Getting the interest rate updated on your Cynergy Online ISA

mjhicks

Just posting this for the benefit of others as I almost lost out.

I took the advice of Money Saving Expert and opened a Cynergy Bank online ISA at the start of February - just a month ago - and deposited £20,000.
At the time the interest rate was 2.85%.
Then Cynergy very quietly announced that their online ISA has risen to 3.00%.
But you don't get that automatically, oh no!
This morning I've had to open a new Online ISA with Cynergy and transfer from my existing Cynergy online ISA to my new one.
The one I opened at the start of February was Cynergy Bank Online ISA issue 29.
The new one is Cynergy Bank Online ISA issue 30.

If you're a customer of theirs do lookout for this.
Lesson learned - I will be checking monthly from now on to ensure my savings are working to their maximum.
This may or may not also be true of other providers.

refluxer

Cynergy aren't the only bank who does this, so it definitely pays to keep an eye on things if you want to ensure you're always getting the best rates. If you're able to open a new account and fund it with a transfer from the old one via online banking then that at least minimises the hassle, but some insist on doing this via a phone call or PM which can lead to delays and be annoying.

If there's not much in it between the rates, then I generally favour the banks that do pass on rate rises to existing accounts rather than releasing new issues every time there is an increase. Paragon and Ford Money are usually pretty good in this respect, although their Easy Access Cash ISA rates aren't the highest at the moment.

Incidentally... MSE don't give advice on accounts as such - they just present the accounts that are FSCS-protected and pay the highest rates, but it's up to you to look into the T&Cs to determine whether they're suitable. To be fair though, this kind of situation won't generally be detailed. One option is to ask for feedback on (or search for) a potential account provider in the relevant forum the next time you're looking.

ICV

...and again. Issue 33 3.2%. I must have missed issues 31 & 32.

Wifey101

mjhicks said:

Just posting this for the benefit of others as I almost lost out.

I took the advice of Money Saving Expert and opened a Cynergy Bank online ISA at the start of February - just a month ago - and deposited £20,000.
At the time the interest rate was 2.85%.
Then Cynergy very quietly announced that their online ISA has risen to 3.00%.
But you don't get that automatically, oh no!
This morning I've had to open a new Online ISA with Cynergy and transfer from my existing Cynergy online ISA to my new one.
The one I opened at the start of February was Cynergy Bank Online ISA issue 29.
The new one is Cynergy Bank Online ISA issue 30.

If you're a customer of theirs do lookout for this.
Lesson learned - I will be checking monthly from now on to ensure my savings are working to their maximum.
This may or may not also be true of other providers.

Exactly how did you open a new Cash ISA and transfer the money from your Feb ISA to your March ISA?

I'm thinking of opening a Cynergy Cash ISA but I'm wary of them releasing new issues of ISAs with higher rates and me not knowing if I can or how I can open a new cash ISA, transfer the money and enjoy the higher interest rate. If the process was simple(ish) it might sway me.

Thanks very much.

snigehere

Bump on this ... Last week I realised that even though Cynergy continue to feature in the top interest rate group they do not automatically apply new interest rates to existing accounts unlike saga who do.  As pointed out by the OP with Cynergy you have to open a new account at the new rate and then do an internal transfer and close on the old account.  Red faced I found I was still just getting 1% on my savings (issue 6 of the product) ... I opened a new account (issue 39 this time at4.25%) on the 4th and moved my money.  Today (9th) I am repeating the process and moving to issue 40 where its 4.4% .. If I had kept up it would probably be the 32nd time of doing this!  Such a nonsense meaning customers are way down the priority list.

charlie12525

snigehere said:

Bump on this ... Last week I realised that even though Cynergy continue to feature in the top interest rate group they do not automatically apply new interest rates to existing accounts unlike saga who do.  As pointed out by the OP with Cynergy you have to open a new account at the new rate and then do an internal transfer and close on the old account.  Red faced I found I was still just getting 1% on my savings (issue 6 of the product) ... I opened a new account (issue 39 this time at4.25%) on the 4th and moved my money.  Today (9th) I am repeating the process and moving to issue 40 where its 4.4% .. If I had kept up it would probably be the 32nd time of doing this!  Such a nonsense meaning customers are way down the priority list.

Maybe Cynergy have realised just how annoying it is with the open new issue/ transfer funds from old issue nonsense.
I have the ISA issue 39 and they have actually increased the rate to match the new issue 40. No action from me required.

HimInDoors

Cynergy describe their ISAs as having 'flexible' interest rates but this is misleading: in reality, they are offering a series of 'fixed' rate accounts. Their own web site shows that the interest rates for older issues do not go up.

I shall be moving my account soon.

ICV

charlie12525 said:

snigehere said:

Bump on this ... Last week I realised that even though Cynergy continue to feature in the top interest rate group they do not automatically apply new interest rates to existing accounts unlike saga who do.  As pointed out by the OP with Cynergy you have to open a new account at the new rate and then do an internal transfer and close on the old account.  Red faced I found I was still just getting 1% on my savings (issue 6 of the product) ... I opened a new account (issue 39 this time at4.25%) on the 4th and moved my money.  Today (9th) I am repeating the process and moving to issue 40 where its 4.4% .. If I had kept up it would probably be the 32nd time of doing this!  Such a nonsense meaning customers are way down the priority list.

Maybe Cynergy have realised just how annoying it is with the open new issue/ transfer funds from old issue nonsense.
I have the ISA issue 39 and they have actually increased the rate to match the new issue 40. No action from me required.

Issue 41 (4.55%) now out. No auto adjustment of Issue 39 this time (yet, for me) so looks like that was a one-off. What are they playing at ?

leannecollingwood

Yes, but did anyone think about the benefits the other way? I regularly updated to the latest issue, its a 1 minute process and very easy. I now am on issue 45 (I think) with 5.07%. The best available for new customers is now 5%, but because my account doesn't auto change to new issues, I am holding onto that favourable rate.
 

Think about it before complaining.

refluxer

leannecollingwood said:

Yes, but did anyone think about the benefits the other way? I regularly updated to the latest issue, its a 1 minute process and very easy. I now am on issue 45 (I think) with 5.07%. The best available for new customers is now 5%, but because my account doesn't auto change to new issues, I am holding onto that favourable rate.
 

Think about it before complaining.

To be fair, you've resurrected a thread that was started over a year ago. At that time (and even up to the time of the post previous to yours), interest rates were rising steadily and banks continually releasing new issues of their easy access accounts instead of increasing the rate of the existing issue was a legitimate reason for a grumble, particularly from anyone who didn't realise that Cynergy operate in this way.

A quick look at the rate history for their Online ISA shows that anyone holding that account during 2023 would have had to update it 15 times in the 9 months between mid-January and mid-October (when the rate peaked) in order to stay on the highest rate so it's not too surprising that many wouldn't want that hassle, especially with what should be a variable rate account. 

It's a fair comment about it working in your favour now though, but it's obviously likely that they'll drop that rate at some point in the future once the base rates falls and/or their competition does the same.