CD Summerson "Absa didn't tell me about changes to savings account" (August 22), may have been surprised at not being informed of changes to her savings account, but then he/she did not try Absa's Investment Advantage account.

I invested in 2008 and upon receiving my first statement I noticed that no interest rate was quoted. This meant having to work out a rate from the interest amount on the statement - I've never seen that before.

A letter to head office did not help; I was given the lame excuse that it was very difficult to calculate the interest on this account over the month, despite Absa having managed to come up with a figure for the interest.

Over an 11-month period my interest rate gradually dropped by nearly 30%. I went to see the investment adviser at my local branch with my problem and was very bluntly told that the minimum deposit level had been adjusted upwards considerably, and that seeing that my investment amount was now below this, I should be most grateful that I was still allowed to keep the account.

As with CD Summerson, there was never any correspondence or other communication to advise me that these changes were being made. I also had to pay a 4% service fee on all future deposits, which was actually in force when I opened the account. There were also some other restrictions which I do not remember clearly, having never been given anything in writing.

The only option was to close the account, and it came as something of a surprise that I was not even asked why I wanted to close the account. It was almost as if they were expecting their Investment Advantage clients to close their accounts.

I notice that all banks seem to have this type of investment where they offer you a high interest rate to get your money, and almost immediately start reducing it, or as Gavin Opperman put it, "Absa continually reviews its product offering in line with market demands", obviously to their advantage.

One seriously needs to be constantly aware of what one's bank investment interest rates are doing, unlike Retail Bonds. - Dr Rod Douglas, Bloemfontein

Absa responds: Investment Advantage is Absa's premier instant-demand type savings account offering, with leading returns for on-balance sheet investments through its correlation to movements in the prime rate.

This means the interest rate paid to customers changes when there is a change in the prime interest rate (up or down). Since the prime interest rate reduced from 15.5% in July 2008 to 11% in June 2009 (30% reduction), there has also been a corresponding reduction in the interest rate paid on Investment Advantage.

The Investment Advantage deposit fee is 0.4%, not 4% as indicated. Moreover, this is the only charge applicable to this account.

The account statement does not explicitly state the interest rate, but it can be requested from the branch or at www.absa.co.za.

DEMAND A REFUND

I also have a Money Builder Account, opened in December 2006, and also picked up the lower interest payments two months ago.

I queried this and Absa immediately repaid me the difference. They also tried to explain that there were two types of Money Builder Account: before and after March 2008. I did not receive any notification of this and demanded that I be paid back. I don't know how many Money Builder customers Absa has but we must be talking big money.

According to Gavin Opperman, Absa launched Money Builder in March 2008. He is wrong; it existed long before that. The Absa website makes no mention of the two types of Money Builder - as there should be if there are two sets of interest rates.

I am still waiting for an explanation from Absa about how this could have happened. I have the time to follow up on this - my concern is how many people are being short -changed. - JJ

DUPLICATION HEADACHE

The letter "Stuck between SARS, Old Mutual" (August 22) refers. I have a similar problem where an insurance company submitted a duplicate IT(3)a. They have filled in EMP601 to rectify the error, however there has been no change on my ITR12 after nearly six days. At the moment one cannot even contact e-filing, I assume because of the strike. Is there a solution? - Paul Wheeler