Yorkshire Building Society Accounts > Reviews > I have opened an account I didn't really want

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Efficiency of service
Competitiveness of charges/rates
Online - Content/organization of site

Advantages:	Good interest rates, friendly staff
Disadvantages:	Daft rules to prevent people opening accounts

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have just opened an account with the Yorkshire Building Society. I didn’t want to, but we eventually had little or no alternative. Sounds odd? Let me tell you our story.

As most of you know Dave and I have recently purchased a house in Llandudno and my parents have moved in with us. They occupy the ground floor of the house and Dave and I have the remaining two floors. It was decided that they would pay an amount of ‘rent’ each week and we would deal with all the bills and matters of general household management. Stick with me this will become relevant in a minute.

Back in the Midlands my parents kept what little capital they had with Birmingham Midshires as they offered a traditional passbook account, which is what they felt comfortable with. Sadly the nearest branch to us here in Llandudno is Liverpool or Chester, which is a bit far to go to pay a cheque in!

I went on a fact-finding exercise and discovered that the Yorkshire Building Society in Llandudno’s main street offered the same type of account. I collected the necessary forms for my parents to complete, feeling very pleased with my find.

I got them to fill in the form to open the joint account and the two forms to request the interest to be paid gross as they do not pay income tax and we all set off to the Yorkshire Building Society.

I had left the actual signing of the forms until we were actually in the Building Society so that the cashier could see that it was my parents who had signed and not me forging their signatures for whatever reason.

Then it all began to go pear shaped. My parents had to provide suitable proof of identity and signature. I had thought that the fact that they were both standing there, complete with their birth certificates and marriage licence and we had a final bill for the water rates at the old house in dad’s name addressed to him at the new house would be enough. How wrong I was!

My parents had got to provide either:
Driving Licence – neither of them drive
Credit Card – they don’t have one
Building Society Passbook – they were in the process of trying to open the account and so don’t yet have one
And one of the following:
A Utility Bill – the one from the old address was in dad’s name so didn’t count for mom and any new ones will be in my name
Council Tax Bill – all the bills will be in my name
Tax Notice from the Inland Revenue – they don’t pay tax

To make matters worse we were also told that under new financial laws all building societies would ask for the same information.

So now you know why I have opened an account with the Yorkshire Building Society that I didn’t really want.

The only answer was for me to open the account in my name and administer it on their behalf and hope that the solicitor will issue the cheque for the sale of their previous house to me so that I can pay it in!

The account we chose was the Notice Saver Account, which currently offers a gross interest rate of 3.4% per annum if the interest is paid annually or 3.35% per annum if you have your interest paid monthly. The interest rates increase with the balance invested. The minimum investment is £100 and, if the account balance falls below this amount, the account will be closed without notice.

You need to give 30 days notice of any withdrawals from the account or you loose 30 days interest on the amount that you withdraw.

Other accounts on offer are the Monthly Saver, which is for regular monthly investments made by direct debit. The current rate of gross interest is 4.6% per annum providing you have made no withdrawals in that year or 2.3 % per annum if you have made a withdrawal. This account also has to have a minimum balance of £100.

The Access Saver which allows for one withdrawal per month and pays a gross interest rate of 3.05% per annum if paid annually and 3.01% per annum if paid monthly. This account also has to have a minimum balance of £100.

The Cash Transactor Account is the nearest they have got to a conventional current account and pays a gross interest rate of 0.2% per annum and can be held with a minimum balance of only £1. There is also a Link Card option with this account.

For the youngsters there’s a Happy Kids Account to encourage them to save their money. It pays a gross interest rate of 4.1% per annum and can be held with a minimum balance of just £10.

They also have a Postal Account, which is accessible either by post or via a Link Card. The interest for that one starts at 3.4% per annum taken annually and 3.35% per annum taken monthly.

They also run a scheme called Small Change Big Difference, which effectively collects the odd pence from your interest payment once a year and puts it into a charity account. You are not obliged to join this scheme of course, but I thought it was a great idea.

The other thing with the Yorkshire Building Society is that they have put in place a scheme to stop ‘carpet baggers’, i.e. the people putting £100 in a building society and leaving it there hoping that they might get a big payout. If the Building Society, which is currently mutual, is floated on the stock market within five years of your account being opened you have no right to any windfall payments and this amount is donated to a charity on your behalf. After you have held the account for five years you then have the right to any windfall payments that may become due.

So, in conclusion, I have been impressed with the way my account was opened and with the interest rates on offer.

I can’t help wondering what my parents would have done with their cheque for the proceeds of their old house if I hadn’t been around to help out in this way. Maybe they would have found a way to cash it and then they could have kept over £60,000 in cash in the house. Has the world gone mad?