Santander 3.3%/3.5% Flexible ISA i3

bruirn

rb10 wrote: »

Yes, you can put your 2011/12 allowance (up to £5340) into either the existing Halifax ISA, or into a new Santander ISA.



The transfer will count as the opening balance; you don't need to put £1 in initially.



Yep, certainly does seem ok.



The 0.5% rate is the best available for existing ISAs at Santander, unless you have £14K(?) or more.

He'll need to transfer it to another bank. Find the best ISA that accepts transfers in, open it, and ask the new bank for an ISA transfer form. They'll then sort out the transfer.



Who knows ... Santander reduced their rate last year.

If your 2010/11 allowance was with Santander, then you can fill out a paper application form in a branch. This will guarantee you the higher rate, and they'll open the account on 6th April.

If your 2010/11 allowance wasn't with Santander, you can open one now. You get the rate guaranteed as long as the account is funded within 30 days of the date you open it.

Cheers RB!

Ilya_Ilyich

I opened the loyalty version of this this morning (I have a current account with them as well after switching for the £100 and 5% interest). I have to say I was pretty impressed with the speed of it; Santander have a terrible rep for customer service but the Irish chap on the phone was friendly and efficient. Total time on the phone (including a couple minutes hold at the beginning) was just over 19 minutes, after which the account was set up with some money already transferred in from my current account. Was viewable straight away on their online banking portal as well.

I think that for an account like this there's not much that can go wrong, so it's fairly safe to pick Santander for their rates and not have to worry too much about their reputedly awful customer service. You need to transfer out next year but I believe you can just get your new ISA manager to deal with that so you should never have to deal with Santander yourself - can anyone confirm?

joyceyjo

Yes you are right- you dodn't even have to deal with them when arranging an isa transfer out. You fill out isa tfr form from new provider and they contact Santander on your behalf

bruirn

Ilya_Ilyich wrote: »

I opened the loyalty version of this this morning (I have a current account with them as well after switching for the £100 and 5% interest). I have to say I was pretty impressed with the speed of it; Santander have a terrible rep for customer service but the Irish chap on the phone was friendly and efficient. Total time on the phone (including a couple minutes hold at the beginning) was just over 19 minutes, after which the account was set up with some money already transferred in from my current account. Was viewable straight away on their online banking portal as well.

I think that for an account like this there's not much that can go wrong, so it's fairly safe to pick Santander for their rates and not have to worry too much about their reputedly awful customer service. You need to transfer out next year but I believe you can just get your new ISA manager to deal with that so you should never have to deal with Santander yourself - can anyone confirm?

I have to echo these sentiments. Just opened the 3.3% Santander ISA (I have an account with them already but wasn't putting £1,000 in a month so didn't qualify for the 3.5% unfortunately). The Irish fella was really helpful and it didn't take long at all to do. Was it David by any chance?

joyceyjo

Santander has a large sales unit in Belfast and they are always very helpful when you phone through- David included!

bruirn

joyceyjo wrote: »

Santander has a large sales unit in Belfast and they are always very helpful when you phone through- David included!

Well if David's the standard then I won't have any qualms about ringing them in future, although hopefully I won't need to.

And here endeth the Santander endorsement.

savemoney

Santander give 3.5% at mo for (loyalty flexible isa) I note it want allow transfers is there anyway around this. I assume taking money from old isa and then open it may have a problem

"Exclusively for Santander current account, mortgage and investment customers
A guaranteed minimum rate for 12 months of 3.50% AER tax free (variable) and a promise to track 3.00% above the Bank of England base rate for 12 months. This limited offer Loyalty Flexible ISA allows you to put in your annual ISA allowance, but does not accept transfers in from any existing cash ISAs."

Ilya_Ilyich

If you haven't funded a cash ISA this tax year you could take out money from an old ISA and invest up to £5,100 in the Santander one. That's the only way you could get around it (other than waiting til April and hoping they offer a similar/better proposition).

Munro_Bagger

Help needed please!

I'm just going through the Santander application online, and have come across the following declaration I'm asked to agree with in their terms and conditions;

I apply to subscribe for a Cash ISA for the tax year 2010-2011 and each subsequent year until further notice. (This doesn't commit you to paying in every year but ensures that if you do, we won't need to ask you to sign another form)

I already have the full 2010-11 allowance in an Halifax ISA. I have arranged for it to be transferred into another ISA. I want to open up the Santander ISA, to start saving for the 2011-12 year.

Can I still go ahead with the application, or am I going to fall foul of Santander's declaration? Thanks!

Lokolo_2

Munro Bagger,

You can safely ignore that declaration, it is just making you aware that IF you do deposit even one penny into that ISA this tax year then that counts towards your annual allowance, you can still open the ISA and make your deposit when we hit the the new tax year, thus not breaking any ISA rules.