Update! Santander First Home Saver Account: 5% on up to 50k savings (up to 35 only)

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  • Boseley
    Boseley Posts: 5 Forumite
    edited 30 November 2010 at 12:46PM
    I spoke to 3 managers whilst being passed through different people and the end verdict is that yes you get interest on your initial deposit, but it is a one off, you deposit 5000 you get 5% on that back, for that month, after that, you only gain interest on the amount put into the account. Max of 300 a month, you do not get 5% on everything you put in there every month added with your total (so far). They confirmed this is in conditions many times over for me.

    Also when i asked what would happen if i over deposited one month, they said it would just sit in the account, and earn no interest, just like the deposit after the first month.
  • gsmmad wrote: »
    rb10 is 100% correct......

    you get 5% on the whole balance.....

    How do you know this? Have you actually had the interest paid at the end of the year on all of it, reoccurring each month?
  • finder
    finder Posts: 110 Forumite
    edited 30 November 2010 at 3:08PM
    Boseley wrote: »
    I spoke to 3 managers whilst being passed through different people and the end verdict is that yes you get interest on your initial deposit, but it is a one off, you deposit 5000 you get 5% on that back, for that month, after that, you only gain interest on the amount put into the account. Max of 300 a month, you do not get 5% on everything you put in there every month added with your total (so far). They confirmed this is in conditions many times over for me.

    Also when i asked what would happen if i over deposited one month, they said it would just sit in the account, and earn no interest, just like the deposit after the first month.

    Boosely, I am sorry to disagree with you on this as well, but you are assuming 'your chat with a bank manager' as being equivalent to the written terms and conditions of the account. Obviously, that is miles, miles away from reality. Summary of the terms and conditions here; if you skim through them you won't be able to verify those 3 managers' account of the T&C's (assuming that they have even read the terms and conditions themselves!)

    You are given a couple of pages of terms and conditions when you open the account. The additional piece of information to that on the webpage is that they say that they 'reserve their right to close your account if you overpay'. Obviously, if they don't and as previous posters have rightly stated, they will pay 0.10% for the month when you overpay, but will have to pay 5% thereafter as per their own terms and conditions. I can only picture very, very creative minds to come up with a different interpretation of what it's written!

    So, I would suggest that next time you talk to one of those 'knowledgeable managers' you ask them to please print out a copy of the T&C's and pinpoint you to the exact line that backs up their claims! That will be the end of the discussion.

    Regards
  • finder wrote: »
    Boosely, I am sorry to disagree with you on this as well, but you are assuming 'your chat with a bank manager' as being equivalent to the written terms and conditions of the account. Obviously, that is miles, miles away from reality. Summary of the terms and conditions here; if you skim through them you won't be able to verify those 3 managers' account of the T&C's (assuming that they have even read the terms and conditions themselves!)

    You are given a couple of pages of terms and conditions when you open the account. The additional piece of information to that on the webpage is that they say that they 'reserve their right to close your account if you overpay'. Obviously, if they don't and as previous posters have rightly stated, they will pay 0.10% for the month when you overpay, but will have to pay 5% thereafter as per their own terms and conditions. I can only picture very, very creative minds to come up with a different interpretation of what it's written!

    So, I would suggest that next time you talk to one of those 'knowledgeable managers' you ask them to please print out a copy of the T&C's and pinpoint you to the exact line that backs up their claims! That will be the end of the discussion.

    Regards

    As much as i would love to agree with you there, not one single person in this thread has proven otherwise, nor has any Santander employee stated that these assumptions are correct. If you have studied the T&Cs then where in the T&Cs does it actually state that you will receive 5% on the whole account balance, the answer - It Doesn't. All it states is 5% on payment, nothing about whole balances. You do not have a case with them if they do not pay it any you say "It does not say in the T&Cs that you won't get it on the whole balance." Because they will simply say "Where does it state in the T&Cs that you do?".

    Unless you can get someone who actually opens the account and created it etc to say that you are correct, as someone has done above, you may put in 40,000 for a whole year and then receive absolutely no interest, big risk for something that you can not prove and you will never know till you close the account......

    Kind Regards,
    Boseley

    :mad:
  • Ibliss
    Ibliss Posts: 41
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    From the Santander website:

    First Home Saver (Special Issue 1) – rates below are variable

    Tier - £100 - £50,000 | Gross p.a./AER - 5.00%

    ..and...

    "Interest is calculated on the daily balance of the account, and is paid annually on the anniversary of account opening. For example, if you saved £100 per month for 12 months, you will get back your deposits totaling £1,200 (12 x £100), and will have received in total approximately £32.50 gross interest during the year (provided no withdrawals are made during the year)."

    So they have said that you get 5% on balances between £100 and £50K and this interest calculation is based on the daily balance. Seems fairly clear to me.
  • Ibliss wrote: »
    From the Santander website:

    First Home Saver (Special Issue 1) – rates below are variable

    Tier - £100 - £50,000 | Gross p.a./AER - 5.00%

    ..and...

    "Interest is calculated on the daily balance of the account, and is paid annually on the anniversary of account opening. For example, if you saved £100 per month for 12 months, you will get back your deposits totaling £1,200 (12 x £100), and will have received in total approximately £32.50 gross interest during the year (provided no withdrawals are made during the year)."

    So they have said that you get 5% on balances between £100 and £50K and this interest calculation is based on the daily balance. Seems fairly clear to me.

    :O I retract what i said! I did not see that bit in the documents they sent me by post but i can see it on the website! Even though it contradicts everything the people on the phone said i apologise that seems a lot clearer.

    One question though, how can £32.50 be the interest from £1200? 5% works out at £60. £5 a month?

    I hope this is all correct and that you can do this, because it is a lot to risk!
  • Ibliss
    Ibliss Posts: 41
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    Forumite
    Hi,

    It's £5 when you have £1200 in the account, but this is only for the final month. In your first month you would get 5% on £100, then 5% on £200 in the second month etc. I would look like this:


    month 1 £100 - £0.42
    month 2 £200 - £0.83
    month 3 £300 - £1.25
    month 4 £400 - £1.67
    month 5 £500 - £2.08
    month 6 £600 - £2.50
    month 7 £700 - £2.92
    month 8 £800 - £3.33
    month 9 £900 - £3.75
    month 10 £1000 - £4.17
    month 11 £1100 - £4.58
    month 12 £1200 - £5.00

    Total - £32.50 (gross)
  • Does the annual account interest definitely count towards the account balance or can you have interest paid into another account?

    To answer my own question, interest is paid into the account and would therefore count towards the account balance (a max. of £50k).
  • intalex
    intalex Posts: 811
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    preston87 wrote: »
    This works. I opened a first home saver in March 2009 and deposited 45k in the first month. Each month after I deposited £100. In March 2010 i got 5% interest on the full balance for 11 months. The lower rate of interest only applied to the month in which I overpaid.
    Here we go with a definite answer! Are there any more people who have had the account for over a year and over-funded it initially - did you receive 5% interest on all months apart from the month of over-funding?
  • So to confirm we can overpay into thisat any time and we are only charged the interest penalty for 1 month. I was overly worried about doing this last year so backed out, however i am going to go ahead and do so this week.

    How should i send the 'one-off' adittional payment?
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