Current Account - Lloyds v Santander

adonis10

Considering switching for the £100 and 5% interest up to 2.5k. WOndering if anyone can offer any thoughts on either account, and their pro's and cons. The suspicious part of me assumes that there is something wrong with Santander if they are going give away what most other banks aren't.

I've got an HSBC account as well, so I was going to do the following:
- Pay salary into Santander each month
- Transfer most of that to HSBC for day to day account usage
- Use the santander account as my day to day savings a/c (up to 2.5k) @ 5% instead of ING @ 2.85%.

Sounds sensible in theory, but wondering if Santander has any drawbacks, ie.
- Customer service
- Online/telephone banking (lloyds is pretty good imo)
- Faster payments - are they still in the ice age or are you able to make instant payments, as you are with lloyds and hsbc.

MrsP1

I have found the customer service since transferring to Santander absolutely appalling - the people on the phone are nice enough, but it takes hours to get through, and I have got fed up with being passed around, because no one has the authority to do anything. And in spite of the claims of the extending calling hours, I still had to ring back at 9am because the department with the authority to do what I needed (and find my lost account) only works normal hours, and they haven't been replying to my secure messages, either! So as you can tell I am not a happy customer!

I have found Lloyds much better, and the branch staff very helpful, too - we are going to close our A&L/Santander account after all the recent hassles and just stick with Lloyds and Nationwide at the moment.

adonis10

MrsP1 wrote: »

I have found the customer service since transferring to Santander absolutely appalling - the people on the phone are nice enough, but it takes hours to get through, and I have got fed up with being passed around, because no one has the authority to do anything. And in spite of the claims of the extending calling hours, I still had to ring back at 9am because the department with the authority to do what I needed (and find my lost account) only works normal hours, and they haven't been replying to my secure messages, either! So as you can tell I am not a happy customer!

I have found Lloyds much better, and the branch staff very helpful, too - we are going to close our A&L/Santander account after all the recent hassles and just stick with Lloyds and Nationwide at the moment.

Thanks for the thoughts.

They must be comprimising on something to be able to offer £100 to new customers. However, I'll have about 3 direct debits going out and my salary going in, therefore I shouldn't need to contact them an awful lot as long as I can do most of my banking online.

Also, anyone any thoughts (similar questions) on Halifax? £5 a month when you pay in £1,000. Not a lot but it's a free £60 a year, albeit not quite the same as a £100 lump sum.

scottishblondie

Santander have proved incredibly rubbish lately, especially during the migration of A&L. If you need customer service or faster payments (yes, Santander are still in the ice age) go with Lloyds, they're much better IMO!

I do use an A&L account for savings as I get 6% on up to 2.5k, so I can't really advise against it for that purpose, but I certainly wouldn't transfer my main account for DDs etc to them. If you want the £100 then try moving a DD for something unimportant to a current account you don't really use and get them to transfer that over.

EDIT: I've been with Halifax for years now, they've always been pretty good. I know many people will have horror stories, but the CS has always been good and I've never had a problem with their FP system.

adonis10

scottishblondie wrote: »

Santander have proved incredibly rubbish lately, especially during the migration of A&L. If you need customer service or faster payments (yes, Santander are still in the ice age) go with Lloyds, they're much better IMO!

I do use an A&L account for savings as I get 6% on up to 2.5k, so I can't really advise against it for that purpose, but I certainly wouldn't transfer my main account for DDs etc to them. If you want the £100 then try moving a DD for something unimportant to a current account you don't really use and get them to transfer that over.

EDIT: I've been with Halifax for years now, they've always been pretty good. I know many people will have horror stories, but the CS has always been good and I've never had a problem with their FP system.

Thanks.

I might just sack off LLoyds anyway. HSBC are just as good and I can simply use the Santander account for 3 direct debits, having my wages paid in and then transferring out to HSBC. Doubt an awful lot can go wrong with 5 transactions per month!

Spooneroonie

Might be worth having a look around this forum. Santander come in for lots and lots of criticism for their customer service. Might be something you're happy to take on the chin for the £100, but probably worth knowing what you are getting yourself in to.

simax

Recently moved from LTSB to Santander. No major issues as yet

lolarentt

I would endorse the 'Santander are rubbish for service' thoughts. At least 6 examples this year of trying and failing to set up a/cs, ISAs ( I got one, my partner had an acceptance email with ref and then...nowt!), contact anyone by phone in under 24 hours of hanging on, don't answer emails etc etc etc. I think it's just the old Abbey bit as I also have a Private account with Cater Allen, who are part of Santander as well, and they are just brilliant, high minimum balances though!

adonis10

Does it matter how long the £1000 is in the Santander account for? For example, salary paid into my HSBC accoutn, transferred straight to Santander and then make my usual bill payments from the latter?

JoDi_2

From what has been said in other threads there's no need to leave the £1,000 in there - I just got this Santander account and plan to leave the balance of £2,500 to get 5% and take my salary out as soon as it goes in so that it can gain interest elsewhere.

If you're also interested in Regular Savings, Santander are doing a version of their Fixed Rate Monthly Saver for those setting up a new current account (and using their switching service). This gives 6% AER as a pose to the normal version's 4% making it (from what I can tell) the best going.

missile

I tried to switch to A+L for the same deal. I had a dreadful time wasted considerable time and money before I gave up.