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

ses6jwg

I am one of these bank "monkey" staff and we used to be lucky if we opened 1 of these First Home Saver accounts every 12 months.

I knew the ins and outs of the account as an adviser however to expect a cashier on £6 an hour to know them would be a big ask.

atypical

ses6jwg wrote: »

I knew the ins and outs of the account as an adviser however to expect a cashier on £6 an hour to know them would be a big ask.

I don't think anyone expects them to know everything. But they should know where to look for it. They definitely shouldn't be giving misinformation.

Moneygrabber24

lb375 wrote: »

That's great to know. I opened my first homer saver in June 2010, paid in £5000 when the account was opened and kept putting in £300 (I thought I only get interest of 5% if I pay in no more that £300 a month). If you confirm that you put in £20 in one month (only get 0.1% interest), but you actually got your interest on the whole amount for the remainder of the year, I will give it a go as well.

Say, put in £16000 this month and £300 in October and onwards. I understand that I will only get 0.1% interest for this month. But I will get interest of 5% on £16000 plus £300 I put in each month? Is that correct?

Thanks.

Yep, you will get 5% interest (but rate can change) on the whole £16k plus additional monthly installments.
Just make sure that your installments go into your first home saver between the 2nd and 21st of each month, otherwise, apparently, there can be miscalculations associated with the interest they give you after each year.

afmfifgh

Just to let people know that the account is still paying 5% as of 30/09/2011.

Page 10 of 13 about half way down:

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223416141435&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

beefturnmail

afmfifgh wrote: »

Just to let people know that the account is still paying 5% as of 30/09/2011.

Long may it continue. As soon as it drops, I'll withdraw the lot and use it to overpay my mortgage. The 'mortgage interview' when I close the account should be interesting...:rotfl:

saver2000

I went into santander with the intention of closing my Branch saver, and putting the money from that plus some money I had in my bank account into the Home Saver.

The adviser there reckoned if she closed the branch saver and transferred the money over, I wouldn't get the penalty interest, she said it only applies to standing orders. She showed me the text but it just said deposit, didn't say anything about the method of deposit.

She seemed so adement I went along with it anyway, I can pay the money from my bank account tommorow using a cheque. I figured if she's wrong, I would have paid all the money in the same month anyway, so would only get the penalty for the month (which is what I thought would happen anyway!)

atypical

saver2000 wrote: »

The adviser there reckoned if she closed the branch saver and transferred the money over, I wouldn't get the penalty interest, she said it only applies to standing orders. She showed me the text but it just said deposit, didn't say anything about the method of deposit.

In any month where over £300 is deposited into the account the penalty rate of interest will apply. It doesn't matter how that deposit is made.

In other words, what you thought was correct. In this instance the misinformation thankfully won't leave you any worse off.

In any case, my understanding is that the receiving bank doesn't 'see' that the money has been sent as a standing order. They just see it as any other deposit. Only the sending back which you have set the standing order up with will.

saver2000

atypical wrote: »

In any month where over £300 is deposited into the account the penalty rate of interest will apply. It doesn't matter how that deposit is made.

In other words, what you thought was correct. In this instance the misinformation thankfully won't leave you any worse off.

In any case, my understanding is that the receiving bank doesn't 'see' that the money has been sent as a standing order. They just see it as any other deposit. Only the sending back which you have set the standing order up with will.

Thanks, I thought so.

Just to confirm, if I pay in some more money via cheque tommorow, I will still only get the one month penalty, as even though there's multiple deposits, they are all in the same month?

atypical

saver2000 wrote: »

Just to confirm, if I pay in some more money via cheque tommorow, I will still only get the one month penalty, as even though there's multiple deposits, they are all in the same month?

Yes, that's my understanding.

afmfifgh

Just to let people know that the account is still paying 5% as of 31/10/2011.

Page 10 of 13 about half way down:

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223416979362&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600