The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

HHUK

Saffron

I have to confess to having managed to confuse myself totally as to which account is which.

I somehow ended up with three regular savers, two of which were paying 8%. One of those is a continuation of an earlier regular saver that matured. The third, according to the App, is paying 4.2%. I only opened that one because my understanding was that it was required to trigger the ability to 'Refer A Friend', and I was under the impression it, too, would be paying 8%.

I exchanged secure messages about when I'd receive the 'Refer A Friend' link and was told they were having to carry out internal checks. Yesterday I missed a call identified by my phone as coming from 'Crocus Home Loans', which turned out to be from Saffron. Called them back today and was advised by the agent that I could only have one account paying 8% so would have to close the other one. Apparently I didn't need the account paying 4.2% to be able to refer a friend, so asked for that to be closed as well.

The above two accounts have disappeared from the App within a couple of hours of my phone call, so assume they have been closed. I was told that I would receive the link to refer a friend within the next day or two.

I suspect I don't have any cause to complain, and that my issues were mainly down to user error and/ or lack of proper attention on my part to all the terms and conditions. In any case I have a soft spot for Saffron, with them being my most local BS with whom I've had a relationship since opening an account at their Brentwood branch about 35 years ago, and whenever I've had occasion to phone them I've always found their agents to be friendly, helpful and efficient.

ForumUser7

HHUK said:

Saffron

I have to confess to having managed to confuse myself totally as to which account is which.

I somehow ended up with three regular savers, two of which were paying 8%. One of those is a continuation of an earlier regular saver that matured. The third, according to the App, is paying 4.2%. I only opened that one because my understanding was that it was required to trigger the ability to 'Refer A Friend', and I was under the impression it, too, would be paying 8%.

I exchanged secure messages about when I'd receive the 'Refer A Friend' link and was told they were having to carry out internal checks. Yesterday I missed a call identified by my phone as coming from 'Crocus Home Loans', which turned out to be from Saffron. Called them back today and was advised by the agent that I could only have one account paying 8% so would have to close the other one. Apparently I didn't need the account paying 4.2% to be able to refer a friend, so asked for that to be closed as well.

The above two accounts have disappeared from the App within a couple of hours of my phone call, so assume they have been closed. I was told that I would receive the link to refer a friend within the next day or two.

I suspect I don't have any cause to complain, and that my issues were mainly down to user error and/ or lack of proper attention on my part to all the terms and conditions. In any case I have a soft spot for Saffron, with them being my most local BS with whom I've had a relationship since opening an account at their Brentwood branch about 35 years ago, and whenever I've had occasion to phone them I've always found their agents to be friendly, helpful and efficient.

It is definitely unhelpful that the app just refers to them as 'Fixed Term Savings' (or something like that), rather than the actual account names

Dizzycap

alfred64 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

orange-juice said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

orange-juice said:

I feel like it shouldn’t be possible to hold both accounts - members and refer a friend, as it might not be in the ‘spirit of the promo’, but who knows 👀

I think you are over-thinking the value of these accounts, £50 a month each, even at their elevated interest rates, is hardly over-generous. 

People are putting in their complaints👀

I'm not in the least surprised. I had my Refer a Friend closed too, but I'm just not convinced that it's worth the faff of raising a formal complaint for the sake of £26.

Or are people going after extras for the "mental anguish and suffering" of having an account closed?

 I can't sleep at night.

    - I still haven't bothered faffing around with a building society who incompetently say they haven't got my email addy or telephone number when it's very clear they have, as an excuse for not opening a product applied for, whilst they scoot around making up/changing T&C's as they go along! Seriously  

jaypers

Nasqueron said:

badger09 said:

I’ve had £5.89 £25.29 & £43.58. Do I win the prize?

I’m expecting another interest payment 30 June and again on maturity 31 July

The KPI suggests a final balance on maturity of £3162.40 based on assumed payment date 1st, full £250 every month & no withdrawals. There is no mention of it morphing into any other account so I’m expecting VM to offer maturity instructions by mid July. 

That sounds about right then, I guess the 4th quarter payment would be say £70 and then the final interest month on the £3000 would be the balance

The odd pennies is in line with the switch bonus of the 12% interest on £1000 - if my June interest is more than £9.82 I would get £120.xx total

Opened 1st August and £6.16, £25.29 and £43.58 here.

Money_Grabber13579

Dizzycap said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Section62 said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Principality

Yes, both maturity accounts had instructions provided pre maturity. One was provided several weeks before, the other provided the day before, after close of business. The instructions for both accounts were blocked and matured into a maturity savings account.

In the second case did you get a human response saying the instruction couldn't be accepted, or if not, could it be you just missed the cut-off time for the instruction to be processed?

Principality

Yes, in both cases, I got responses from (different) named humans, both of which broadly said I couldn’t have another regular saver 3 because I already had one, which was the maximum allowed.

That's certainly not the experience I've had. I've submitted my maturity instructions online and then called to see that they've been received and it's never been an issue for accounts coming into maturity converting into the new accounts requested. I've got 2 Christmas Savers & 3 x 6 month RS (ALL now Issue 3). The system should be able to keep the RS Issue number i.e 1 & 2 and apply the Issue 3 account details. 

I must be on a watch list somewhere! I can’t complain though as the terms are clear that only 1 is allowed, so well done to everyone else who has managed to sneak through!

Nasqueron

jaypers said:

Nasqueron said:

badger09 said:

I’ve had £5.89 £25.29 & £43.58. Do I win the prize?

I’m expecting another interest payment 30 June and again on maturity 31 July

The KPI suggests a final balance on maturity of £3162.40 based on assumed payment date 1st, full £250 every month & no withdrawals. There is no mention of it morphing into any other account so I’m expecting VM to offer maturity instructions by mid July. 

That sounds about right then, I guess the 4th quarter payment would be say £70 and then the final interest month on the £3000 would be the balance

The odd pennies is in line with the switch bonus of the 12% interest on £1000 - if my June interest is more than £9.82 I would get £120.xx total

Opened 1st August and £6.16, £25.29 and £43.58 here.

Mine was the 5th hence the difference

I did the payments always on the 1st manually but they will post it next working day if at the weekend or bank holiday (5th August, 2nd Sept, 2nd Oct, 1st Nov, 2nd Dec, 2nd Jan, 3rd Feb, 3rd March, 1st April, 1st May, 2nd June)

Bridlington1

10_66 said:

Kim_13 said:

I can see why those who applied on the Saturday or Sunday might wish to complain - if terms don’t exclude something then by implication, it is permitted. If Monday or later, the terms were updated to say you must be a new customer so later applicants always knew it was a gamble and that there was a possibility the account would be closed as they weren’t entitled to it (as is the case with any duplicate Principality issues.)

Terms weren't updated until later on Monday morning, I applied early Monday morning and the new customer only restrictions were not on the referral form etc at that time.

Indeed. I applied on Monday morning (around 5am IIRC).

For future reference for anyone else making complaints please find the archived Ts&Cs for the Refer A Friend Saver on the link below from before they added the term excluding existing customers:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250531084120/https://www.saffronbs.co.uk/MM_Refer_a_Friend_Saver

For ease of reference this is the link listed on the first page of the archived thread.

surreysaver

Hattie627 said:

jameseonline said:

Dizzycap said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Section62 said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Principality

Yes, both maturity accounts had instructions provided pre maturity. One was provided several weeks before, the other provided the day before, after close of business. The instructions for both accounts were blocked and matured into a maturity savings account.

In the second case did you get a human response saying the instruction couldn't be accepted, or if not, could it be you just missed the cut-off time for the instruction to be processed?

Principality

Yes, in both cases, I got responses from (different) named humans, both of which broadly said I couldn’t have another regular saver 3 because I already had one, which was the maximum allowed.

That's certainly not the experience I've had. I've submitted my maturity instructions online and then called to see that they've been received and it's never been an issue for accounts coming into maturity converting into the new accounts requested. I've got 2 Christmas Savers & 3 x 6 month RS (ALL now Issue 3). The system should be able to keep the RS Issue number i.e 1 & 2 and apply the Issue 3 account details. 

I think that's the thing I've pretty much done the same, submitted maturity instructions online & maturing accounts have changed into the new issue, account details remaining the same. 

I've not called or posted instructions.

Also I opened 1 of the new issue to start with before a maturing account ended & got converted.

Did it previously hence why I had 2 issues 2's, now I've got 2 issues 3's (£400 in 1, £200 in the other) & hoping my remaining issue 2 also gets converted into another issue 3, taking me up to 3 issue 3's.

So that's why people can have more than 1 because system allows it.

It's not like I just went I'll get 2 or 3 of x account by hitting apply on the account page several times.

It's upto Principality to sort (or not) things out, the maturity or whatever trick has been a thing for a while though from what I can tell & encourages to keep saving with them, not massive amounts of interest etc anyway so if they do actively stop it then no big loss for me.

This.

Principality have been offering the 6 month RS3 as a maturity option for maturing 6 month RS's, including those who already have an Issue 3, They can't blame their customers for accepting what is offered. I wouldn't describe it as a maturity "trick". No customer is making a false pretence by accepting what is offered. If it's an error, it's up to Principality to sort it out.

I'm not even sure (I might be wrong) that the maturity choice even stated it was as Issue 3 six month regular saver, so people clicking on it might have thought it was a different account anyway 

Kim_13

HHUK said:

Saffron

I have to confess to having managed to confuse myself totally as to which account is which.

I somehow ended up with three regular savers, two of which were paying 8%. One of those is a continuation of an earlier regular saver that matured. The third, according to the App, is paying 4.2%. I only opened that one because my understanding was that it was required to trigger the ability to 'Refer A Friend', and I was under the impression it, too, would be paying 8%.

I exchanged secure messages about when I'd receive the 'Refer A Friend' link and was told they were having to carry out internal checks. Yesterday I missed a call identified by my phone as coming from 'Crocus Home Loans', which turned out to be from Saffron. Called them back today and was advised by the agent that I could only have one account paying 8% so would have to close the other one. Apparently I didn't need the account paying 4.2% to be able to refer a friend, so asked for that to be closed as well.

The above two accounts have disappeared from the App within a couple of hours of my phone call, so assume they have been closed. I was told that I would receive the link to refer a friend within the next day or two.

I suspect I don't have any cause to complain, and that my issues were mainly down to user error and/ or lack of proper attention on my part to all the terms and conditions. In any case I have a soft spot for Saffron, with them being my most local BS with whom I've had a relationship since opening an account at their Brentwood branch about 35 years ago, and whenever I've had occasion to phone them I've always found their agents to be friendly, helpful and efficient.

It is the Members’ Month Loyalty Saver at 8% that is required to refer a friend (which may perhaps have triggered a few wrong closures where a referrer had the 2024 version when they referred someone but the 2025 version with a different account number by the time the manual checks are done, meaning that that account had not been open for a year.) While being a member for a year is required to hold a Members’ Month Loyalty Saver and the MMLS required to refer someone, it is perfectly legitimate for the MMLS of the referrer to have been open for less than a year - as they have over a year of continuous membership on another account such as an EA or Small Saver which qualifies them to hold said MMLS. 

It would have been easier if they just said the referrer had to have been a member for at least a year - if they then failed to open/renew the 8% account they qualified for then it would be cheaper for Saffron at the end of the day. I have only ever seen the 8% (or 9% in 2023) accounts referred to by their proper names in the certificate you get when you open the account, never anywhere else as ForumUser7 says.

allegro120

surreysaver said:

Hattie627 said:

jameseonline said:

Dizzycap said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Section62 said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Principality

Yes, both maturity accounts had instructions provided pre maturity. One was provided several weeks before, the other provided the day before, after close of business. The instructions for both accounts were blocked and matured into a maturity savings account.

In the second case did you get a human response saying the instruction couldn't be accepted, or if not, could it be you just missed the cut-off time for the instruction to be processed?

Principality

Yes, in both cases, I got responses from (different) named humans, both of which broadly said I couldn’t have another regular saver 3 because I already had one, which was the maximum allowed.

That's certainly not the experience I've had. I've submitted my maturity instructions online and then called to see that they've been received and it's never been an issue for accounts coming into maturity converting into the new accounts requested. I've got 2 Christmas Savers & 3 x 6 month RS (ALL now Issue 3). The system should be able to keep the RS Issue number i.e 1 & 2 and apply the Issue 3 account details. 

I think that's the thing I've pretty much done the same, submitted maturity instructions online & maturing accounts have changed into the new issue, account details remaining the same. 

I've not called or posted instructions.

Also I opened 1 of the new issue to start with before a maturing account ended & got converted.

Did it previously hence why I had 2 issues 2's, now I've got 2 issues 3's (£400 in 1, £200 in the other) & hoping my remaining issue 2 also gets converted into another issue 3, taking me up to 3 issue 3's.

So that's why people can have more than 1 because system allows it.

It's not like I just went I'll get 2 or 3 of x account by hitting apply on the account page several times.

It's upto Principality to sort (or not) things out, the maturity or whatever trick has been a thing for a while though from what I can tell & encourages to keep saving with them, not massive amounts of interest etc anyway so if they do actively stop it then no big loss for me.

This.

Principality have been offering the 6 month RS3 as a maturity option for maturing 6 month RS's, including those who already have an Issue 3, They can't blame their customers for accepting what is offered. I wouldn't describe it as a maturity "trick". No customer is making a false pretence by accepting what is offered. If it's an error, it's up to Principality to sort it out.

I'm not even sure (I might be wrong) that the maturity choice even stated it was as Issue 3 six month regular saver, so people clicking on it might have thought it was a different account anyway 

The maturity choice stated 6 Months RS issue 3.