first direct 'Savings Account' pays no interest!

nigel_root

Just over a year ago first direct introduced £10/month charges unless... one of the conditions was that you opened two accounts, so I opened a savings account, as recommended by moneysavingexpert. I put £51 in it in case they disallowed savings of small amounts but have RECEIVED NO INTEREST for the past 13 months. I've enquired, and been told that the interest due was less that 1 penny, so I haven't received any. SO FIRST DIRECT PAY LESS THAN 0.018% INTEREST ON THEIR SAVINGS ACCOUNTS - GENEROUS EH! Go elsewhere.
Regards,
Nigel

Lokolo

I think you will find that interest is calculated on a daily basis and therefore, as you have not been getting any interest on this daily basis, it shall not be paid.

If interest rate was 5% lets say, you will need £73 to be paid 1p interest daily, this way, you will start earning interest.

Hope this helps,

p.s. I may not be correct but this is what I suspect is happening.

marshall2k

For First Direct's Everyday Savings Account and Savings Account I see this:

nominal interest only paid on balances below £250.

On the In Detail page, this corresponds to 0.1%

So I would expect a whopping 5p over the year.

[edit]
What Lokolo says is probably true though it could be that it didn't make 1p per month, interest is paid monthly on these two accounts.