M Plus Current Account

Approximately 1/12 of 2% of the balance, in reality they divide the 2% by 365 (or 366 in a leap year) and then apply that to the balance at the end of each day & pay it monthly.

So you would need to look at when during the month you paid the money in, and what the interest rate was at the time. You don't get paid for a full months interest by putting the money in on the last day for example. Rates have risen on the savings account over the last year.

I don't believe they offered 2% on the linked saving back in february.

This is what their web site looked like back then...

https://web.archive.org/web/20220217182738/https://uk.virginmoney.com/current-accounts/pca/

The offer I took up was via MSE's Money Saving Newsletter as of 16th February 2022 which took me to the offer on the Virgin Money Website as below which is taken from my sign up page.

Our page at a glance

Account overview|Get started 

Things just got interesting...

M Plus Account

2.02%

Feast on a 2.02% AER1 (2.00% gross1 per annum variable) interest rate, paid monthly, on your M Plus Account balance up to £1,000.

Linked to the M Plus Saver

2.02%

AER1 (2.00% gross1 per annum variable) on savings balances up to £25,000, and 1.51% AER (1.50% gross1) on any balances above £25,000. Interest paid quarterly.

Monthly Fee

£0

There is no Monthly Fee for Maintaining the M Plus Account

The page content you have posted is from the current version of the page, which has been updated multiple times since February.

At the time the interest rate was only 0.35% on the M Plus Saver (as shown in the archived version of the page linked by @phillw).

Discussions here about an increase late in February to a (at the time) market leading 1%:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79009092/#Comment_79009092

The page content I have posted is the page content I saved to my computer and have in an email from Virgin Money. My personal email is dated 2nd March 2022, The page was saved to my computer on the same date.

Also if you look at MSE's past moneysaving tips emails you can find it on the email dated 16th February 2022. Under the first money saving tip - It takes two... 14 MoneySaving tips for couples If you scroll down through the article on entry 2 - Virgin Money £100 experience voucher*, plus up to 5.02% interest. When you click on this link it takes you to the exact same page I have referred to and saved.

Are you sure you saved a copy of the page (e.g to pdf), or was it a bookmark/link?
Does the email include a link, or specific text about the interest rates?

The page that the MSE email links to (I did the same as you) goes to the latest version of that page (which is now 2% and 2%), not to the specific version relating to the February offer.

The reason that 2% on savings (it was 2% on the current account, plus the 3% bonus) back in February, seems unlikely, is that when the increase to 1% on the saver was announced, that was market leading. When Chase released the 1.5% savings in March, there was a major frenzy.
If Virgin had already offered 2% on savings there would have been little excitement over 1.5% by Chase.

There is no discussion in these forums about that level of saving interest at Virgin, at the time, only the increase to 1%. There was however around the 3% bonus on the current account.

Can I ask why am I having to prove to you that I am telling the truth? But I will prove this further. 

I have a "Welcome Email" for Virgin Money dated 2nd March 2022 timed 14.17 sent to my personal email address. 

On that email there are 9 PDF attachments.

One of the PDF attachments is headed "The Tarriff for your M Plus Account and M Plus Saver"

When I open that attachment this is what is listed under "Interest we pay you"

The interest rate on the current account has been 2.02% AER ever since that account became available, around May 2020. Interest paid on max £1,000.

The interest rate on the savings account was changed to 2.02% AER on March 1 2022. Interest paid on max £25,000

These rates are annual, not monthly.

The rate on 2nd March 2022 was 1.00%.

See the link below with the press release showing the increase from 1.00% to 1.56% on 1st June 2022.

https://www.virginmoneyukplc.com/newsroom/article/linked-saver-increase/

Actually, you are right, it went to 1% on March 1 2022 - when the next best rate was still only 0.75% or thereabouts. I made substantial deposits into 2 VM Saver accounts on that day. I don't have a record of when they went to 2% but they had become uncompetitive by August 8 2022 when I withdrew my balance.

RG2015

For general information I have detailed the effective dates of the rate increases on the M Plus linked savings account.

I am fully expecting another rate increase shortly 

Incidentally, the interest on the current account is paid on the last day of each month, whereas the interest on the linked saver is paid on the last day of each quarter. 31 Mar, 30 Jun, 30 Sep and 31 Dec.

27/04/2021	0.35%
01/03/2022	1.00%
01/06/2022	1.56%
27/07/2022	1.71%
03/10/2022	2.02%

Band7

From the horse's mouth:

eskbanker

Molly4 said:

I incorrectly thought I would get 2.00% per month when in fact I shall be getting 2.00% for the whole year. 

No, you'll receive pro rata interest based on the lower rates applying up to October and only 2.02% thereafter, i.e. if there are no further changes then your weighted rate will be something like 1.6-1.7% of the March balance.

Edit: just to clarify, I'm referring to the changes to the interest rate on the savings account posted above, i.e. the total interest payable on the savings account over its first year will be less than 2%.  However, for the whole year from 3 October 2022, interest will be 2%....

RG2015

eskbanker said:

Molly4 said:

I incorrectly thought I would get 2.00% per month when in fact I shall be getting 2.00% for the whole year. 

No, you'll receive pro rata interest based on the lower rates applying up to October and only 2.02% thereafter, i.e. if there are no further changes then your weighted rate will be something like 1.6-1.7% of the March balance.

@eskbanker I think you are muddying the waters for @Molly4

Here, she is talking about the current account which has always been 2.00% p.a.

Her initial erroneous assumption was that it paid 2.00% per month.

p00hsticks

Molly4 said:

RG2015 said:

I was reading about pension credit the other day and was interested to see that it wasn’t automatically affected by having savings or owning your home.

 @Molly4 , I assume that you are aware of this and will be prepared when you get closer to state pension age.

Yes I am aware and am counting the days until I get my State Pension. 628 days to go!!!

@Molly4

Apologies if it;s already been mentioned, i haven't read the entire thread.

Have you got yourself a State Pension forecast to check that you are on track to receive the maximum amount , or whether there are possibilities for you to improve it ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

RG2015

p00hsticks said:

Molly4 said:

RG2015 said:

I was reading about pension credit the other day and was interested to see that it wasn’t automatically affected by having savings or owning your home.

 @Molly4 , I assume that you are aware of this and will be prepared when you get closer to state pension age.

Yes I am aware and am counting the days until I get my State Pension. 628 days to go!!!

@Molly4

Apologies if it;s already been mentioned, i haven't read the entire thread.

Have you got yourself a State Pension forecast to check that you are on track to receive the maximum amount , or whether there are possibilities for you to improve it ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Ah, yes. I put in 3 or 4 years worth of voluntary National Insurance contributions before my SP date.

Molly4

p00hsticks said:

Molly4 said:

RG2015 said:

I was reading about pension credit the other day and was interested to see that it wasn’t automatically affected by having savings or owning your home.

 @Molly4 , I assume that you are aware of this and will be prepared when you get closer to state pension age.

Yes I am aware and am counting the days until I get my State Pension. 628 days to go!!!

@Molly4

Apologies if it;s already been mentioned, i haven't read the entire thread.

Have you got yourself a State Pension forecast to check that you are on track to receive the maximum amount , or whether there are possibilities for you to improve it ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

@p00hsticks Yes I have had a pension forecast and I am currently continuing to pay NI contributions even though I am not working so I can get the full State Pension when it is due to be paid to me. This will be in 1 year 8 months and 18 days time which is 20 months or 89 weeks or 627 days from now. Not that I am counting!!!! 

Someone mentioned Pension Credits in an earlier comment. There is no point in me looking into Pension Credits at present as there are going to be an awful lot of changes between now and 627 days time. 

RG2015

RG2015 said:

For general information I have detailed the effective dates of the rate increases on the M Plus linked savings account.

I am fully expecting another rate increase shortly 

Incidentally, the interest on the current account is paid on the last day of each month, whereas the interest on the linked saver is paid on the last day of each quarter. 31 Mar, 30 Jun, 30 Sep and 31 Dec.

27/04/2021	0.35%
01/03/2022	1.00%
01/06/2022	1.56%
27/07/2022	1.71%
03/10/2022	2.02%

@Molly4

I have just looked at you very first post and you have clearly detailed the dates and rates that I have just posted above.

Mea Culpa, and it makes me look a bit stupid and rather arrogant.

Best of luck and hope you find a decent home for your savings. You will find that many here are constantly swapping savings accounts for the best rates.

I have a financial background and enjoy the chase but am still finding it extremely tedious in these times of rapidly changing rates.

Molly4

@RG2015

I took those dates from the personal emails I received from Virgin Money telling me of the Interest changes and the dates the change took place. I always receive the email after the change has taken place. They don't seem to let you know in advance.