Nationwide 8% saver matured, but they haven’t paid the correct interest? Hoodwinked?

PRAISETHESUN

As above, it sounds like you've misunderstood how regular savers work. You only get paid interest for money actually in the account - the full £2600 was only in the account for the final month, not the full term. See the calculator below for a breakdown on how interest should be paid: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/regular-savings-calculator/

Ayr_Rage

RoastPotatoes said:

Ok thanks all, was a misunderstanding on my part then.

fair enough, I think I’ll just infest that money going forward then, poor investment decision by me!

It was only a poor decision if you had £2600 to invest on day one.

If it was spare money left over at then end of each month then it was a good return.

flaneurs_lobster

The OP should be commended for using the term "hoodwinked" rather than reaching for the almost universal "Scam", a word now used to describe any situation where the outcome was not that expected.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

RoastPotatoes said:

Ok thanks all, was a misunderstanding on my part then.

fair enough, I think I’ll just infest that money going forward then, poor investment decision by me!

Where else could you have got 8% 🤔

The fact you are referring to this as an investment and are also expecting Nationwide to pay you interest on money you haven't given them is highlighting a distinct lack of personal finance knowledge to be honest.

Section62

Ayr_Rage said:

RoastPotatoes said:

Ok thanks all, was a misunderstanding on my part then.

fair enough, I think I’ll just infest that money going forward then, poor investment decision by me!

It was only a poor decision if you had £2600 to invest on day one.

If it was spare money left over at then end of each month then it was a good return.

Even if the OP had £2600 to invest on day one it still wouldn't have been a poor decision.   There is not much else you can do with money which will result in a (virtually) risk-free return of 8%.

The poor decision would have been leaving the remaining balance of the £2600 (i.e. the amount not already deposited in the RS) in an account which wasn't earning a decent rate of interest for easy access.  And that wouldn't have been the fault of Nationwide or regular saver accounts in general.

blue.peter

RoastPotatoes said:

...poor investment decision by me!

Not a poor decision at all. 8% return on the money actually invested is pretty decent. I had one of these Flex Direct Regular Savers that matured last month. I got £104.24 interest (i.e., slightly less than you), and am very happy with that. I immediately started another. Even though the interest rate available is now lower, at 6.5%, it's still worth having* - especially with interest rates generally likely to fall a bit further over the next year.

You misunderstood what you were buying, so that was poor decision-making. It could well have resulted in a poor decision, but, on this occasion, didn't. You still got good value, just not as good as you expected.

*(Slightly higher interest rates are available elsewhere - see here - but I already have them in the bag.)

blue.peter

penners324 said:

Looks correct to me. Interest is paid on the balance the account every day.

So on average you've only had £2600 in the account for 6 months.

6.5 months, in fact

(12 + 11 + 10 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1) / 12 = 6.5

eskbanker

flaneurs_lobster said:

The OP should be commended for using the term "hoodwinked" rather than reaching for the almost universal "Scam", a word now used to describe any situation where the outcome was not that expected.

While I agree that 'scam' is used far too frequently and inaccurately, I don't see 'hoodwinked' as being any more appropriate here, as it still has connotations of bad faith and deception which don't fit the facts!

Ballard

This is a good, and helpful, forum but in almost every thread like this there are always numerous replies saying pretty much the same thing. The OP has acknowledged their mistake and has now learnt how these accounts work.

I may inadvertently been guilty of this myself at some point, but what’s the point of starting a reply along the lines of ‘As has already been explained…’ unless you’re bringing some new information to the thread?