Alliance & Leicester accounts

[s0095063]

Just thought i'd mention that i work part time for the A&L so I might be able to help if anyone has problems of queries regarding their MBing account here (probably not though ).

One tip is to downgrade your account if you are getting charged the £5 underfunding fee. You keep the same card etc, but you no longer have to fund the account. You do lose out on the interest and the travel insurance though.

[Andy]

Thats good to know thanks a lot. I should not imagine you would lose out on much interest since the base rate is 0.5% anyhow.

[s0095063]

Thats good to know thanks a lot. I should not imagine you would lose out on much interest since the base rate is 0.5% anyhow.

Yeah, the interest is terrible anyway.

I'd really recommend that those who are paying the £5/month downgrade their accounts. No point in paying £60 per year for nothing.

[munk]

Cracking mate - how do you work out what interest rates you're currently getting on your account? I asked CS about this and they said 'see the website interest rates page' but that has lots of different issues for each type of account and I don't know which issue my account was, if that makes sense. I'd heard there was a place you could enter 3 digits of your account or something to work out the interest rate, any idea where this mythical place is?!

Cheers!

[s0095063]

Do you know what type of account you opened up? Is it a premier direct account?

I've never heard of the mythical 3 digit place though, lol.

[munk]

Well it was an eSaver account I was wanting to look up - don't worry about it honestly though shouldn't have said anything, was just wondering if you knew about somewhere you could look up the interest rates instantly.

There was a petition on MSE yesterday about getting banks to display the current rates on savings accounts yesterday which was what prompted me to try and find out - I've left changing savings accounts for longer than I should have, you know the deal, get the 1yr bonus rate and then fall into the trap of forgetting/putting off changing to a better rate... mainly put off because the rates on most accounts are pretty poor recently but should sort it out!

Cheers.

This is the MSE thread re petition:
Savers Rights: Name & Shame Accounts which hide interest rates - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

[s0095063]

Looks like this might be it?

Savings Accounts ? Interest Rates - Alliance & Leicester

Yeah i know what you mean about how confusing the interest rates are. As I only work part time it is a struggle to keep up with the changes.

It's pretty difficult working in the branch sometimes because you can understand the customers concerns, but there is naff all you can do about it at branch level.

[munk]

Cheers buddy yes that's probably it... I'd already been to that page and didn't notice the place at the top of the page to enter first 3 digits of account doh! When I looked on that page that was the one that was confusing because there are more than one issue of the eSaver account... would just be so much simpler if they could put what interest rate you're earning on your account summary page when you login!

Thanks for your help

[dreamylittledream]

Meh - I hate A&L - stopped using my Premier Direct Account when I was made redundant in the summer and got hit by the underfunding fee - leading to unathorised overdraft fee double whammy as they helpfully didn't bother to tell me they'd charged me and taken me overdrawn (charging £5 a day for a week until I logged into my internet banking and noticed).

Unbelieveable I managed to get bank charges by not spending any money.

Hiding behind the FSA hold on bank charges complaints so I just closed every holding I have with them. Gits!

[diana11]

How do you downgrade the account? Can it be done online?