Santander sharp practice

missile · 18 December 2014 at 6:07PM

Hi,

I would like to advise those with a Santander 123 Account, to take care.

Their interpretation of the T&Cs is stricter than mine.

I opened a 123 account and set up SO to pay in £500, plus 2 off DD. I was surprised when I did not receive interest and e mailed to complain. I was told I did not qualify as I did not have two ACTIVE DD on the anniversary of opening. I checked my account and gave them dates thereof. Unbeknown to me BT cancelled my DD after taking the DD from my account. Thus although 2 off DD were made during the month, I did not have 2 ACTIVE DD on the anniversary of account opening.

As far as I can see the T&Cs do not state ACTIVE DD but Santander have rejected my complaint. I am not happy with Santander's unsympathetic response. I shall be making a complaint to FSA and closing my account.

To get cashback on your household bills and interest on your balance, just follow these steps:

Pay a monthly account fee of £2.
Fund the account with £500 a month (excludes internal transfers). A minimum balance of £1,000 is needed to receive interest.
Set up at least 2 Direct Debits. You'll get monthly cashback on selected household bills you pay by Direct Debit

jjlandlord · 18 December 2014 at 6:14PM

I agree that "set up at least 2 DD" is not the same as their 'interpretation'.

However, you should check the actual T&Cs because what you have quoted looks like a marketing summary, not the actual wording of the T&Cs.
You might still have a case if it is misleading, though.

Ed-1 · 18 December 2014 at 6:20PM

missile wrote: »

Hi,

I would like to advise those with a Santander 123 Account, to take care.

Their interpretation of the T&Cs is stricter than mine.

I opened a 123 account and set up SO to pay in £500, plus 2 off DD. I was surprised when I did not receive interest and e mailed to complain. I was told I did not qualify as I did not have two ACTIVE DD on the anniversary of opening. I checked my account and gave them dates thereof. Unbeknown to me BT cancelled my DD after taking the DD from my account. Thus although 2 off DD were made during the month, I did not have 2 ACTIVE DD on the anniversary of account opening.

As far as I can see the T&Cs do not state ACTIVE DD but Santander have rejected my complaint. I am not happy with Santander's unsympathetic response. I shall be making a complaint to FSA and closing my account.

To get cashback on your household bills and interest on your balance, just follow these steps:
Pay a monthly account fee of £2.

Fund the account with £500 a month (excludes internal transfers). A minimum balance of £1,000 is needed to receive interest.

Set up at least 2 Direct Debits. You'll get monthly cashback on selected household bills you pay by Direct Debit

Key facts document on this page: http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/123-current-account

Eligibility for cashback and interest:
Have at least two active Direct Debits

CLAPTON · 18 December 2014 at 6:26PM

missile wrote: »

Hi,

I would like to advise those with a Santander 123 Account, to take care.

Their interpretation of the T&Cs is stricter than mine.

I opened a 123 account and set up SO to pay in £500, plus 2 off DD. I was surprised when I did not receive interest and e mailed to complain. I was told I did not qualify as I did not have two ACTIVE DD on the anniversary of opening. I checked my account and gave them dates thereof. Unbeknown to me BT cancelled my DD after taking the DD from my account. Thus although 2 off DD were made during the month, I did not have 2 ACTIVE DD on the anniversary of account opening.

As far as I can see the T&Cs do not state ACTIVE DD but Santander have rejected my complaint. I am not happy with Santander's unsympathetic response. I shall be making a complaint to FSA and closing my account.

To get cashback on your household bills and interest on your balance, just follow these steps:
Pay a monthly account fee of £2.

Fund the account with £500 a month (excludes internal transfers). A minimum balance of £1,000 is needed to receive interest.

Set up at least 2 Direct Debits. You'll get monthly cashback on selected household bills you pay by Direct Debit

it's a good a/c

why cut off the nose to spite the face?

fwor · 18 December 2014 at 6:32PM

I've had some unsympathetic responses (and some downright bad service) from Santander in the past, but isn't this cutting off your nose to spite your face*?

I wouldn't implicitly trust Santander with any financial transaction that mattered a lot to me, but I'm happy for them to bribe me to have one of their accounts with top interest rates and cashback...

[*Edit: Clapton beat me to that one!]

In_For_A_Penny_2 · 18 December 2014 at 6:35PM

missile wrote: »

Their interpretation of the T&Cs is stricter than mine.

I am not happy with Santander's unsympathetic response. I shall be making a complaint to FSA and closing my account.

You didn't read the T&C. Now that you know what they are you should adhere to them. It's a good account and the best current account out there.

Doubt the FSA will help you I'm afraid.

EDIT - took me a while to type that on the iPad - others have beat me to it. seems that is the general consensus.

Ifts · 18 December 2014 at 6:37PM

missile wrote: »

I am not happy with Santander's unsympathetic response. I shall be making a complaint to FSA and closing my account.

Usually I would agree as if you're not happy then vote with your feet but.....

can you not setup another DD (easy to do with a Tesco savings account) and keep hold of your 123 account especially as its up and running, be a shame to close your account as it pays a good rate on up to £20k.

edit: got beaten to it by previous 3 posts! must type faster or stay home!!

colsten · 18 December 2014 at 6:45PM

jjlandlord wrote: »

I agree that "set up at least 2 DD" is not the same as their 'interpretation'.

"Their interpretation" is clearly spelt out in their T&Cs, which include a reference to the "Key facts" document which unmistakingly says that having 2 DDs is a pre-req for receiving interest.

missile wrote: »

Unbeknown to me BT cancelled my DD after taking the DD from my account.

If BT cancelled your DD and shouldn't have done so, complain to them (and sort out how you pay them in future). If BT cancelled the DD because you no longer have their services, complain to yourself.

missile wrote: »

I shall be making a complaint to FSA and closing my account.

The FSA no longer exists, and anyway, complaints always needed to be made to the FOS. However, I think you would be wasting your time as the Santander terms are clear. Much easier and profitable to set up one or two DDs. e.g. to Tesco savings accounts in your name so you can collect the monthly interest.

EDIT: got beaten royally by umpteen other posters, lol.

missile · 18 December 2014 at 7:08PM

Thanks for your comments.

Their At A Glance page and Full Details page do not state ACTIVE. 2 direct debits are frequently mentioned in their Key Facts Document, but only once do they state ACTIVE direct debits.

It is my contention that I did have two active DD during the month. I do accept not on the anniversary of the opening, however this is not stated as a requirement in their T&Cs.

I believe this is sharp practice on behalf on Santander. I would suggest many other banks would have given a more sympathetic response.

Archi_Bald · 18 December 2014 at 8:04PM

From your original post, it appears you had 1, not 2, DD on the account at the time the monthly interest was being determined. Thus it would be totally in line with the T&Cs that you were not paid any interest for that month.

I agree that there is no definition of what would constitute an active DD. But a cancelled DD - which you said you had - can't be counted as a DD, active or otherwise.

I also agree with the other posters - just set up the required number of DDs and make sure they stay there(*). Closing the account is cutting your nose off to spite your face.

(*)You realise that unused DDs might be automatically cancelled after 13 months? http://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/FAQs/Pages/InactiveDirectDebits.aspx

Archi_Bald · 18 December 2014 at 8:06PM

missile wrote: »

I would suggest many other banks would have given a more sympathetic response.

I would suggest you are entirely wrong with that assertion. But perhaps you can prove me wrong - why don't you try a Halifax Reward or a Club Lloyds with just one instead of 2 DDs? Let us know how you get on.

Santander sharp practice

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