Dormant accounts

[YammyRog]

Recently found & traced a dormant account, have successfully opened it with the HALIFAX, original amount was only �15.00 but see i only now have after 24 years ,
�24.53 pounds, seems to be very low after all that while of gaining interest, would have thought it possibly at least have doubled ??
Can anybody help or point in the right direction?
Aren't sure whether the building society have not given me interest i am due ?
Regards
Roger Howell

[Twenty20]

The missing parts of the equation are: what type of account was it held in and what was the interest rate for that account? It wont have been held in a high interest account and may have only been the equivalent of a current account with little or no interest.

I assume as you didn't know you had the account/money then the �24.53 is a bonus to you?

[chas2008]

might be wrong but were not account holders due a windfall payment when the Halifax changed there status a few years back..( not sure wether the amount you had in would qualify though)

[dancecaller]

Halifax and many other banks have a nasty habit of bringing out new accounts with high interest, and allowing the rates on old accounts to slide downhill. Those who care can move their money, they get the use of the rest cheap.

[dancecaller]

I've just been doing some compound interest calculations. If they'd given you 3% your money would have doubled. It looks as if you got an average of about 2%.

You can ask Halifax for the 'Historic Interest rates' on this account and do the sums yourself if you are not sure.

All the money programmes recommend that people keep a chheck on what their accounts are earning, the difference between the best and worst is staggering.

[YammyRog]

Thanks to those who replied,for further info account was in a Liquid Gold account with the Leeds Permanent, this was taken over by HBOS years ago,hence now with Halifax.
Still think that after depositing it in 1985 -all �15 & now recovered it,interest rates were high at times actually only made an extra �8.48,doesn't seem a lot does it ??
Maybe i was wishful thinking, but thought i would ask ??
Roger

[factor-fiction]

I think the return could have been a lot less. As dancecaller said most banks reduced rates to very low level- often 0.1% after a while and relied on customer inertia/ignorance , so an average rate of around 2% isn't bad. And presumably that's after tax- the gross rate would have been higher.

[dancecaller]

Yes, I'd forgotten about tax. 2% net would be 2.5% before tax..
Looking on the Halifax website the best rate on offer is the Web Saver Extra, which has just gone down from 2.5% gross (2% net) to 2% (1.6%). And a fixed 1 year childrens regular saver offering 8%.
The Liquid Gold is now 0.1 (0.08) and was 0.25 (0.2)

I can understand your frustration, I am annoyed myself, particularly when banks don't tell you that rates have changed.
There is a lot of pressure to have competitive rates and be in the 'best interest' tables. And they can only do this by paying good rates to the alert savers at the expense of the rest.

If you don't want to spend your time on the internet checking rates put your money into one of the more consistent building societies. Nationwide sends letters or emails when their rates change.