Under Funding Fee on Current Account after migration from A&L to Santander

butterflymum

...just read most of the other migration thread, but didn't see this query.

Have today logged onto my internet banking for first time in about a month. Was greeted with message about the migration. Went to my accounts page and in particular, Current Account. Apart from some extra digits in front of my original account number (...and thought this wasn't to happen and that we would, according to advance info, retain same number), anyhow then noticed a clicky near top which said:

.....Account Charges.....clicked on same and was taken to a page telling me an Under Funding Fee of £5 would be applied on 16th August....

:eek:......I've had the CA for years......think monthly minimum funding has been £500....wasn't aware that this was going to change at migration...did I miss a notification of this? Anyone else had similar happen?

Edit to say:

above was despite all the 'bumph' in opening migration note saying...we've moved you but you don't need to do anything.

molerat

The extra digits in front of the account number is the sort code.

AFAIAA there is no change to the funding policy but there has been reports of this happening to others in error. Send a secure message or ring them.

DizzleUK

Yes, doesn't the equivilent Santander account require £1000 a month compared with A&L's £500 a month?

AFAIK they are honouring the £500 funding minimum for ex A&L customers, but I suspect that the Santander systems are having a bit of bother accepting that hence the errors.

A bit of human intervention from a customer service agent should sort this out.

scottishblondie

Bah! Just checked my account and I've got the same thing. I've been on hold for 20 minutes :mad:

EDIT: Just off the phone. It was a long wait but the girl was very helpful, the fee has been reversed and she apologised for my inconvenience. She also answered my question about tax - if you've been taxed on your interest when you shouldn't have been, send in a new R85 with the Santander account details and they will backdate the lost interest.

butterflymum

Glad to hear that it seems to be a blip....waiting on reply to my secure email re same, as hate phoning them.

I assume, scottishblondie, that as well as your charge being reversed, it will not appear again next month etc? Also, re the tax interest, did they suggest all R85 forms currently in place will need to be changed to accomodate the new Santander details?

scottishblondie

She wasn't sure, but thought that by next month it should all be back to normal, mind you she didn't seem to have too much information either way! She also said to be on the safe side it would be a good idea to send new R85s for all accounts.

smo59

butterflymum,

Did you get a response to your secure message yet?

I've sent 2 messages in 2 days about this, but haven't heard a peep.

Thanks,

SteveO.

butterflymum

No reply here yet either, so much for the 'reply within 24 hours' target on their system. I would guess they are more than a little snowed under at moment with all the problems thrown up by the migration, and guess more than a few members of their staff will be stressed out and in need of a holiday soon. I would also guess that they perhaps did not prepare for the migration as well as they could and/or should have, nor anticipate quite so many problems.

It will be interesting to see how many customers they lose as a result. I am considering other banks at moment, myself, as this latest blip and the way in which it and other folks problems are being (or not being) handled, does not instill confidence in me, and I speak from experience of having twice in recent years had payments from A & L as a 'goodwill gesture' for mistakes they made. Nice as the payments were, just better customer service to sort the mistakes out quickly and effectively would have been fine, but even back then, the matters dragged on far longer than they need have, mainly due to staff passing the buck from one to another and no one actually grasping it and working with it.

Have noticed another 'blip' on a savings account that is linked to the CA too, whereby there seem to be 'double entries' then corrections, although it still doesn't look 100% correct to me. As I only ever keep a pound or so in there to keep it running (one of the original terms of the CA was to have this linked savings account to which a minimum amount has to be transferred monthly - I let the transfer go in then transfer it back out a few days later as interest is rubbish on the account), I am not too concerned, but will keep an eye on it to make sure it is straightened out.

butterflymum

scottishblondie wrote: »

She wasn't sure, but thought that by next month it should all be back to normal, mind you she didn't seem to have too much information either way!

.......thanks for sharing. Sounds very much like a case of 'wishful thinking' on her part :rotfl:. Ah well, they do say hope springs eternal.

butterflymum

OK....still no reply to secure email. [STRIKE]Decided to send another, but now can't even find page from which I sent the first......have they removed the option or am I missing something obvious?[/STRIKE]...edit to say, found how to do it again, they certainly don't make this contact option that obvious.

smo59, have you had a reply yet?

Paper copy of Current Account has arrived in post meantime, and it too shows the Under Funding charge.....despite one of the additional pages sent with it clearly showing the minimum amount of funding per month is still only £500 for Premier Accounts.

MrsP1

To send a secure message, click on Help (at top), then Contact Us, then Other Ways to Contact Us.

However, they did not reply to 2 of these messages I sent, so I am not sure if it gets through! I have just spent 2 hours hanging on while they tried to locate my lost life savings in an online saver account which had not migrated.

If you ring 0800 056 6066 at least it is free, unlike the other numbers they give out, and they do answer (eventually) if you press the button to speak to customer service.