Santander Current Account

grubby23

Hi,

I am tempted to open a Santander current account, which offers 5% up to a sum of £2500. The are also offering a £100 sign up bonus.

Could someone confirm that I only need to do the following to profit from this offer:

- I have to pay in £1000 a month for the first three months.
- I have to set up a direct debit.

Thats it, afterwards I do not need to pay any more in and I can cancel the direct debit and I would still be eligibable for the 5% interest? Or did I forget something?

Many thanks

steveksullivan

Think you actually have to SWITCH a current account to them from another bank to qualify..... not just open a new a/c

Also, although you will get your £100 'cashback' after funding the a/c with £1000 for three months, in order to continue to get the 5% interest on £2500 you need to fund the account with £1000 EVERY month.

grubby23

steveksullivan wrote: »

Think you actually have to SWITCH a current account to them from another bank to qualify..... not just open a new a/c

Right, then I better should start figuring out what is a current account .

steveksullivan wrote: »

Also, although you will get your £100 'cashback' after funding the a/c with £1000 for three months, in order to continue to get the 5% interest on £2500 you need to fund the account with £1000 EVERY month.

What a rip-off in this case!

beardiedog

grubby23 wrote: »

What a rip-off in this case!

Not really.

If you can put £1000 in per month and keep a £2500 balance then it's worth transferring.

I already had a current account with them so I only get the 5%.

Llubrevlis

grubby23 wrote: »

What a rip-off in this case!

Its not a rip off. Its a great offer.

You dont want more than 2.5K in cash anyway its depreciating almost 5% when you consider inflation and currency debasing.

Anyone can have a grand a month going in just make sure part of your wages go in before they pay out again all your monthly fees.

I am very happy with the account. Its exactly what I wanted, debit card, chequebook and online banking.

The 100quid bonus is nice but 5% on the 2.5K is great for a current account. Most savings accounts are less.

steveksullivan

that I can see is Santander dragging their feet with faster payments.

I use faster payments almost daily with from my existing Halifax account and its great for shifting money around.

I'll still switch to get the incentives, but keep the Halifax account open and probably do a one-off transfer of all my funds from Santander to Halifax once a month and move my money around from there !

Llubrevlis

steveksullivan wrote: »

that I can see is Santander dragging their feet with faster payments.

I use faster payments almost daily with from my existing Halifax account and its great for shifting money around.

I'll still switch to get the incentives, but keep the Halifax account open and probably do a one-off transfer of all my funds from Santander to Halifax once a month and move my money around from there !

Can you tell me about these faster payments?

When I transfer money for free it usually takes 3 working days. I can pay for same day transfer, but can you get same day for free?

Mikeyorks

Llubrevlis wrote: »

Can you tell me about these faster payments? ...............................can you get same day for free?

Fully explained here (the various Faster Payment links) :-

http://www.chapsco.co.uk/

.......... some of the Banks are still playing at implementation - but a lot of accounts now allow you to send up to £10k as an 'immediate' payment. And there is no charge - unlike CHAPS. The penultimate link lists the participating Banks and their current limits for 'immediate' payments and - separate table - Standing Orders.

HER

Sorry for asking a possible dumb question...I just need to make more sense of qualifying for the 5 %.

Say I have a balance of £2500 and on the 25th of each month i get paid my £1000 would i have to transfer that £1000 into another account? or does the 5% only qualify for the maximum value of £2500??? no matter how much you have in your account..??

Also do I need to open the bank account with £2500 to qualify for the 5%??

Thanks

steveksullivan

You can leave the money in or take it out you will only get the 5% on the first £2500......

These accounts were available a year ago as well and lots of us opened them and just left £2500 in the account for the high interest and just moved £1000 in and out of the account once a month to meet the terms and conditions....

Beware of the small print though - an 'adviser' in branch who knew I already had two accounts with them, although my main account was elsewhere advised me to switch back and get the £100 and the 5% account .... He opened the account in branch.

When I got home I read the small print which very clearly says 'you are not eligible......if you currently hold..... any Santander accounts'

Phoned him straight back and he said 'no, that only means you cant switch FROM an existing Santander account' and that I would get the £100

Knowing that there was no problem with my english and that the statment on the leaflet was very clear, I asked for a letter from the branch manager confirming that I would receive the £100.

Was told 'no problem ....'

Guess what?

When I turned up to collect the letter I was told he'd made a mistake ......didn't qualify for the £100, so I cancelled the switch.

He let me keep the account for the 5% though....not sure he should have done that either !!

HER

thanks Steve