I heard on the radio early thursday morning that Barclays Bank have cut their interest rates on their ISA's from about 4.0% to 0.1% without telling anyone.
Luckily its painless to get some forms from the Building Society next door and they do all the work transferring the account and are paying thirty times as much interest.
When I went into Barclays and complained about changing the interest rates without telling anyone. He said with a smirk on his face; " It's a variable rate, sir ". Do they teach them to reply with answers like that ?
Well, he's right. It IS a variable rate - just like a variable rate mortgage. You're happy to profit from your investment while the market's high - but now it's fallen, you're blubbing like a baby.
john decker added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...
Barclays? Is that a UK bank? If yes, then you'll have to talk to your government to see if that's OK. But, absent specific laws to prevent banks from raising credit card interest or lowering interest on savings accounts, they can do as they damn well please. Doesn't that sound logical to me? I mean, it is their business to run as they see fit and global interest rates have been steadily dropping as governments try to stimulate the economy.
But 30X the interest at Barclays? Doesn't sound right to me. Maybe you should fire them and go to the other bank.
Centre Parting added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...
Not sure, but the OP's comments smack of those of a Socialist who believes that the government owes them cradle-to-grade benefits including income, "free" healthcare, and plesant events such as guaranteed high interest on their money. A prime example of this warped thinking is the nonsense that flows from Aardvark's fingers. He really does think that a) healthcare is entirely free and b) his gubmint actually OWES him a living. Neither is true. Those who produce in an economy and pay taxes are the ones that always have to pay for the lazy and the stupid, who simply draw on benefits without contributing.
In about any country you want to investigate, the top 5% of wage earners usually pay 95% or more of the ENTIRE government's budget. In pathological cases, as in New York City, of a population of over
8 million, only 48,000 pay something like 97% of the taxes! Talk about unfair!
Barclays do that every year. They have good rates during the ISA season of March - May, and rubbish rates the rest of the year. Halifax, RBS/Natwest and a few others are also good at that.
Didn't see him talking about free (as in beer) healthcare or other regulated benefits. Sure enough, we have to pay taxes or social insurance. The only difference may be, the taxes /insurance rates do depend upon income here. One might argue that it's a raw deal for these who pay more taxes, because they usually don't benefit that more. But then, that's the principle of any (private or public) insurance.
You appear to be the old fart almost creeping up the stairs each early morning distributing newspapers at age 80 just because you lost everything when your private insurance company invested in foul stocks and went bust? Your fault. Only yours. You ought have saved the nickels under your pillow instead. At least you say that. The private insurance may give you a cheap deal, but it isn't backed up. Therein lies the difference.
That may be true for *wages* not revenues, and also it is not true for social security contributions.
National savings have been doing that for months... till income bonds paid next to nothing..and thats gross paid. But this week I received a postal notification that their rates on income bonds were rising! ...still to compensate at least Ill be paying less tax!... since the government owns both NS and HMIR
National savings have been doing that for months... till income bonds paid next to nothing..and thats gross paid. But this week I received a postal notification that their rates on income bonds were rising! ...still to compensate at least Ill be paying less tax!... since the government owns both NS and HMIR
You should have pointed the patronising git at the banking code, which Barclays are signed up to:
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See section 4.8. Clearly they did drop their interest rate significantly wrt the BOE rate, and so should have told you. Unless you have less than 250 in the account. Send them a complaint:
Do you have difficulty understanding English? He's not complaining about them cutting the rate, he's complaining about them not telling him they've cut the rate.
BigGirlsBlouse added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...
What part of "it's their business to run as they please" don't you people understand?! Absent some bullshit Socialist crap in places like the UK, private companies whether privately held, publicly held, government regulated to some extent or not are free to raise and lower interest rates on their savings accounts - IF the contract you agreed to when you opened the account gives them authorization to do so.
Depending on whether the account is an ordinary savings, checking, CD or many other types, the "fine print" may say that the interest rate is locked in for a specified period of time. This is typical for longer term accounts like CDs, but MAY allow for an initial "teaser" rate to go away after 3-6 months or under other conditions.
It is ALWAYS a good idea to read ALL contracts that you either sign with a bank or tacitly "agree" to simply by opening the account, e.g., they have a brochure that describes this sort of thing.
So, friends, as the international, national or even regional interest rates rise and fall due to bank competition, special offers, and government monetary policy changes, your rate can and almost always WILL change over time. Right now in the US, ordinary "passbook" accounts or interest-bearing checking accounts are down around 0.2%, maybe 0.3%. What do you expect, 15% like during the Jimmy Carter "stagflation" years?
It is exactly the stupidity of buyers of so-called sub-prime mortgages NOT reading their ARM contracts that caused the global economic meltdown by deluding the stupids of the world to buy more house than they could really afford when they had no clue as to how an ARM works. So, either RTFC or talk to your local Socialist government official, either way, you get what you asked for.
Andy Pandy added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...
Why don't you dumb ass Limeys go found your own NG? I really get tired of you Socialists complaining about all the perceived injustices in your world of stupid and lazy people being subsidized by the inteligent and hard working.
Andy Pandy added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...
NO, he IS complaining about the rate cut that HE agreed to when the account was open. Absent any specifics in the account boilerplate contract or governmental regulations on notifications of credit card interest rate rises or fee increases OR interest rate declines on savings account, the bank can damn well change it WITHOUT telling you anything. Get a life - and read your contracts!
What do you reckon the uk in "uk.finance" and "uk.d-i-y" stands for? You a septic I guess?
Ha ha! Your new president is more socialist than our government, and we're getting rid of them soon. And your previous ones - what kind of brain dead government passes the Communities Reinvestment Act which forced banks to make subprime loans? That's more socialist than anything our governments have done in the last 30 years.
Luckily its painl ess to get some forms from the Building Society next door
and they do all the work transferring the account and a re paying thirty times as much interest.
When I wen t into Barclays and complained about changing the interes t rates without telling anyone. He said with a smirk on his face; " It's a variable rate, sir ". Do they teac h them to reply with answers like that ? DUH
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