Can I switch my A&L Premier a/c to Santander Preferred In-Credit

Jammi

I have an Alliance and Leicester Premier direct current account that I opened over a year ago to take advantage of the 5% interest rate on balances up to £2500. The account no longer pays interest at this rate, while still requiring funding of at least £500 a month.

Can I swith the account to the new Santander Preferred In-credit current account and benefit from the 5% interest rate again, or is it only available to new santander customers.

while a call to customer services may answer my query, I have found that the answer you get may depend on the CSA you speak to, so I'd appreciate the benefit of anyone's experience.

ses6jwg

As a Santander employee, the answer is no.

However, you can open a NEW PICR account with a new account number and debit card.

You will need to arrange any direct debits yourself and also sort out with your employer to pay your wages into your new account.

You can then close the old Premier account and pay the balance into the new account.

Any Santander branch worth their salt should be able to have this done in about 45 minutes.

Jammi

ses6jwg wrote: »

As a Santander employee, the answer is no

Thanks. I guess I'll just have to close the account.

adindas

I have asked that if you already have one PICR a/c you can not open another one to replace Premier Direct a/c. You have to wait for 3 months before you do that. This is the advice that I got from telephone banking. You know the person in the telephone banking sometimes, provide different answer one to each other, so difficult to believe. I have experienced this in many occations, look rather unprofessional, this Santander need to llok after. If you do not believe me test it yourselves ....

When I opened PICR a few months ago, There is no requirement to transfer your wages into that account. If you transfer it you will get switching incentive.


ADINDAS.

ses6jwg wrote: »

As a Santander employee, the answer is no.

However, you can open a NEW PICR account with a new account number and debit card.

You will need to arrange any direct debits yourself and also sort out with your employer to pay your wages into your new account.

You can then close the old Premier account and pay the balance into the new account.

Any Santander branch worth their salt should be able to have this done in about 45 minutes.