BEWARE SANTANDER ISA's

PC_Gabriel_Kent

They are merging them to their Partenon computer systems. Been used by Abbey since January 2007 and they still dont work properly and are riddled with bugs. Branches daily ring SPOC to log faults. They even have work arounds that dont work!

kmb182uk

I've just spoken to the ISA team and it all seems straight forward now. I explained that I wanted to transfer money out but it would not allow me to so she said she can do it for me now and asked for the amount. I told her it was everything and that I wanted to close the account and she said she cannot do that as it was the first transaction, but could do a bit today, then more in 7 days, to which I agreed. She then said she could send a cheque out for the amount that would take 7 days, which I agreed to. She then said that she can change the account from a Direct ISA to an Easy ISA, which will mean a lower interest rate but wouldn't matter as the account is closing anyway. With this option I can go into a branch tomorrow and pick up a cheque for the full amount. Hopefully it will be that straight forward anyway.

juicyjude

Well good luck! With Santander anything could happen. Hope you get it sorted.

B_Miles

I have a cash ISA with Santander and was considering opening a stocks & shares ISA with them. I was told over the telephone by a Santander advisor that if I did open a stocks and shares ISA then automatically the interest rate on my cash ISA would increase to 5.5%. He said it would be the same for my wife even though her cash ISA is with the Halifax. I have never heard of this before and neither has any of the friends I have spoken to. Have I misunderstood or is anyone else aware of this?

juicyjude

Sounds a bit odd to me but maybe this is the case!

Mols

I looked at this in April.

They have a Super Flexible CASH ISA at 5.5% if you take one of their 'qualifying' investment products at at least the same value i.e. £5100.00 CASH ISA £5100.00 Investment product either in a S&S ISA or a standalone product.

I looked at the details on the 'qualifying' investment products available but didn't think I would see a sufficient return on the funds which I think had to stay with them for 5.5 years.

You can see the Super Flexible ISA on their website and also if you click the Investments and Pensions area in 'Savings' on the you will find the details on the investment product.

MiserlyMartin

Santander are the bank from absolute hell. I am putting up with them for their few market leading products ie ISA's and Zero card. But once those have expired I am getting the hell out. Thats if they let me of course. This week their online credit card service has gone down denying all customers online access to their accounts. In my experience it is saying incorrect password even though the passwords are correct. So it has locked everyone out. It is seperate from the online banking. They also lost my ISA money for almost 2 weeks, and couldn't/wouldn't trace it.

If you ring their complaints line all you get is a recorded msg saying they are shut and ring back between these times even though you are clearly ringing when they claim to be open!

So a non-existant compliants dept, branches that refuse to try and contact the complaints dept internally (they claim they cannot dial outside lines!) and a head office that doesn't see visitors even though they have a branch inside.

I think they should be on watchdog.

Acremead

B_Miles wrote: »

I have a cash ISA with Santander and was considering opening a stocks & shares ISA with them. I was told over the telephone by a Santander advisor that if I did open a stocks and shares ISA then automatically the interest rate on my cash ISA would increase to 5.5%. He said it would be the same for my wife even though her cash ISA is with the Halifax. I have never heard of this before and neither has any of the friends I have spoken to. Have I misunderstood or is anyone else aware of this?

I wouldn't believe anything told to you by Santander over the phone. I had problems opening an internet account and rang for advice, to be told- incorrectly- that I couldn't open it on the internet or by phone but would have to go into a branch. To cut a very long story short I eventually decided to withdraw all my savings and close my account. Had to phone twice just to do this and got different advice on each occasion. I had a suspicion that some of them were making it up as they went along.......

MiserlyMartin

They do. You might be lucky and speak to someone who knows what they are talking about, but its rare.

The_Pixi

Mols wrote: »

I looked at this in April.

They have a Super Flexible CASH ISA at 5.5% if you take one of their 'qualifying' investment products at at least the same value i.e. £5100.00 CASH ISA £5100.00 Investment product either in a S&S ISA or a standalone product.

I looked at the details on the 'qualifying' investment products available but didn't think I would see a sufficient return on the funds which I think had to stay with them for 5.5 years.

You can see the Super Flexible ISA on their website and also if you click the Investments and Pensions area in 'Savings' on the you will find the details on the investment product.

My first post on MSE :-)

I have the "Super ISA" from Abbey/Santander It does pay 5.5% which is fantastic given the market. I inherited some money last year and wanted to invest some of it.

I put a few thousand into the balanced portfolio, this qualified me for the Super ISA, it's worth noting that whilst they say "the same ammount into qualifying investment" it hasn't for me excluded previous years ISA funds so you get the 5.5% on all the money in your ISA.

By chance I bought into the investment portfolio at a good time last year and it stands today at over 25% return

this April I didn't want to loose the Super ISA rate so I had a meeting to work out how I can keep it, we agreed that I would put £250 a month into my investments. As it is "New money" I qualify for this years "Super ISA" to which I add £150 a month and get 5.5% on the full balance.

As customer service goes... Hmm my 2009 Super Direct ISA did not up grade to the 2010 Super Flex ISA. The customer relations man at the bank fibbed me off for about 4weeks, I was away with work for some of that time. Anyhow, I e-mailed Santander Via the website to complain about the employee and my loss of interest.

I demanded that the account was up graded and back interest applied, or I would close ALL my accounts.... Two weeks later I got my account up graded, all interest corrected and applied and a £25 sorry cheque (deposited in the ISA)

So on the one hand not good service but they were quick to correct it.

Also you don't have to give the money for 5.5 years that's just what you say you will do, you may loose money if you close early, which I could do as I'm 25% up overall.