Virgin Money 10.38% regular monthly saver

sparky0138

I received my first statement too and the 10% up to £500 threw me as well.

I opened and funded the account on 3rd August and the first payment of £250 shows as being applied on 5th August.

The statement says "if your balance at the statement date is in credit then the applicable credit interest rate is shown below."

The statement date is 31st August so on 30th September the applicable interest rate should be £750 which means I'm allowed to pay in an extra £250 this month, is that correct? I'm assuming it's because technically the account "started" on 31st July as the maturity date given in the account summary is 31st July 2025.

sparky0138

I'm not sure it makes sense. The account summary also says "The maximum balance you can earn interest on at the end of the 12 month fixed term is £3,000" but 13 x £250 = £3250 and it would end up being that if you go by what it says as the applicable interest on the statement.

clivep

sparky0138 said:

I'm not sure it makes sense. The account summary also says "The maximum balance you can earn interest on at the end of the 12 month fixed term is £3,000" but 13 x £250 = £3250 and it would end up being that if you go by what it says as the applicable interest on the statement.

The fixed term ends on 31st July 2025 regardless of when the a/c was opened. As it was launched in August, how can you make a 13th payment?

AmityNeon

clivep said:

sparky0138 said:

I'm not sure it makes sense. The account summary also says "The maximum balance you can earn interest on at the end of the 12 month fixed term is £3,000" but 13 x £250 = £3250 and it would end up being that if you go by what it says as the applicable interest on the statement.

The fixed term ends on 31st July 2025 regardless of when the a/c was opened. As it was launched in August, how can you make a 13th payment?

My statement is dated "30 August 2024" and contains the following:

If your balance at the statement date is in credit then the applicable credit interest rate is highlighted below.

Account Balance (£)	Gross Rate %	AER %
0 - 499	10.00	10.38
500 +	0.00	0.00

sparky0138

clivep said:

sparky0138 said:

I'm not sure it makes sense. The account summary also says "The maximum balance you can earn interest on at the end of the 12 month fixed term is £3,000" but 13 x £250 = £3250 and it would end up being that if you go by what it says as the applicable interest on the statement.

The fixed term ends on 31st July 2025 regardless of when the a/c was opened. As it was launched in August, how can you make a 13th payment?

I'm basing it on the statement for August saying 10.38% for balances up to £500. If it was launched in August then nobody should have been able to save £500 unless their system is counting it as 31st July 2024-31st July 2025 and the last day of July counted as a payment month. Unless I'm reading it totally wrong - which is highly probable. 🤪

I've messaged Virgin about this and will update when they reply.

jameseonline

I got a paper statement too, surely default should be paper free for things these days?, oh well I've updated preferences in app.

Marketing preferences in Communication preferences is interesting, talks about sending details to "your organisation".

Yet I'm a personal customer and all options are selected, 🤔 🧐 

subjecttocontract

sparky0138 said:

clivep said:

sparky0138 said:

I'm not sure it makes sense. The account summary also says "The maximum balance you can earn interest on at the end of the 12 month fixed term is £3,000" but 13 x £250 = £3250 and it would end up being that if you go by what it says as the applicable interest on the statement.

The fixed term ends on 31st July 2025 regardless of when the a/c was opened. As it was launched in August, how can you make a 13th payment?

I'm basing it on the statement for August saying 10.38% for balances up to £500. If it was launched in August then nobody should have been able to save £500 unless their system is counting it as 31st July 2024-31st July 2025 and the last day of July counted as a payment month. Unless I'm reading it totally wrong - which is highly probable. 🤪

I've messaged Virgin about this and will update when they reply.

But surely if it's a 12 month account that starts on 31st July 2024, it would end on 30th July 2025 ? The 31st July 2025 is outside of the 12 months period so you wouldn't be able to make a deposit on that date.

gt94sss2

The Virgin Regular Saver webpage and the Summary Box for this account both stated:

The maximum balance you can earn interest on at the end of the 12-month fixed term is £3,000 (not including interest).

https://web.archive.org/web/20240816142623/https://uk.virginmoney.com/savings/products/regular_saver_exclusive_issue_1/

AmityNeon

£3,000 is still the maximum balance on which you can (eventually) earn interest, but should the interest information printed on Statement 1 (dated 30 August 2024) actually be correct, i.e. where interest is earned on balances up to £500 in August, it possibly suggests an additional £250 could be deposited a calendar month earlier whilst still earning interest on the full balance (contradicting the terms of the account).

This type of discrepancy is not one which will likely be definitively clarified by any regular support agent, so it's probably safer to assume the error is a simple misprint. (Though with first interest payment less than two weeks away, I may deposit an additional £250 a couple of days earlier just to ascertain how the account has been technically implemented.)

Eco_Miser

Clydesdale Bank generally ends a month at midnight-ish on the last working day of the month (not actual calendar months), so since the 31st August was a Saturday, the statement was produced as at the end of Friday, and the amount shown on which interest would be paid (£499) applied from Saturday. Note that this is a pound less than the multiple of £250 specified in the Key product information.

Also note that the 12-month fixed term ends 31 July 2025 for all Regular Saver Exclusive accounts, meaning the term began 1 August 2024, even if you only opened it minutes before it was withdrawn (30/08/24 @ 15:30).

You are welcome to make a 13th payment, or 14th, 15th, etc. due to the remarkably flexible conditions of the account, but only during the the 12 months up to 31 July 2025, and interest will only be paid on up to £3,000 (plus already credited interest) during July 2025 (lower amounts in earlier months).

I also got a paper statement for the account, despite having previously specified paperless for all accounts, and there was no option to select paperless on opening. You had to remember to go 2 levels deep in the menu to turn it on, and who is going to remember that?