A&L Direct Saver

Graham_Devon

Just a warning to you all, not to be as stupid as me!

Needed a tax certificate for my Direct Saver account, didn't have one, they said it must have got lost in the post last year. They said I can go online and order another. So I did, £10, had a mumble about this £10 charge but needed it.

What this has also done is stopped any interest (over £80 for me) this month. They class it as a £10 withdrawal. So that tax certificate has actually cost £90+

I've now taken the opportunity of taking all the money out as I was waiting going to do this around 10th feb anyway, but decided to hold in there for feb's interest payment.

So, beware, all of you, you need a savings certificate and theres a nice sting in the tail for you. £10 and your interest for a piece of paper, and they wouldn't do anything about it.

So taking my money elsewhere

Graham_Devon

Just to further this, when you order one, you see this:

If you wish to order a tax certificate for your current account, or a duplicate for your savings account, a charge of £10 will be made for each copy and this charge will be debited from your account before the certificate is sent to you.

It does not state about loss of interest, it just states a charge of £10. Now, they say the terms of the account state no interest if a withdrawal is made, I know this, am aware of it and accept that.

What I don't accept is that's all you get. It just states a charge of £10 will be made and debited from your account.

Now, I DID honestly think when they say debited from my account they would take it from my linked account, not my savings account. It does not specify, but even if it was debited from your savings, it's a bit harsh calling it a withdrawal and then stopping interest.

It just comes on your statement as 'Withdrawal'.

They just state I should have known this and thats the way the account works.

Don't know if I should bother writing a letter of disgust now that I have withdrawn all my money (have 2 accounts with them, so again, 'from your account' could mean anything).

So it's actually easier to not even bother getting a tax certificate unless your desperate for one! If you do need one, may aswell take all your money out at the same time for the month to at least get some interest elsewhere.

oldfella

worth complaining I reckon - seems unreasonable to charge you the whole months interest + £10 just to get a tax cert

Savings_Dave

Now why couldn't they take that £10 charge out of your linked A&L current account instead (either Premium / Premium Direct?) therefore not losing interest - perhaps that could've been done over the phone? - or did you go in branch and ask? It is a little naughty I think...perhaps it should've been clearer?

I moved all my money out of my Direct Saver on 1st Feb to fund a 1 year NR bond and NS&I Index Linked Certificate...seeing as from early March the IR on the Direct Saver will probably drop another 0.25%. Although I've just opened their e-saver and earnt £20 cashback...so I will build up another lump sum (from excess cash) and put that towards another fixed rate investment come July.

Graham_Devon

Savings_Dave wrote: »

Now why couldn't they take that £10 charge out of your linked A&L current account instead (either Premium / Premium Direct?) therefore not losing interest - perhaps that could've been done over the phone? - or did you go in branch and ask? It is a little naughty I think...perhaps it should've been clearer?

I moved all my money out of my Direct Saver on 1st Feb to fund a 1 year NR bond and NS&I Index Linked Certificate...seeing as from early March the IR on the Direct Saver will probably drop another 0.25%. Although I've just opened their e-saver and earnt £20 cashback...so I will build up another lump sum (from excess cash) and put that towards another fixed rate investment come July.

When I rang them they said just do it online.

When that paragraph said account, I just thought fine, thinking it would be my current account, even though I was miffed that I had to pay £10 and my other 2 savings accounts let me print one, for free!

I forgot all about it, until I logged into my A&L savings account earlier today to see this £10 withdrawal, thought that's funny, I haven't withdrawn £10 (why would I to lose interest of around £80!). So rang them, she told me 'THEY' withdraw it for that tax certificate. Therefore all interest is also stopped for February so no payment in March.

I did say this is totally unfair and she stated that's how the account worked and any withdrawal forfits interest. But, it was not a withdrawal, it was a charge, just named withdrawal, obviously great for them, saves them £80 this month.

I said 'Right, I shall now withdraw every penny from my account' and she said 'it's your money sir'. So then proceeded to take out the full whack out of sheer disgust.

Only after I had done that did I think I shouldnt have done that as that IS a withdrawal. But have wrote them a complaint letter outlining all this, including a screen dump of the wording (does not say you forfeit interest or even which account the charge comes out from, and the fact that my other 2 savings accounts offer this service completely free).

Have asked for all my interest to be credited to the account up to 20th Feb or compensation and have also asked them for the wording to be changed.

They must have saved thousands of pounds doing this to customers.

I shouldn't have withdrawn it all thinking back, but wasn't going to sit there letting them keep hold of my money and making money on it when they had done this to me.

sloughflint

Definitely worth going for the jugular IMO. Thanks for the warning.

tawse57

Judging by the news this afternoon A&L could be about to do a NR. Just been reading some news threads over on the housepricecrash.co.uk forum and things do not sound too good for either A&L or NR. I have money with A&L but getting a tad worried after what I have read

Aegis

tawse57 wrote: »

Judging by the news this afternoon A&L could be about to do a NR. Just been reading some news threads over on the housepricecrash.co.uk forum and things do not sound too good for either A&L or NR. I have money with A&L but getting a tad worried after what I have read

I wouldn't be too worried. From what I've seen, that forum seems to consist largely of sensationalists. If you have money in A&L, then you might be a little wary if you exceed the compensation limit (i.e. £35k), but otherwise you should be fine.

If you're really worried that they might go completely bust, then you could always split your capital in half and put the other half somewhere else. Entirely up to you though.

Graham_Devon

Just to follow this up, checked my accounts as had withdrawn the full amount and sent off a complaint.

Interest credited for the full time my money was in the account. Up until the day of the withdrawal.

01 MAR 2008INTEREST CREDITED£48.69£50.33

So now gonna take out that £50 and use their e-saver instead.

So they did sort it in the end, but still something to be wary of! I DID lose interest as normally would have got twice that, but can't grumble too much as I also moved my money quicker!

Savings_Dave

Well done Graham...good news is that the e-saver rate is staying at 6.5% (although conditions have changed) following the BofE base rate cut a month ago...I switched over myself from a DirectSaver just last month...plus earned £20 Quidco