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

7sefton

rb10 wrote: »

No, I have it in writing from Santander that the SO must be between the 2nd and 21st of each month.

I imagine that their systems are set to allow it at any time during the month though.

After seeing this forum (and receiving conflicting info from branch staff) I complained to Santander about the confusion and lack of clear T&Cs. I demanded a clear explanation of when standing order payments must be received by.

Just got a reply from Customer Relations, that confirmed the Standing Order can be received on ANY day in a calendar month, i.e. none of this rubbish about sending it on the 2nd. They also paid me £40 compensation for the confusion.

HOWEVER, I simply don't have any confidence in Santander so want to check my interest calculation is correct. Is there an easy way for me to do this using a calculator?

pazza2000

Coming up to the year anniversary of having this account. I assume I will(or can request) recieve a statement soon showing my interest for the year.

Am I correct in saying that it is 5% for the year, less tax.... applied monthy, less the month that I paid in a lump sum over £300?

robot1000

transparent_opacity wrote: »

An update on this one for account holders. It appears that the complete lack of product knowledge on Santander's part regarding First Home Saver's (as I experience when opening the account) played in my favour today.

I walked into the Preston branch, asked to withdraw all but £1 from the account, and they handed over a cheque! No account closure, no interview with the mortgage advisor. The cashier was unsure when I mentioned that I thought I had to close the account to withdraw (the queue for the advisor was long, so I only happened to try the desk by luck) but she said she'd give it a go, and the system let her process the withdrawal. Brilliant!

Quite surprised they allowed you to that, as the terms state

Partial withdrawals are not allowed. You can access your money at any time but will need to close your account if you want to withdraw the money

beefturnmail

7sefton wrote: »

HOWEVER, I simply don't have any confidence in Santander so want to check my interest calculation is correct. Is there an easy way for me to do this using a calculator?

It's actually quite a difficult calculation. For the mathematically minded: First of all you have to work out the daily rate of interest which is (1.05)^(1/365)

('^' means 'raised to the power of' and '/' is divide).

This works out as 1.000133681 or 0.0133681%.

Then for each period where the balance is constant (i.e. between payment dates) you need to do the following calculation:

B x (1.000133681)^d.

Where B is the balance and d the number of days between payment dates.

This is the interest for that period. Then you need to add up all the interest payments across the year (will be 12 if you have made 12 equal payments).


This is easiest done in excel or similar - See the example below, assuming you opened with £5k and then paid in £300 each month, the total interest for the year would work out as £324.89. This is gross (pre-tax), but the statement should show the Gross figure and tax paid.

Date//// //////Balance///// Days////// Interest
01/04/2010 ////5000
01/05/2010//// 5300////// 30 /////////20.09
01/06/2010 ////5600 //////31//////////22.01
01/07/2010//// 5900////// 30 /////////22.50
01/08/2010 ////6200////// 31 /////////24.50
01/09/2010//// 6500////// 31 /////////25.75
01/10/2010//// 6800 //////30///////// 26.12
01/11/2010//// 7100 //////31///////// 28.24
01/12/2010 ////7400 //////30 /////////28.53
01/01/2011 ////7700 //////31///////// 30.73
01/02/2011 ////8000 //////31///////// 31.97
01/03/2011//// 8300 //////28///////// 30.00
01/04/2011//// 8600 //////31///////// 34.47
//////////////////////////TOTAL--->324.89

pazza2000

beefturnmail wrote: »

It's actually quite a difficult calculation. For the mathematically minded: First of all you have to work out the daily rate of interest which is (1.05)^(1/365)

('^' means 'raised to the power of' and '/' is divide).

This works out as 1.000133681 or 0.0133681%.

Then for each period where the balance is constant (i.e. between payment dates) you need to do the following calculation:

B x (1.000133681)^d.

Where B is the balance and d the number of days between payment dates.

This is the interest for that period. Then you need to add up all the interest payments across the year (will be 12 if you have made 12 equal payments).


This is easiest done in excel or similar - See the example below, assuming you opened with £5k and then paid in £300 each month, the total interest for the year would work out as £324.89. This is gross (pre-tax), but the statement should show the Gross figure and tax paid.

Date//// //////Balance///// Days////// Interest
01/04/2010 ////5000
01/05/2010//// 5300////// 30 /////////20.09
01/06/2010 ////5600 //////31//////////22.01
01/07/2010//// 5900////// 30 /////////22.50
01/08/2010 ////6200////// 31 /////////24.50
01/09/2010//// 6500////// 31 /////////25.75
01/10/2010//// 6800 //////30///////// 26.12
01/11/2010//// 7100 //////31///////// 28.24
01/12/2010 ////7400 //////30 /////////28.53
01/01/2011 ////7700 //////31///////// 30.73
01/02/2011 ////8000 //////31///////// 31.97
01/03/2011//// 8300 //////28///////// 30.00
01/04/2011//// 8600 //////31///////// 34.47

//////////////////////////TOTAL--->324.89

Yes, the maths is lost on me although thanks for giving me a rough guide.

As with your example, I did pay in £5k to start and then £300ea month with the exception of month 8 where I paid in £8k therefore not earning interest that month.

Despite the loss of one months interest, with 3 months interest on a far greater balance i suspect my yearly total to be nearer £400... does that sound on the right track?

Thanks

beefturnmail

you'll lose a month's interest (call it £30). You'll also get 3 months interest on the extra £8k, which is about £90. So your interest should be about £60 higher than below, so around £385.

If it's lower give Santander a call - they'll provide you with a monthly breakdown of the interest paid (from which you should easily be able to tell when the lower rate is paid, and then there should be a jump when the balance goes up to £8k). This may draw attenttion to the fact that you're abusing the account slightly though....

mcc100

T & C's state ........

Reward – Get a great rate for saving regularly towards a deposit for your first home and in return all we ask you to do is have a mortgage interview up to 90 days before you come to close the account.

Anyone had a mortgage interview before closing the account ?


You can apply if:

• You are aged between 16 to 35 years

Has anyone older than 35 tried opening an account?

someone

beefturnmail wrote: »

in the months which Santander's 'system' regarded I had underpaid (August and January), 0.1% was applied for the whole of that calandar month. Not sure about overpayments as I had none, though in theory their system should have picked me up as 'overpaying' in September and February as well...

What dates did your money arrive in the account to cause an 'underpayment'?

dtsazza

beefturnmail wrote: »

It's actually quite a difficult calculation. For the mathematically minded: First of all you have to work out the daily rate of interest which is (1.05)^(1/365)

That's assuming that it is paid, and thus compounds, daily as well.

Since interest is only paid yearly, it doesn't get a chance to compound, so the effect rate is simply 1.05 / 365. There's no need to get exponents involved.

Crashtogether

can anybody give a straight yes or no answer as to whether if you deposit more than £300pcm then it is ONLY that month you get 0.1% and it then reverts back to 5%?