Is this common practice? When I switched to a fixed rate in the past, I did not have to pay a fee. Also, it took them over a month to send out documentation for rate switch - everytime I rang them, they told me of their huge backlog!
its has been in UB t's and c's i believe for years.
they are only now just applying the cost to the accounts.
I do know that this is very common practice in the UK and NI.
and maybe it did take over a month because there was a backlog.
its not as if their fixed rates have increased in the last few months, so they would gain nothing from this.
Fair enough they may be busy - but I made at least 10 phone calls to them and I truly believe if I hadn't been so persistent (and probably annoying!), I would still be waiting for the documentation.
It's 4.2% till Dec. 2011 or 4.5% till Dec. 2012. They are high, but so is UB's variable rate (3.95%). I think it is worth fixing as ECB will more than likely increase rates next year.
The variable rate can change at the discretion of the bank, they aren't linked to the ECB.
4.2% is not the worst rate I've heard for existing customers with EBS in the papers today charging what they like and a friend of mine with TSB has been charged 5%+.
Apart from that rates are only going one way as they are at historic lows, just depends when this occurs, sooner or later is the great debate.