Paying off Santander - How do they work it?

splatt30

Just wondering if anyone has experience of Santander's policy when your clearing your balance.
Have been on 0% BT for 1 year which expires 16/04/11.
Pay minimum by DD every month which they take roughly around the 11.
So.....
a. do they take faster payments. If so I can pay the remaining on the 12th and know it will be cleared before the 16th or...
b. if I pay all bar the minimum payment on say the 10th will they still take the DD on the 11th (like virgin) or will the payment cancel the DD run and leave me short of clearing by the minimum payment amount.

I just need to ensure the full amount is cleared by the 16th & wonder what others have done to best ensure this. (Still awaiting to see if a decent BT deal arrives on my Virgin promos to further the stooze but not look hopeful :-(

intranicity

Why not cancel the DD with them and pay the final full payment on the 9th, that way even if they don't do faster payments etc etc you will definately have cleared the balance with several days grace

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

intranicity wrote: »

Why not cancel the DD with them and pay the final full payment on the 9th, that way even if they don't do faster payments etc etc you will definately have cleared the balance with several days grace

I would suggest leaving the DD instruction in place for a month or so. There have been numerous posts here from people who have miscalculated slightly and have then been penalised when their provider could not take a payment.

Kira000

I recently paid off a Santander account. They are very tricksy(in the words of Gollum!).

I would recommend you ring them and get them to confirm how much you must pay to clear the balance, excluding the DD payment that is due.
I made the mistake of cancelling the DD before it was due but AFTER having just paid off the full balance, and they wrote me a letter telling me i was in default and had it show on my credit report!

Also get them to write and confirm that you have paid off, as they tried to tell me i owed more, after paying off the amount they stated was owed, and after sending me a paid off account letter!

FYI, they also told me i could only pay it off at a branch, or by cheque, however, i made payments via my online banking, and they got through fine. They were most put out when they realised as it meant i could pay it off faster!

Good Luck!

Milarky

Just paid my remaining balance the other day. Sent payment on Friday (last date of 0% period) on the assumption that

i) it will be received and credited that day [it went as a faster payment - they've no excuse]

ii) the statement (due 2 days earlier - so not reflecting that subsequent payment) won't actually take the DD amount [1%]

I'm leaving the DD in place, therefore, since if they do take 1% I'll simply have overpaid very slightly and will arrange to spend that or get a refund.

[Then it's into the shredder!]

Mrs_Jojo

I just paid mine off in full and they were very keen to offer me a further BT at 0%, so you never know!

td_007

splatt30 wrote: »

So.....
a. do they take faster payments. If so I can pay the remaining on the 12th and know it will be cleared before the 16th or...

Yes they accept faster payments

splatt30 wrote: »

b. if I pay all bar the minimum payment on say the 10th will they still take the DD on the 11th (like virgin) or will the payment cancel the DD run and leave me short of clearing by the minimum payment amount.

If you do not want the direct debit to be taken then you need to inform them about it I think about 3-5 (or is 7 days) in advance of the DD date. Otherwise the DD amount will be taken even if repay the entire amount.

splatt30 wrote: »

I just need to ensure the full amount is cleared by the 16th & wonder what others have done to best ensure this. (Still awaiting to see if a decent BT deal arrives on my Virgin promos to further the stooze but not look hopeful :-(

What I did was to pay the entire amount via FP and then requested the refund of the minimum amt that was taken via DD as it was now in credit. It is an extra step but with Santander's reputation of screw up - I was not taking any chances. I should also mentioned that I failed!! When I requested the amount in credit to be transfered out, they categorised it as a Balance Transfer and put a charge of £5 on it - the muppets!! Another call was required to get the fees refunded....But given my previous experience with Santander I well expected them to screw up and they did not let me down:rotfl:

chattychappy

I send payment from Nationwide via internet banking - always arrives same day - so yep they accept FP.

Bear in mind if your payment arrives just a couple of days after the offer expires, it would only be interest for those two days.

Can't help with the DD query. I never sign DDs just because of situations like this. Suggest you cancel the DD in plenty of time and pay the whole thing manually.

Since I paid off my BT, they often come back with offers. Usually 0% BT for 6 - 12 months, 3% fee.

Hax

With my Santander Zero, if I make a manual payment (no matter how much), they still take the minimum DD.

Hax

Hax wrote: »

With my Santander Zero, if I make a manual payment (no matter how much), they still take the minimum DD.

Well, since making that statement yesterday, I checked my account online tonight and could see that Santander have created my new statement, but they haven't (this time) taken the minimum payment DD in addition to my prior payment - which is how they have worked it in the past!

*sigh*