The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Bridlington1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059417#Comment_82059417

I must confess, this is one of the reasons why I took the £50 and ran, I didn't want to push them into an account freeze as I'll be needing to empty my NatWest/RBS RSs at any point for the property purchase so now is not the time for me to deal with this on top.

I'd agree with @nottsphil though, for the account freeze itself I would say a separate thread is warranted for this matter as it could be a lengthy one.

dcs34

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059533#Comment_82059533

Couple of things to add on this topic for anyone else going through similar issues:

• I've raised a complaint with my Premier Banking Manager at NatWest and pointed out that this is affecting several customers across NW/RBS/UB (and by the sounds of it, many far more onerously than me!) - if enough people do the same this might encourage a proper "fix" by NW/RBS/UB rather than ad-hoc "will my payments go through" uncertainty/inconsistent handling by the Fraud Team call center etc.

• I've had a response from Buckinghamshire BS to my message to them pointing out these issues:

As Head of Savings, I really value hearing about customer experiences. I regularly review feedback, including comments on forums such as MSE, to identify themes and opportunities to improve our products and processes. We know a small number of customers have had similar experiences, and we’ve been looking into this carefully.

As you know, payment checks and fraud controls are managed by the sending bank and are therefore outside our direct control. That said, I’ll share the feedback we’ve received with our contacts at NatWest Group so they’re aware of the issues some customers have experienced. While we can’t influence their fraud processes directly, I hope this helps them look into the matter further where appropriate.

flaneurs_lobster

@dcs34 good feedback, thanks for taking the time.

snow62

I also had Natwest fraud team contact me last Sunday re Buckinghamshire RS. 10 minute conversation then initial payment went through after that. However, utterly fed up with it all, so I've now changed connected account to Santander. Will give it a couple more days and then try to send July payment through.

ForumUser7

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059587#Comment_82059587

Guys, if you ever needed evidence that these companies do check the forums, here it is. Loopholes posted may eventually get closed! 😂

kaMelo

I'm clearly in the minority here as payments to Bucks BS from my RBS account have gone through okay without any hint of a fraud intervention from RBS.

I don't know if that's down to it being RBS rather than NatWest/Ulster, or maybe my long history of making lots of payments to different institutions for regular savers around the beginning of the month, or something else. At least it shows there is not an automatic block for everyone within the NatWest group.

pecunianonolet

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059769#Comment_82059769

That's why serious opportunities should be discussed via PM only. Alternativly, a closed member section with invite only and a minimum of 1000 valuable comments/contributions to be elegible for an invite in the first place. I would be really keen to see what would surface…

Btw, Hello bank and building society reps :-)

dcs34

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059769#Comment_82059769

I mean, at the end of the day, they want savers deposits to show their fabulous new product / marketing campaign / rebrand is a hit with the public… and here is a group of savers eager to find somewhere worthwhile to put their deposits! Just think how many annual appraisals, KPI scores, career promotions etc. within financial institutions have been thanks (in part) to a dedicated group of regular-saver-obsessives on the MSE forum… 😄

And the same group of savers do intensive deep-dive scrutiny of product T&Cs, QC-test the systems and their ~varying shades of robustness with enforcing said T&Cs…some companies would pay quite well for such a passionate group of beta-testers!

pecunianonolet

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059787#Comment_82059787

"Dear Complaint Handler,

I am part of the highly skilled MSE Forum beta tester group, we provide scrutiny and highlight inconsistencies and ambigious language of your T&C's, we provide comprehensive technical reviews across various devices, operating systems and browsers for your app and website. We also test your IT against those findings and enforcement levels of said T&C's. We are penny pinchers of the highest guild and love a loophole that provides us with a few pennies extra of interest. We are rate chasers and very agile moving our capital around if you become uncompetitive. Many of your peers, as well as yourself included, provide us from time to time with sufficient levels of BBQ fire starter material or ensure that our hungry shredders not starve due to the lack of paper they like to eat.

These are just some of the core services we provide, we occasionally drift into other areas and love the occasional deep dive. We track and document well.

Imagine, you receive all this for free when it would cost you substantial amounts of money to otherwise hire consultancy groups that likely not have the power, experience and passion to imrove your systems that way like we do.

As part of the above, I unfortunately had the reason to raise a complaint because in one way or another you were not upholding your own standards of service you promised to provide, your T&C's may have been ambigious or unclear. Your app or website kept crashing. Payments didn't arrive or were credited on the wrong day.

Remember, a professional consultancy firm would cost you significantly more to highlight all your improvement opportunities and flaws.

With all due respect, take all this into account and be generous with your comepnsation award.

Kind regards,

MSE Forum Beta Tester"

trickydicky14

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058665#Comment_82058665

stopping booze 20 years ago may be my biggest money saving choice I've ever made.