RaboDirect ignore the presence of NR?

See [broken link removed]. Why is the [broken link removed] account (currently offering 3.05% increasing to 3.25% from January 2006) omitted from their list of rates? Admittedly, RaboDirect currently offers the best demand deposit account at 3.20% gross CAR for sums of €1+ but at the moment it looks like NR Demand Online will be the best demand deposit account (for balances of €1000+) from January 4th 2006 so why do RaboDirect ignore this?

Yeah, noticed this before. I can only presume that they don't see why they should advertise NR on their website.

Yep, more straight talking from Rabid ...

Also noticed this on their website:

Investment Fees

Should you invest €1,000 in any of our Investments Funds the entry cost of 0.75% will be included in the overall cost, so the deduction from your Current Account will be €1007.50. Should you decide to sell Funds at a later stage you will be charged an exit fee of 0.75% on the proceeds. Your current account will be credited with the balance minus the 0.75% charge. These are the only bank charges incurred when investing with RaboDirect.

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Are they trying to make out that their entry and exit charges are actually bank charges?!

They do mention in their list that it is Irish banks, I bet if queried on it they'd say Northern Rock isn't Irish, and they've probably set up an Irish subsidiary for this market.

Hi

This is a misleading advert. I have sent them this email today:

Hi Please see the discussion on the attached site:


Could you please amend this immediately to include Northern Rock's interest rates or explain on the site what your table covers.


I will refer it to the Financial Regulator and or ASAI if they don't correct it. I am a fan of Rabobank but I hate misleading ads.

It is described as "Interest Rates in Ireland" and as such it is misleading.

As far as I know both Rabobank and Northern Rock have the same status in Ireland. They are "authorised" by their respective Central Banks and not by the Financial Regulator in Ireland. But they are still obliged to comply with Irish advertising codes.

Just for the record, here is the table. Does anyone know how I can take a copy of the full page as it is today?

Interest Rates In Ireland
Notice Accounts / Instant AccessInstitutionCAR*
%NoticeMin
balanceRaboDirect3.2None€1.00Anglo Irish Bank2.25None€1,000AIB0.025None€0.00Permanent tsb0.107 days€0.00Bank of Ireland0.02None€0.00Ulster Bank Easy Access0.01None€1.00
* CAR = Compound Annual Rate
Earnings are DIRT deductible

Source - MoneyMate December 2005


Brendan

One way to record the page would be to copy and paste the browser window as a graphic. On Windows, press Alt + PrtScrn (the key beside F12) to copy, then paste into Paint or Word and save it somewhere (More generally, if a page has changed, http://web.archive.org may have copies of the page as it appeared at various times in the past.).


I doubt your complaint will succeed. It's on their web-site, so I don't think it comes under the ASAI's remit.

I don't find the ommission of NR misleading. The title suggests a sample of the rates in Ireland. They don't (unlike PTSB a while back) misleadingly claim to be offering the best rate. I think it would be unreasonable for them to be forced to list their best competitors (NR, and, at least in the past, Anglo.).

One possibly misleading part is that they have chosen to list AIB, but haven't updated the table to include AIB's most comparable product -- their new online savings account.

The main thing that annoys me is their brand identity is based on "straight talking" so they should hold themselves to a higher standard than what's required of them. In fact maybe their TV/radio/print ads are misleading, because they aren't straight talking!

MugsGame is correct - if you check the ASAI's description of their remit you will see that it excludes web based advertising on the company's own website as opposed to being carried on a paid for third party advertising site/platform (e.g. banner ads etc.). Maybe IFSRA can do something about it though?

I've sent this comment to Rabo customer service via their website:

Hi there, can you explain to me why your website contains misleading information in the form of a list of "Interest rates in Ireland" which pointedly excludes those offered by your main competitor Northern Rock? Surely Northern Rock's rates should be included or else a rider added explaining that the list is not complete/comprehensive? Especially since Rabo is the self proclaimed "straight talking online bank"?

Regards
...

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I got a reply from Rabo but cannot publish it in full due to the copyright restrictions attaching to it in the footer. Basically they said that the list is of "comparable" account rates and since their minimum deposit is €1 and NR's is €1,000 they omit NR. This would be fair enough if they included some sort of caveat/footnote explaining that the list of rates was selective. Especially since it is on this very basis that PTSB falsely claimed to offer the best deposit rate in the past - because their rate was for sums of €5K+ whereas NR were offering a better rate for sums of €1K+ - until IFSRA eventually acted on foot of my complaints and had them pull the ads.

I have sent them this reply:

Thanks for the response to my query. I understand the rationale for providing a partial list of competitive rates but I feel that it would be a lot more straight talking if a caveat/footnote or an alternative heading was added making it clear that the list of rates provided on the website was selective and not simply a list of the best rates on offer (possibly with minimum deposit requirements as in the case of Norther Rock and AIB).

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