Solicitor held my money for 20 years should I get interest on top of the capital amount

delilahdelilah

MeteredOut said:

Grumpy_chap said:

delilahdelilah said:

I have received an update from the solicitor 


“ I've calculated the interest due to yourself on the client balance held.

I will send that out now for you by BACS, you should receive an amount of £  on Wednesday. “

the amount is under £100 …interest on the withheld 3500 for the 20 years …. 

Seems very low 
any advice appreciated 

Ask the Solicitors to share:
1. their calculation for how the interest was calculated,
2. including the rates applied and each period that the rates applied.
3. reference for the rates applied

Better to make them do the leg work, then you can check / challenge rather than the other way round.

...and make sure they compound it.

Here's the historic BOE interest rates: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/Bank-Rate.asp

Thankyou for the links Grumpy Chap much appreciated 

MeteredOut

Hi, I'm busy this morning, but will update it to use the Law Society rates later and post the results. Now thinking i should have stuck the sheet on Google Docs rather than on my machine, but, hey ho

I agree that the OP should be asking the solicitor how they calculated the interest, and suggest it seems very low for 20 years of compound interest.

MeteredOut

I had a quick look, and the BBR looks very similar to the BoE rate for the same dates. I've not checked them all, but if we use BoE + 4% (instead of BBR + 4% as used by the Law Society), the numbers start getting quite a bit bigger!

Year	Average BOE Rate	Rate Used	Opening	Interest	Closing
2003	3.67	7.67	3,500.00	268.33	3,768.33
2004	4.38	8.38	3,768.33	315.60	4,083.93
2005	4.50	8.50	4,083.93	347.13	4,431.07
2006	4.88	8.88	4,431.07	393.26	4,824.32
2007	5.50	9.50	4,824.32	458.31	5,282.63
2008	3.95	7.95	5,282.63	419.97	5,702.60
2009	1.00	5.00	5,702.60	285.13	5,987.73
2010	0.50	4.50	5,987.73	269.45	6,257.18
2011	0.50	4.50	6,257.18	281.57	6,538.75
2012	0.50	4.50	6,538.75	294.24	6,833.00
2013	0.50	4.50	6,833.00	307.48	7,140.48
2014	0.50	4.50	7,140.48	321.32	7,461.80
2015	0.50	4.50	7,461.80	335.78	7,797.59
2016	0.25	4.25	7,797.59	331.40	8,128.98
2017	0.50	4.50	8,128.98	365.80	8,494.79
2018	0.75	4.75	8,494.79	403.50	8,898.29
2019	0.75	4.75	8,898.29	422.67	9,320.96
2020	0.18	4.18	9,320.96	389.15	9,710.11
2021	0.25	4.25	9,710.11	412.68	10,122.79
2022	1.75	5.75	10,122.79	582.06	10,704.85
2023	4.60	8.60	10,704.85	920.62	11,625.46

delilahdelilah

MeteredOut said:

I had a quick look, and the BBR looks very similar to the BoE rate for the same dates. I've not checked them all, but if we use BoE + 4% (instead of BBR + 4% as used by the Law Society), the numbers start getting quite a bit bigger!

Year	Average BOE Rate	Rate Used	Opening	Interest	Closing
2003	3.67	7.67	3,500.00	268.33	3,768.33
2004	4.38	8.38	3,768.33	315.60	4,083.93
2005	4.50	8.50	4,083.93	347.13	4,431.07
2006	4.88	8.88	4,431.07	393.26	4,824.32
2007	5.50	9.50	4,824.32	458.31	5,282.63
2008	3.95	7.95	5,282.63	419.97	5,702.60
2009	1.00	5.00	5,702.60	285.13	5,987.73
2010	0.50	4.50	5,987.73	269.45	6,257.18
2011	0.50	4.50	6,257.18	281.57	6,538.75
2012	0.50	4.50	6,538.75	294.24	6,833.00
2013	0.50	4.50	6,833.00	307.48	7,140.48
2014	0.50	4.50	7,140.48	321.32	7,461.80
2015	0.50	4.50	7,461.80	335.78	7,797.59
2016	0.25	4.25	7,797.59	331.40	8,128.98
2017	0.50	4.50	8,128.98	365.80	8,494.79
2018	0.75	4.75	8,494.79	403.50	8,898.29
2019	0.75	4.75	8,898.29	422.67	9,320.96
2020	0.18	4.18	9,320.96	389.15	9,710.11
2021	0.25	4.25	9,710.11	412.68	10,122.79
2022	1.75	5.75	10,122.79	582.06	10,704.85
2023	4.60	8.60	10,704.85	920.62	11,625.46

Thankyou again for another huge effort … seems to significantly change the figures…. 

I really appreciate your effort …. 

delilahdelilah

I received the interest payment into my account today … under £95.38 …. As stated in the email but did not receive any breakdown of how they arrived at this amount and no written explanation as to why this had not come to light for 20 years 

MeteredOut

delilahdelilah said:

I received the interest payment into my account today … under £95.38 …. As stated in the email but did not receive any breakdown of how they arrived at this amount and no written explanation as to why this had not come to light for 20 years 

I hope you went back to them and asked them their standard procedure for calculating interest, and a breakdown of that £95. I'd be phoning at this point.

delilahdelilah

MeteredOut said:

delilahdelilah said:

I received the interest payment into my account today … under £95.38 …. As stated in the email but did not receive any breakdown of how they arrived at this amount and no written explanation as to why this had not come to light for 20 years 

I hope you went back to them and asked them their standard procedure for calculating interest, and a breakdown of that £95. I'd be phoning at this point.

I have emailed asking for a breakdown of interest and explanation so I’m just waiting for their reply …. Thankyou Meteredout…. 

youth_leader

I agree I'd be phoning, I would not be satisfied with their lack of apology.

jimbog

I wouldn't phone at this stage as it could all get emotive. Stick with pointed emails

BarelySentientAI

jimbog said:

I wouldn't phone at this stage as it could all get emotive. Stick with pointed emails

And you get a nice record if you need to take it further.  Email all the way.