Alliance and Leicester

[Guest Tracker]

Earlier this year they offered some very attractive rates for new savers with their ESaver and Direct ISA accounts.

 

I have just discovered that an existing customer is now worth about 1% less than a new customer because they have discontinued these older accounts and reduced the interest rates whilst at the same time bringing out newer versions of the same accounts at higher rates of interest for new applicants only as they do not allow existing customers to transfer..

 

That's their loss!

 

All monies are now being transferred out of the A&L and I take it upon myself, as a dedicated vfm seeker, to alert other members to check the interest rates that apply to their specific accounts rather than the headline advertised rates that theoretically apply to that type of account.

 

This probably applies to other banks and it may be worth checking every individual account in detail. When checking the account the account name is critical as they often change only one word or give it a version number (in small print) to lull you into a false sense of security.

 

I know it's a bind but where else can you earn better returns for so little effort!

 

[RupertGS]

At the risk of seeming to have a go at you again, you are wrong. The ESaver account has been replaced by ESaver 2 and you can move your money from the old one to the new one.

On December 1st I withdrew everything from my ESaver and transferred it to the new ESaver 2 account that I'd already opened a few days earlier. By transferring on December 1st there was no loss of interest on the original account. The ESaver 2 account still pays a top rate of interest in today's market.

I'm not sure why you're surprised by this. The bank to which you move your money will do the same to you in a year or so's time. The only answer is to check the rates once a week as I do and react accordingly. It's incredibly easy to do so online and takes seconds.

You are correct about the ISAs though. My wife and I had two A & L cash ISAs with several years of maximum annual contributions in them. You are not allowed to move from the old one to the new one with these so I moved them both to NatWest and locked in to a very attractive rate.

Banks will always do tricks like this to attract new savers. Better to accept it and just keep on your toes.

[Guest Tracker]

I do not take this as a go at me Rupert and I don't doubt your experience, but I was told by A&L on the phone today that I could not transfer either account to their respective new ones.

 

I am not at all surprised by their actions but I am sufficiently brassed off by the continual rip offs, immoral behaviour, spin, illusions of decency, downright lies and general lack of integrity in this country that I'm telling others whenever I find it!

 

The finest reward for bad behaviour is loss of custom - as FIAT are also now finding out!

 

But thank you for posting.

[RupertGS]

I can understand your displeasure but every bank is the same. The bank that you move to will just have done the same to its existing customers. It's not moral or right but it happens.

Moving to another bank for what may be a lower rate is a bit like cutting off your nose etc. The ESaver 2 rate is very good and despite what you say, you can open one as an existing customer.

I've done it and I too have just phoned to double-check and it is open to you. You've had bad advice or someone has become confused with the ISAs.

If you open an ESaver 2 you just put a small amount into it. On January first you empty the original ESaver so as not to lose a month's interest and put it in the new account.

[Mel B]

Unfortunately in these times of changing rules/rates/anything to do with banks etc, they don't have a clue what's going on a lot of the time.

 

We decided to move bank accounts recently, we were looking for somewhere to put some 'monthly savers' money that were coming to an end and in the process became aware of some good current accounts elsewhere offering good interest rates on the balance (up to £2,500 then dropped to virtually nothing) with incentives to change. We had always been with Lloyds TSB but not getting any interest on our current account we deded to have a closer look at these others.

 

We found one with Abbey that was paying 8% variable on the balance up to £2,500, plus £100 incentive to move and a free overdraft whilst the account was being transferred. We couldn't top this so decided to go ahead with it, went into the branch and saw the same lady and confirmed the details with her before completing the paperwork.

 

About 2 weeks later we got a letter to confirm the changes and hubby checked progress regarding the transferring of the standing orders etc on the phone to their main offices, to make sure we could cover them in the new account. Surprise, surprise, they'd signed us up for the 'preferential overdraft' account! Now, we do not need an overdraft normally, only ever gone below £0 twice (the last time was the bank's c*ck-up so we got it refunded), upon ringing them we found we'd been told wrongly, it was either 8%, or £100 or the 0% overdraft for 3 months we could have.

 

After speaking to the lady we'd dealt with originally, she said that they had had a few queries on this and had only just clarification and found out a couple of days earlier that this was the case. Even the girls in the main office thought you got the 8% and the £100 as they had told my hubby this. We were too far down the line to do anything with most of the standing orders etc transferred to them and it being near the end of the month when our wages were due, we had to carry on and opted for the £100 cash and the standard preferential rate overdraft account (not that we'll ever use it). I told the girl I was annoyed as they hadn't bothered to get in touch and tell us of their 'mistakes' and then hubby told them he wanted an assurance in writing that we wouldn't get charged any interest on the 'overdraft' whilst the transfer was being done, reluctantly they agreed and we have now got the letter. Not a good start to things and we now don't have much confidence in them for the future.

 

We have to stay with them for I think 6 months to get the £100 (I haven't got the paperwork in front of me) and don't want to confuse the companies whom we pay the standing orders etc to by moving again so soon, but once it's all settled down, we'll move it again to the Alliance & Leicester - they had a current account earning 8.5% fixed on £2,500 for 12 months which we just managed to open before the rate changed. We can still use it as a small 'savings' account though in the meantime so nothing is lost, it's just a load of hassle we could've done without.

 

Then of course there was the Yorkshire Bank employee who put the wrong address down for one of our savings accounts .... ! But I think you all get the drift! 8-)

[RoyH]

Sorry Mel but Alliance & Leicester and Abbey are both owned by the Spanish bank Santander so moving there will be not much change.

[colin]

I've noticed a lot of esaver accounts are now out of date interest wise, am just looking around to see best deals for esaver and current acc. plus will need to do same for my mother, all good fun and games. The banks have for many years seen existing customers as an easy way to make money, but now a lot more customers are happy to move on to the best deal.

[davenewellhome]

Can someone explain to me , in words of one syllable or less, what this "savings" crack is?? I keep hearing about it but it seems to be as real as a unicorn to me :-(

 

D.

[Usinmyknaus]

davenewell@home - 2008-12-11 9:48 PM

 

Can someone explain to me , in words of one syllable or less, what this "savings" crack is?? I keep hearing about it but it seems to be as real as a unicorn to me :-(

 

D.

 

Dave, don't bother finding out, trying it would mean less time in the pub.

Bob ;-)

[BGD]

Usinmyknaus - 2008-12-12 1:36 PM

 

davenewell@home - 2008-12-11 9:48 PM

 

Can someone explain to me , in words of one syllable or less, what this "savings" crack is?? I keep hearing about it but it seems to be as real as a unicorn to me :-(

 

D.

 

Dave, don't bother finding out, trying it would mean less time in the pub.

Bob ;-)

 

Dave -

 

"Savings" are what the UK Government has been criticising UK citizens for not doing over the past decade.

(Whilst throughout that same period the UK Government has itself been spending and borrowing with greater abandon than a sailor in a whorehouse).

 

So, it's something that you preach at everyone else to do, whilst you don't.

Clever really, 'cos then you can steal their savings to bale out your own debts.

 

[Mel B]

RoyH - 2008-12-11 9:02 PM

 

Sorry Mel but Alliance & Leicester and Abbey are both owned by the Spanish bank Santander so moving there will be not much change.

 

Yup I know Roy, but at least the branch staff are different ... and hopefully know what they are doing! :-S

[nightrider]

This money moving business in order to achieve the best rates of interest,

what amount of money are you moving around? 5K, 10K, 20K or above?

And those of you moving money around, are you in business or just ordinary savers? is it your life savings? just curious.

[nightrider]

BGD - 2008-12-13 11:48 AM

 

Usinmyknaus - 2008-12-12 1:36 PM

 

davenewell@home - 2008-12-11 9:48 PM

 

Can someone explain to me , in words of one syllable or less, what this "savings" crack is?? I keep hearing about it but it seems to be as real as a unicorn to me :-(

 

D.

 

Dave, don't bother finding out, trying it would mean less time in the pub.

Bob ;-)

 

Dave -

 

"Savings" are what the UK Government has been criticising UK citizens for not doing over the past decade.

(Whilst throughout that same period the UK Government has itself been spending and borrowing with greater abandon than a sailor in a whorehouse).

 

So, it's something that you preach at everyone else to do, whilst you don't.

Clever really, 'cos then you can steal their savings to bale out your own debts.

 

"savings" are what the government has been criticising UK citizens for not doing over the past decade"

 

Now they are imploring people to spend and for banks to start lending in order to kickstart the economy, seems to me you can't do right for doing wrong.

[sundance kid]

Rupert.

I have followed your lead and transferred to the new A&L E saver 2 Account but that appears to have dropped by 1%. Compared with some,4% is not too bad.

 

Considering the Nationwide is still a mutual Building Society they seem to treat their savers with contempt. They dropped their interest rates to savers immediately the bank rate went down. There Cash Isa now pays a miserly 2.6%. I would have thought that banks in todays economical climate would be desperate to attract investors, not drive them away. When I complained they tried to tell me how highly rated they are and how competetive their interest rates are. Are all Nationwide branches the same?. My local branch was refurbished, cutting the service windows from four to three. On a busy day the queue can be out the door and half way down the high street and the staff cause more delays by trying to sell you some kind of account, pension, mortgage or car insurance. I can barely bring myself to step through their door lately so I am now looking to switch my Isa. Yes. I do have a downer on Nationwide right now but I find it so sickening that these institutions can have so much influence on how we live our lives and we have to be constantly on the alert to stay ahead of the game.

Mike.

 

 

 

 

[catinou]

We moved from Lloyds TSB, after 30 years, to A & L as the 10% cash ISA and 8% on current account interest - up to £2,500 balance - was very appealing. We found a few problems with A & L over the "automatic" transfer that took over 4 months to sort out and my husband wanted to transfer back to "a real bank".

 

As the transfer to A & L was in April and we transferred back to Lloyds in November, we have now found our credit rating with the bank has dropped by 2 points as our current account has been open only a few weeks, and our previous account (with A & L) was for less than 12 months!!

 

We will now stay put and enjoy our lives without worrying over interest rates - for now ;-) Before you ask, we were not looking to borrow money when we found the above info. we were informed by a bank employee, during a post transfer (back) follow up call :-S