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

ses6jwg

its ongoing but variable so keep an eye on the website and any correspondence u recieve

pscho

That's what I thought but I was told by the sales person to cancel it after a year and open another account but I think he was mixing up the account with a different one as it says you can only have one home saver account. Thanks

gwynant

edited. (wrong thread).

gwynant

apologies - I've put the above post in the wrong thread.

(will edit).

nottsstudent

After a lot of inquires to call centres, I managed to get though to an English call centre where a very helpful lady clarified all the ACTUAL terms and conditions of the account:

1) There are NO LIMITING DATES for a deposit; deposits can be made between the 1st and the end of every calendar month, with no penalties.

2) If any less than £100 or over £300 is paid into the account in any month (bar the initial allowed £5000 deposit in the 1st month) then 0.1% interest will be paid for that month only. HOWEVER it is recommended you pay it in between the 2nd and 21st to avoid calculation problems.

3) The only limit on the account is that the total sum of deposits can not exceed £50,000. (I was told by an India call centre that they could only pay interest on £3,600 per annum, which is INCORRECT.)
So you could pay in say £40,000 pounds in the first month and get 0.1% interest, but then get 5% interest the next month on the new total, providing you pay in between £100-300.

Basically if the action you take is IN-FITTING with the T&C of the account on-line, I have been assured there will be NO HIDDEN PARAMETERS that need to be followed.

I hope this helps to ease some confusion. If you need to contact them use this LANDLINE NUMBER instead of the 0845 number: 01908 237963

xiox

Does anyone know whether you can pay a cheque into this account in-branch? I've got a large amount I want to dump into the account and I think it might be too big for a BACS transfer.

londoner01

You can pay a cheque into the account in branch to open it.
The account has been withdrawn from Santander's website though so it is no longer available.

*cassius*

i wonder if this is the start of the interest rates being lowered in the hope people will ditch the account before the product is then closed ?

donkingkong

*cassius* wrote: »

i wonder if this is the start of the interest rates being lowered in the hope people will ditch the account before the product is then closed ?

You would have thought the rate will gradually decline now. We'll have to keep an eye out and update this thread when it does.

So are there any other similar accounts with anyone else that allow for a big initial deposit without a big penalty?

atypical

donkingkong wrote: »

So are there any other similar accounts with anyone else that allow for a big initial deposit without a big penalty?

I'd be surprised if there are. The account was quite unique.