please empty your brain below

""And secondly the introductory bonus interest rate drops a bit from what it was last year, because although technically there's been an economic recovery in reality there hasn't and so I must be punished."

No, the reason interest rates for personal savers are so low is the Funding for Lending Scheme. The governmint is using our taxes to prop up the banks/those people who spend,spend, spend.

Great, innit?
Ah, so you have a Santander eSaver account too then?

SIX revisions .. Bah, I've played their came 14 times now, and am up to revision 14 and you can almost hear the disappointment in their voice when I call up every year without fail to play their 20 minute game and 'upgrade' my account.

Ridiculous, completely. Yes.
What a refreshing difference it was some years ago when a hand written note from someone at my local Chelsea Building Society branch accompanied the notice that the interest rate would be cut, saying "Come in and see us, and we'll open you a whatever-it-was-called account at a higher rate of interest." They did, bless them, and I got a free cup of coffee too.
I couldn't agree more, DG.

Speaking as someone who saved hard for several years to pay my mortgage off 13 years early, I'm probably not the sort of customer most banks want. But I too go through the annual 'new savings account' farce - in return for a miserly rate of interest - as a matter of principle.

Hopefully interest rates will start climbing soon, and it will be the turn of the irresponsible 'spend spend spenders' to feel the pain.
What a inconvenient way to do it. Was there no way to give instructions before maturity. I know for the bank I used to work for they made the roll over process easy, as long as it was done before the maturity date.

After all it's better to lock your customers in for another year, rather than them starting to look around at other banks rates.

we used to get lists of customers whose bonds had matured, and we would try and contact them, but obviously not those who said they wanted no marketing.
I refuse to get involved in dealing with bank callcentres, advice from a real person in the branch is much more effective. It's probably easier for me because I no longer work fulltime, but they always seem quite flexible about arranging appointments.
However I'm restricted to banks I'm already with, as I have no passport or driving licence and these are now required for ID to open a new a/c due to money laudering regulations.
life is to short go enjoy you
self
"I should, I know, dump my savings somewhere with a better rate of return, in a financial institution that doesn't screw its user base so openly."

No, you should dump your savings with a *worse* rate of return. Your account has such a high rate (as low as it seems) precisely because, as you say, the bank expects some people to get caught out at the end of the year.

If you chose to, you could use an account that has a slightly lower rate but no end of year drop. I'm tempted to name my account of choice but that would show a bias that isn't really the point of this comment. The point is: you chose to play this game.
Have you calculated how many years it would take for your steadily-falling rate of return to reach the 'nought point something' rate being offered to the unwary?
For convenience, I used to continue to put any small surplus into a savings a/c at the bank where I have my current account.
Recently though I decided that in this era of low interest rates I might as well do a bit of good to somebody rather than to a bank. Therefore I've gone for a Credit Union, peer-to-peer lending, and a share in a community pub!
It's not only banks. I also play this stupid game with my phone and broadband provider. Each year I phone them to get a new 12 month contract deal or else they would drop back to charging me the full whack.

I threaten to leave and go with somebody else so they "make me an offer I can't refuse". Saved quite a few quid over the years but it's still a pain phoning up and getting stroppy every year.
Could you not save yourself the rigmarole of the phone call by switching to their new issue savings account online? This way you don't have to listen to the man read out the terms and conditions, merely click past them.

At the moment, I'm getting 2-3% interest in money I've invested in my phone company, and also on the surplus money from the monthly direct debit that goes to my gas and electricity provider. Which is better than what I get from the bank.
But banks exist to make money for the already rich. Any paying of interest to mere small investors such as ourselves is cos they are obliged to, not cos they think we're worth it!

Otherwise, as a cyclist, stuck with Amber, even though the staff at our Building Society local branch recognise me and call me by name!
'Reward the thrifty'? - since when have banks operated for our benefit? We can't escape bank (or BS-pretend-to-be-a-bank) accounts, so I'm baffled why I'm a 'customer'. A customer supposedly has 'choice'. On a net-sum merry-go-round, they may still have approx the same number of 'customers'; if they don't, they could buy up a rival or start a new bank pretending they don't own it.
This is such a stupid situation isn't it? I have to do something similar every year. Although I usually end up switching banks. I remember one particular year I used ING. When the bonus rate ran out I went online to check the best rate and found it was a different account with ING that offered the best rate.

So I rang them up. "Oh sorry, that account is for new customers only.". I made a snarky comment that there is no reward for loyality which I was told no. So I said if I close my account, how long does it have to be closed before I am a new customer. "24 hours" came the reply. So I said can they close my account and then I will ring back tomorrow and set up a new account with the same details? Oh no sorry we can't do that. We have to transfer the money to your bank account and then you have to apply again.

I gave up at that point and switched to someone else. The trouble with switching banks is having to transfer your savings via your current account. I find the transfer often gets held up for "additional security checks", even when using the "immediate" option of the faster payment. Probably another little earner for the banks.
When I last had to give my bank notice my favorite part was sitting at the banker's desk, staring at his tie, when he asked me 'And why are you leaving our bank?', as if it was some great mystery.

'I'm SO glad you asked!', I replied, 'It's because without warning you have slashed your standard teaser interest rate which was miserable to begin with to a new rate that now only pays 1/10th of what the bank down the streets pays! That's why! '










TridentScan | Privacy Policy