B&B eSavings 2 interest error

Stonk

Bradford & Bingley paid me interest on my "eSavings 2" account for only 29 instead of 30 days in September. I'm guesing they paid zero interest the day they changed the interest rate.

They replied quite quickly to my email and have corrected it in the form of an extra line of "Bonus Interest" on my statment.

Just in case any other account-holders wonder what that extra entry is for!

( I wonder how often this kind of mistake happens and goes unnoticed. Few enough people check their statements, let alone calculate their interest. )

You owe me. Maybe.

charlieboycat

I had the same problem (spotted it when gearing up to transfer from B&B to the new Cahoot). Emailed them Friday querying it, got a reply today saying it had been corrected.

Not clear to me from their email whether they have automatically corrected all affected accounts - or just those who queried it. But if the error affected every account then I expect they will have corrected everyone.

Dagobert

That strikes me as odd: I checked my B&B interest and it would appear to be correct:

I opened the a/c on 1st Sep, monthly interest:

02/09 +£1000 initial deposit
30/09 +£0.13 gross interest
30/09 +£3.52 gross interest

On 4th Sep, interest rates changed from 5.1% to 4.85% AER (4.98% to 4.75% gross respectively).

Deposits earn interest from the day after receipt up to and including the day of withdrawal (T&Cs 5.3).
Monthly interest is calculated on morning of the last day of the month (T&Cs 5.2).

Therefore:

for 1 day (3rd Sep) @ 4.98% (excluding day of receipt)
£1000 * 4.98 * 1 / (365 * 100) = £0.13
for 27 days (4th-30th Sep) @ 4.75%
£1000 * 4.75 * 27 / (365 * 100) = £3.51

Stonk

They said "I can confirm that due to a system processing error a number of eSavings accounts were unpaid by 1 days worth of interest in September." So, only "a number" of accounts, perhaps suggesting not all (although actually the first thing it suggested to me was "all, but we're not prepared to say it").

Mine was definitely wrong. I had a flat balance through the month, so there were no complications regarding clearing, withdrawals, etc. I was expecting to receive ...

{balance} * ( 4.98% * 3/365 + 4.75% * 27/365 )

... but in fact I received ...

{balance} * * ( 4.98% * 3/365 + 4.75% * 26/365 )

Dagobert

Interesting how many errors there are even in banking software: Egg card - beware of bug in billing software!

No software can be trusted.

charlieboycat

Dagobert wrote:

That strikes me as odd: I checked my B&B interest and it would appear to be correct:

I opened the a/c on 1st Sep, monthly interest:

02/09 +£1000 initial deposit
30/09 +£0.13 gross interest
30/09 +£3.52 gross interest

On 4th Sep, interest rates changed from 5.1% to 4.85% AER (4.98% to 4.75% gross respectively).

Deposits earn interest from the day after receipt up to and including the day of withdrawal (T&Cs 5.3).
Monthly interest is calculated on morning of the last day of the month (T&Cs 5.2).

Therefore:

for 1 day (3rd Sep) @ 4.98% (excluding day of receipt)
£1000 * 4.98 * 1 / (365 * 100) = £0.13
for 27 days (4th-30th Sep) @ 4.75%
£1000 * 4.75 * 27 / (365 * 100) = £3.51

Dagobert - your table seems to indicate that you had TWO interest credits, both dated 30 September, which add up to the correct amount and one of which represents one day's interest. If so, then yours is exactly the same as Stonk's and mine. I suspect "some accounts" means "all accounts" !!

Dagobert

charlieboycat wrote:

you had TWO interest credits

They seem to have credited the old and the new interest period separately.

charlieboycat wrote:

you had TWO interest credits, both dated 30 September, which add up to the correct amount and one of which represents one day's interest.

As far as I can see, this seems to be correct in my case:
1st Sep: no money in the a/c
2nd Sep: £1000 credited but according to their T&Cs, no interest due on day of receipt
3rd Sep: 1 day at old interest rate
4th-30th Sep: 27 days at new interest rate

which is what I received.

charlieboycat wrote:

If so, then yours is exactly the same as Stonk's and mine.

Stonk had a no transactions in September and therefore should've been credited interest for 30 days but he was only credited interest for 3 + 26 days.

charlieboycat

Dagobert wrote:

They seem to have credited the old and the new interest period separately.

Don't think so - certainly not in my case and not in Stonk's, so probably not in yours. We each got credited originally with 3 days at the old rate and 26 days at the new. We then got a "bonus" equal to one day at the new rate.

In your case I suspect it's the same - it being pure coincidence that (a) you only had one day (not three) at the old rate and (b) your balance is such that one day at the old rate = 13p = 1 day at the new rate. Thus your large credit = 1 day old plus 26 new, your "bonus" = 1 day new.

Stonk

Dagobert wrote:

No software can be trusted.

Except the stuff I write, of course. It's for banks, incidentally!

Dagobert

Stonk wrote:

Dagobert wrote:

No software can be trusted.

Except the stuff I write, of course. It's for banks, incidentally!

And except the stuff I write. Some of it for banks, too!

mdb99jh

charlieboycat wrote:

I had the same problem (spotted it when gearing up to transfer from B&B to the new Cahoot). Emailed them Friday querying it, got a reply today saying it had been corrected.

Not clear to me from their email whether they have automatically corrected all affected accounts - or just those who queried it. But if the error affected every account then I expect they will have corrected everyone.

I think that's right. I didn't complain but my interest has been corrected anyway. I'm just glad that some people do calculate their interest otherwise we might never have realised!