Charter Bank Sharp practice

x44

I see Charter Bank are trying to "pull a fast one" - and failing.

I have a fixed rate account about to mature and going into the maturity options, I'm offered a 1 year fixed rate at 4.05% AER

mmmmmm

Well their main site says that they are offering a 1 year fixed rate account at 4.11% AER.

So they are offering worse terms to maturing deposits than to people opening up new fixed rate account afresh.

Sigh: Complaint made

ab56

Yes, this happened with us.  However we opened the account offered on the main site a few days before choosing the maturity options and it was on the list of accounts we were able to choose from when we finally chose the maturity option.  Probably have to watch that the new account would be funded in the stipulated time limit depending when 'old' account maturing.

sparklymarkly

Always happens! I have several accounts with Charter for many years and have been very happy with them overall.
However, almost every time a fixed account has been up for maturity the rate offered is never as good as the publicly advertised rate.
Easy enough to sort - just open the one with the best rate and arrange transfer into that but it’s verging on sharp practice.

fuzzzzy

sparklymarkly said:

Always happens! I have several accounts with Charter for many years and have been very happy with them overall.
However, almost every time a fixed account has been up for maturity the rate offered is never as good as the publicly advertised rate.
Easy enough to sort - just open the one with the best rate and arrange transfer into that but it’s verging on sharp practice.

Or open one with a better rate with another bank.

clairec666

Sounds they're counting on people not doing their own research. If you spot a better rate, with Charter or elsewhere, go for it, and feel smug that you've beaten their system.

Morally I think what they're doing is wrong, although there's probably no law against this. Could they be seen as mis-advertising the maturity product? Considering that most people would expect "maturity" to mean an exclusive rate that couldn't be claimed by new customers. Although they make no promises that the maturity option is better than anything else they offer.

masonic

Personally, I'm struggling to think of a scenario with any savings provider where the default maturity product was the best option in the market at the time, so the fact the same provider may be offering a better rate to new customers doesn't change anything really. Shopping around is always recommended and most of the time that will lead you elsewhere. Many maturity products pay a derisory rate of interest and that's the penalty for not shopping around.

The best 1 year fix available in the market today is 4.45%, considerably better than Charter's new customer offer.

jaypers

Happens a lot with Charter. I don’t think there are any intentional dark intentions on their part and it’s more a case of how their basic systems work. They seem to tweak their rates fairly regularly. I tend to review if the maturity options for new accounts are any better than what’s advertised (and I have seen this too) and if not just either let it go to an Easy Access and then sort afterwards or payout elsewhere.