Please help! Santander student account!

marrow85

Hi, I recently opened a santander student account and their adviser+all the web stuff and leaflets said that once 500 was credited to the account its overdraft would be upped to 1000 from 250. I credited the account and was relying on this as I have just moved from south wales to the north of england. Nothing happened after a few days so I asked again and was told it would happen automatically after a month or so. My landlord needed an exact date so I asked again and was told I needed to deposit 1000 per month and it would increase after 6 months, now this is clearly rubbish, but no one else in branch or via phone has given me a straight answer.

Can anyone here clarify the student account? If I Don't get an answer soon my ex landlord will begin selling my stuff.

Mikazaru

I had the same problem, it was never increased to £1000 and then I was told it would be reduced to £0; it was never set up as a student account properly.
However I went to in a branch and it was increased to £1000 when I queried it, it took a couple of days though. I've not read anywhere that you have to depsoit £1000 a month for a student account, just that you have to pay your main funding into it. Is your student loan paid into that account?

marrow85

No student funds yet, I think the 500 is supposed to activate it as a student account properly. How long did it take before you were able to ask about it in branch?

Mikazaru

I kept it at the £250 for a few months until I get a letter at christmas saying it was to be reduced. It was then (briefly) sorted out within a few days. It's been a complete nightmare since then though so if you have the option of opening an account elsewhere I'd recommend that!

marrow85

Thanks! Yep I only went with them as they operate on spanish term dates and so allow early applications. I tried switching to them before on a deal and was caught out, terrble service and small print.

Waiting for a halifax confirmation and may also try natwest or co-op, although I think co-op only allow one student account.

Hopfully it will just happen in a few weeks, just have to hold the landlord off till then

Mikazaru

I've had no luck sorting out my problems in branch so I used the coplaints form here:
http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&cid=1210607166846&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateA2

and got a same day response so they may be able to help you resolve it quickly.

marrow85

I emailed them and was called back within the hour, explained the situation fully and the lady investigated for me. Called me back and said it was all sorted, the paperwork wasn't clear but after speaking to a number of branches she realised the system was at fault. She put some notes on my account and asked me to pop into the branch to get it sorted. So off I went with a spring in my step

Asked in branch and they read the notes, and said nothing they could do, I told them to appeal as thats what the lady said needed to be done now that she had fiddled with the system but the staff just blanked me, eventually they did it but nothing happened, so back to square one. Contacted complaints again and told its been escalated but will take 1-3 weeks before I get a reply.

lukehar6569

simple answer: leave Santander! They're just not worth it!