Interest rates for TheONE Account staying up

notYourFriend

The reply I received from the One Account after I complained:

"Dear Mr X Thank you for contacting us through our website. I can confirm that the Terms and Conditions of the Virgin One account were amended in September 2005 and this was communicated to you. On Page 1 Section 6a it states: 'The initial interest rate is stated in your offer. We can change it with immediate effect at any time, but we will inform you in writing of each change, at the earliest opportunity and at the most within 30 days.' I can confirm that I have passed on your comments to our concerns team. Should you have any further inquiries please contact us via the online messaging service. Alternatively you can call us on 08456 000 000, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Kind regards Stuart Parkinson Customer Service Associate"

Interesting thing is that my T&Cs were amended, suggesting they were differently worded prior to Sept 2005. I have no idea about the legality of such a move, but it suggests that the One Account can do whatever they like at any time simply by changing the T&Cs -- as long as they give notice within 30 days! Like they could make the interest rate 1000% if they so chose. Really not happy about this . . .

michaels

No sign of the HSBC SVR being reduced following last months base rate reduction - has anyone heard anything in the press either way?

Cosmo

notYourFriend wrote: »

The reply I received from the One Account after I complained:

"Dear Mr X Thank you for contacting us through our website. I can confirm that the Terms and Conditions of the Virgin One account were amended in September 2005 and this was communicated to you. On Page 1 Section 6a it states: 'The initial interest rate is stated in your offer. We can change it with immediate effect at any time, but we will inform you in writing of each change, at the earliest opportunity and at the most within 30 days.'

I'm not so unhappy about that - it would actually be a requirement for them to have the ability to change the rate at any time so they could stay in line with the BoE rate.

Interesting thing is that my T&Cs were amended, suggesting they were differently worded prior to Sept 2005. I have no idea about the legality of such a move, but it suggests that the One Account can do whatever they like at any time simply by changing the T&Cs -- as long as they give notice within 30 days! Like they could make the interest rate 1000% if they so chose. Really not happy about this . . .

I think I've had a few T&C change notices, usually just clarification of wording or inclusion of government enforced changes. It is fairly standard practice in most financial agreements. You get 30 days so you have the choice to accept them or make other arrangements. That's probably OK for a credit card but not for a long term mortgage. But in reality they couldn't make the rate 1000% as the Ombudsman and the FSA would very quickly intervene.

In fact this is the angle I am currently pursuing - FSA Treating Customer Fairly policy, point 5. [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]

Outcome 5: Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.[/FONT]

With all the statements they have made about promising to follow the rate and others such as “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]This interest rate is variable and goes up and down with the market”[/FONT] [From [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The Essential Guide (Rev-7.99)] I would say that they have very much led me to expect them to continue to change rate with the market.[/FONT]

Cosmo

Today I got a response from Virgin One account, predictably they again spouted the Ts&Cs from my original offer letter.

It is what they call "the Bank's final response letter". They have concluded their complaint investigation process and I must now take up the matter with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

wymondham

Look on the bright side, with all that's been going on recently there's now little difference between this and other accounts, plus you have the benefits and flexibility that others don't.

wymondham

My rate is now 1.25% - I'm sure it was 1.5% recently - has anyone else seen the rate go down? If so good news guys!

karanda

I will be contacting the Financial Ombudsman today. I have had the usual "brush off" letter from RBOS. Outrageous. It would really help to have advice from MoneySavingExpert.com too, although I suspect we are too small a group to get much attention.

Going_Digital

I notice there hasn't been any updates on this thread recently, anyone had any news ?

The service from the one account has been appalling in recent years. Each year they have changed the terms and conditions to their advantage and made it less appealing for the customer.

When I joined up we were promised that the interest rate would change immediately with every change of base rate and that there would be no fees if you wanted to pay the whole lot off at any time. Clearly they don't think they have a compelling product any more or they wouldn't have seen fit to change the terms and conditions to include exit fees for people wishing to pay off the balance early or move to another provider like they have.

The interest rate on the one account has never been competitive but it was somewhat offset by the daily interest calculation with the offsetting. The latest decision not to pass on the rate change has made the one account one of the worst value products available on the market today and as a result I am looking to switch my account from them. They are going to loose a good low risk customer due to their greed as my mortgage is only 40% of the value of my property.

This kind of blatant attempt to extract money from their customers makes me angry beyond belief and I will be switching my company RBS and NatWest accounts away from them as well making sure I take every opportunity to advise anyone else to steer clear of RBS for such unfair underhand practices.

I think writing to Richard Branson about how RBS are devaluing the Virgin brand may at least get his legal team to see if they can take away RBS right to use the Virgin brand, that would mess them up having to force them into a re-branding exercise.

wymondham

Going_Digital wrote: »

The service from the one account has been appalling in recent years.

I've not noticed this myself, but suppose everyones experience is different. I don't think any amount of writing to X will change things are they are entitled to do everything they have done - frustrating, but not breaking any codes etc....

Cosmo

My complaint is now officially logged with the Financial Ombudsman, I expect it won't be a speedy process and I'm not very hopeful of a positive outcome. :sad:

I will also be contacting the FSA as I don't believe Virgin One have provided a product that performs as I have been led to expect - part of the FSA's policy on treating customers fairly.