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

Gorecki

gadgetmind wrote: »

TBH, they could have dropped the rate on this one well over a year ago. It's been like a cartoon character that runs off the edge of a cliff and doesn't start to drop until they notice!

You've best bet is to switch your £300 to a regular saver (or two or three!) and find the best home for your current capital in the mean time.

If I did this though, how would the interest work for the capital that's been in there for half a year i.e. £10kish has been in there for 4 months now and would be due 5% at the end of the year.

If I close the account now do I just have to write off that interest, or do I need to keep the account open with £1 to collect 4 months of interest in 6 months time.

Hope that makes sense, and thanks again for your help with this.

Re. my comment about Santander, it wasn't the interest rate I was unhappy about, but the year of terrible service given on this account (I dreaded everytime I had to go to the branch knowing I'd need to re-explain what the account was and how it worked).

Was happy to put up with this for the interest rate, but now it's lower than my other ones I want to run from Santander as soon as possible.

gadgetmind

Gorecki wrote: »

If I close the account now do I just have to write off that interest, or do I need to keep the account open with £1 to collect 4 months of interest in 6 months time.

Even though interest is only credited once per year, it's calculated daily so you won't lose out if you close the account. (Subject to Santander's ability to calculate interest correctly, which is something on which their record is patchy!)

The_Fat_el_Hombre

Gutted. When I saw I'd got a letter from santander I knew exactly what it would be!

Gonna take a few grand out and put it in my natwest e-isa that was opened pre-2009. Will leave the rest in until april unless I can find anything better

mr_fishbulb

ses6jwg wrote: »

3% is still a good rate for an instant access account.

They could have dropped it to 0.5% as it was withdrawn months ago.

It's not really "instant" access though. You can't log on to online banking or phone up to transfer it out if you need it urgently.

archangelrich

Hmmmm.

It is a bit irritating, but I reckon I'm going to keep hold of it - I'm tired of bouncing my money around for less than half a percent, and 3% is still pretty good. Plus I'm hoping to buy in the next 12 months so don't want to lock away my cash in a fixed rate.

Moneygrabber24

Gorecki wrote: »

If I close the account now do I just have to write off that interest, or do I need to keep the account open with £1

Ive confirmed with a very reliable source at santander that on closing the account you will get interest paid upto to that point of closure since interest is calculated on a daily basis.
I'm personally very happy that the 5 % lasted this long. I'm going to shi ft what I can to higher interest accounts and leave the rest in the first home saver account since I'm terms of instant access it will be one of the best out there at 3%.

Lizling

One alternative would be the Lloyds Vantage account, which is paying up to 4% if you open it and have 2 DDs set up by 31st Oct. The catch is that you'd only be able to get 4% on up to £18k (3 accounts, £6k on each).

Instant access and all the usual current account services.

patrickbateman

I've still not had a letter from Santander - I guess I should assume that this is because of royal mail?

Its a good job I have seen this thread otherwise I would still be drip-feeding money into this account.

I am thinking of going 2*lloyds tsb vantage - but as I already have one as my main current account, i am unsure how to set up the neccessary DD's.. can someone give me an in a nut shell dummies guide please?

Thank you

tinkerbel

i asked about the rates on the phone yesterday for this account and the woman said it would be 3% until 01/01/13 then it would change to 0.5%...

gadgetmind

tinkerbel wrote: »

the woman said it would be 3% until 01/01/13 then it would change to 0.5%...

As she works for Santander, we can be pretty sure that this is completely bogus info!