Monthly interest less than last month, ISA balance actually gone up

masonic

Zuzi said:

I heard from the Lloyds complaint team today. The last payment (which my "complaint" was about) was 21 days at 24.850,17 and 10 days at 35.230,28 and the corresponding interest apparently comes to within pence of what I got (I have not double-checked but it makes sense)

Those figures and days at 5.37% gross would put the November interest payment at £128.61, whereas you received £133.79. This actual interest payment is correct to the penny for 21 days and 11 days, meaning that your second transfer started to earn interest from 2nd November, and your November interest period was from 12th October - 13th November (and so the normal payment date is 12th of each month, which fell on a Sunday in November so was postponed until the next day).

Working backward, the October payment, for the 30 day period from 12th September - 12th October, should have been £109.20 taking your balance from £24,740.97 to £24,850.17, but you received £144.57.

Backdated interest could be an explanation for why the payment was larger than expected, but it is unclear why they should pay this in the October interest month, not September. If so, then what is the explanation for the September interest being even higher again (12th August fell on a Saturday, so this interest period would have been 29 days long)?

Zuzi

Thanks @masonic and @AmityNeon - yeah I am happy with the resolution for what I'd actually raised (the calculation behind the last payment), but I can't say I understand exactly how the previous two interest payments were calculated.
If anything, they seem to be higher than expected, so I will gratefully accept that. Part of me would still want to know the reasons, hell, I'd even be happy to pay back whatever I may have received unjustly, but I feel that if the bank wanted to pursue this with me I gave them the opportunity to do so and they don't seem interested.

My transfers in were painfully slow. The money wasn't "in between" providers for too long so I can't complain about that, but the Lloyds interest rate was higher than the banks' where it came from, and I originally thought that I will get the better rate from when I signed the transfer forms. Who knows, maybe that's what Lloyds did in the end, and that's why my Sept (and for some reason, also Oct) payments were so high...

I don't want to spend any more time on this, I feel like I wasted people's time reaching out to the bank as it is, and in a way also time of people here... many thanks to everyone who pitched in with advice.