Interest Rates

Not so long ago I got a letter from my bank saying that the interest rate on my ISA was to be reduced.

Today I received a letter saying that my credit card interest rate is going up.  It is now an unbelievable 17.435%.

Not that it matters as I always pay off the balance!  But for goodness sake they want to change me for using their money but don't want to give me a decent interest rate to use MY MONEY.

GGGGRRRRRRR

Santander 123 aside you really have to play the game to get ANY interest these days, trouble is it gets so complicated moving cash around it is becoming a full time job! What chance the Government will re introduce the pensioner bonds again?

Now important things, what is your connection to the Bristol Freighter, I used to do the loadsheets for those back in the days of Silver City and BUAF ( yes I am that old!!)

Hi there,

Dealing with banks is like juggling rats ...  

... it's not easy to do and you can get bitten!!   

When I took over my Mum's finances I was glad to discovered that her bank savings were lodged in a "Super Saver" account BUT ...

... less glad to discover that the original 5% interest had been reduced to 0.01% (No kidding, the decimal point IS in the right place.)

My Mum (an ex-Skegness Landlady; ladies noted for their ferocious control of money matters) was aged 95 at that time so I queried the interest rate with the bank.

They assured me that they had not only "informed" my Mum of the fall in interest rates, they had "encouraged" her to move her savings to a different account.

I finally tracked down the "information" and "encouragement" when I discovered the announcement on Page 24 of a 30+ page document that they had posted to my Mum in March the year before.

After +20 pages where they advertised all of the bank's various accounts the booklet explained that the interest rate on the "Super Saver" account was to be reduced to 0.01% from April 1st that year!

This little move by the bank meant that my Mum's income from her savings slumped from £1,750 a year to £3.50; and unless they had read the booklet and responded, it would have taken ALL of the bank's customers a year to discover the fact.

I would sooner trust a rabid dog than a bank.  

Best regards,

groundhog wrote:Santander 123 aside you really have to play the game to get ANY interest these days, trouble is it gets so complicated moving cash around it is becoming a full time job! What chance the Government will re introduce the pensioner bonds again?

Now important things, what is your connection to the Bristol Freighter, I used to do the loadsheets for those back in the days of Silver City and BUAF ( yes I am that old!!)

dr



It was the aircraft I first flew on at the age of about 12.  Silver city from lydd.  You may remember by dads car ... "should have read" - a Ford Prefect Van loaded with Camping gear as we departed for Spain (c) 1962.

Remember banks lend money to you as well as borrow it from you and its not all bad news on interest rates. My daughter has just fixed her mortgage for the next 5 years at 2.6%. Amazing rate! All of us old guys when we had mortgages would never in our wildest dreams have got a rate this low. It usually was anywhere between 8% and 13%.

Dutto wrote:  . . . the interest rate on the "Super Saver" account was to be reduced to 0.01% from April 1st that year!

If you ever need an example of a contradiction in terms Ian, you will be hard pressed to find a better one!!

If that's the revenue from a Super Saver account, what do they give for an "Ordinary Saver" account??

Dave

Maybe everything that pays less than inflation should be called a "Super Loser" account?

Interest rates are disgusting for savers.. Absolutely mad. Like others here we paid dearly when we had a mortgage now as savers we get shafted. Interest rates do not keep up with inflation . This means our money is worth less at the end of a year than at the beginning. 

The OP has a hugely valid point. We get sod all but the borrower pays though the nose. 

There should some parity. Savers should get a reward for providing the banks with the money they lend out ................

What puzzles me though is in previous recessionary times say 1993 for instance interest rates were circa 15%. From the beginning of this last one and up to date they are at an all time low........ Mad.

Charliefarlie wrote:Interest rates are disgusting for savers.. Absolutely mad. Like others here we paid dearly when we had a mortgage now as savers we get shafted. Interest rates do not keep up with inflation . This means our money is worth less at the end of a year than at the beginning. 

The OP has a hugely valid point. We get sod all but the borrower pays though the nose. 

There should some parity. Savers should get a reward for providing the banks with the money they lend out ................

What puzzles me though is in previous recessionary times say 1993 for instance interest rates were circa 15%. From the beginning of this last one and up to date they are at an all time low........ Mad.

Mad? I think the banks call it "shafting the customers"



A more realistic rate for savers would be around 1.5% - 2.0%.  But the banks have to make money somehow and it's easy to give zero to savers!

The compensation for misselling has to come from somewhere

Gromit wrote:

Dutto wrote:  . . . the interest rate on the "Super Saver" account was to be reduced to 0.01% from April 1st that year!

If you ever need an example of a contradiction in terms Ian, you will be hard pressed to find a better one!!

If that's the revenue from a Super Saver account, what do they give for an "Ordinary Saver" account??

Dave

Hi there,

That was the whole essence of the con!!

The Bank called it "Super Saver" when the account was introduced sometime around 1985 as a "variable interest" Savings Account; and paid a pretty good rate on an annual basis.

In 2007 the bank very cunningly informed the Account Holders one month before the end of the 2007 financial year that the "Super Saver" accounts would be frozen at the end of the financial year and the interest rate dropped to 0.01%.  They did this by sending them a finely printed 30 page booklet that advertised all the Bank's Account details along with all the interest rates, terms and conditions etc etc.

The "Super Saver" changes were printed towards the back of the Booklet along with a suggestion that other savings accounts could (?) provide a better interest rate.  Obviously, the Account Holder had to read virtually the whole of the Booklet to discover this fact.

In my Mum's case, because she hadn't bothered to read the Booklet, the situation didn't manifest itself until the annual payment of interest occurred a year later in April 2008 and instead of seeing the +/-£1,750 I had expected, the bank paid in £3.50 as interest on her £35,000 savings.

I had words with the bank but they were adamant that my Mum had been "informed" by the Booklet and "encouraged" to reinvest her money.

I have a word for them but it comes up as "inappropriate" on the Forum; no matter how appropriate it is on this occasion!

Do the banks see people as "Loyal customers"?  I doubt it.  Maybe "Milch Cows" would be a better description.  

Best regards,


PS

It's not just banks that have the "Milch Cow" attitude.  It has also spread to insurance companies, utility companies etc etc etc. 

I think you are missing the point. Banks have to keep on paying very high salaries because if they didn't they wouldn't get the best staff. So if it means I get nothing on my savings then I just need to rejoice that they can have their glasses of bubbly after all its a very hard job they do, sometimes they even work overtime so that they can clear a cheque in just three days. Boy how they must suffer.
Just imagine if we had the second best staff they could pay us interest and still make money, but where's the incentive for that. Grumpy you bet.

its the same the whole world over..........................

Can you remember the privatisation of the utilities?

They had to pay a fortune to get good staff.

rant over.
Micky

They didn't pay me a fortune when I worked for a bank :-(

Hi Sue.   I am sure you know its not the soldiers we are talking about.
Its those on salaries higher than the PM.

Regards

Micky

If you have the Santander 123 account you MAY have a little disappointment soon, rumour has it the 3% interest is for trimming in the not too distant future!

Its to be expected.
Just lost my Halifax monthly payment from September.

Until interest rates rise ,maybe a few years away,this will continue.
Maybe like Lloyds closures, it will be blamed on Brexit.


Micky

Don't forget the Tesco bank current account.  3% interest (at the moment) on balances up to £3,000 with no need to credit a certain amount to the account each month, or to have any direct debits set up.  Not a lot perhaps, but better than nowt!  I understand that you can open two accounts, but haven't progressed that yet.

SteveUK wrote:Don't forget the Tesco bank current account.  3% interest (at the moment) on balances up to £3,000 with no need to credit a certain amount to the account each month, or to have any direct debits set up.  Not a lot perhaps, but better than nowt!  I understand that you can open two accounts, but haven't progressed that yet.

I bet that changes after today's reduction of the BoE rate from 0.5% to 0.25%!   

The Debtors will probably be dancing in the streets ...  

... whilst the Savers amongst us just sit shaking our heads and wondering why we bothered!    

mikethebike wrote:Its to be expected.
Just lost my Halifax monthly payment from September.

Until interest rates rise ,maybe a few years away,this will continue.
Maybe like Lloyds closures, it will be blamed on Brexit.


Micky

It makes a change to blame it on Brexit because they have been blaming everything on the EU for the last ten years at least!    

Don't expect any of our political or financial masters to accept that they may be responsible for anything negative that happens in the UK!  

Welcome back Ian, you have been missed, hope you had a good trip?. 
Regards,
Margaret

daisy mae wrote:Welcome back Ian, you have been missed, hope you had a good trip?. 
Regards,
Margaret

Many thanks.

Great year all round ...  

... and we sail for France again on the 7th September for +/- 12 weeks.  Tough life but we keep going!  

Dutto wrote:

daisy mae wrote:Welcome back Ian, you have been missed, hope you had a good trip?. 
Regards,
Margaret

Many thanks.

Great year all round ...  

... and we sail for France again on the 7th September for +/- 12 weeks.  Tough life but we keep going!  

Somebody has to I suppose.  Let me know when it's my turn!

Talking of going abroad for 12 weeks plus, did you know if your house is unoccupied for that minimum length of time you can apply for 3 months (or multiples thereof) rebate on your TV licence! I claimed it last year, wish I'd known about it on previous years.
Al.

bikeralw wrote:Talking of going abroad for 12 weeks plus, did you know if your house is unoccupied for that minimum length of time you can apply for 3 months (or multiples thereof) rebate on your TV licence! I claimed it last year, wish I'd known about it on previous years.
Al.

Aaaaargh!!!!  No!!  Of course I didn't know!!

So please let me know who I claim my refund from and whether I do it before or after leaving the UK.

Many thanks.

Dutto


PS

When I first met SWMBO I lived in a tiny cottage down a remote Scottish Glen and hadn't bought a TV licence for the best part of seven years.

Imagine my surprise when, bursting with pride, SWMBO came into the cottage and gave me a brand new TV as a birthday present.

Unfortunately, my first reaction wasn't "Thank-you darling, that's wonderful." but "I hope you didn't give them my address!

Of course, that was exactly what she had done ...  

... and we received the threatening letter from TV Licensing two days later ...   

... and I have made SWMBO pay for our TV licence out of her money ever since!   


Come to think of it, I wonder if I dare claim the refund for the 12 weeks away from home and not bother telling her?