Shocked ! Please check your Santander interest

dillydilly

Just opened my annual statement of a Santander Cash ISA - expecting iro £1500 (3%), received £500 (1%)

Called cust services, they said the rate dropped to 1% in March last year. Fortunately I had kept the sheet of paper confirming the opening of the 3% account, dated Feb2010. Told to take this into a branch and they'll adjust accordingly.

So this piece of paper is worth £1000, without which they wouldn't have any record of the transfer, hence little chance of rectifying the issue ? Crazy... Course if they sent monthly statements I would have spotted the error much earlier, but you only find out after the year is up. I can't believe I'm a one off, just how many accounts has this affected ?

Just look at the Santander historical rates sheet - buried deep in the website after five clicks. Just count the number of different account names and issue numbers... I think there are going to be a lot of upset ex-Santander customers... Had my Abbey account for 40 years, been meaning to move from Santander due to various recent admin errors but was wary of the DD hassle. This is the straw on the camel's back.

Yeah - their 3.5% rate looks attractive, but please - keep your confirmation paperwork in a secure place...

joyceyjo

I was under the impression that Santander didn't allow transfers in. How did you manage to get £50k into a 3% Santander rate isa?

cing0

joyceyjo wrote: »

I was under the impression that Santander didn't allow transfers in. How did you manage to get £50k into a 3% Santander rate isa?

Depends on the product. I transferred into Santander Direct ISA iss 3 paying 3.0% in Feb 2010 and then transferred again within the same institution to a Direct ISA iss 6 paying 2.75% a year later.

bloss0m

Now you got me worried. We have 3 isa accounts mine, oh and daughter two have £5,100 and another £3,000 something

I opened two in March 2010 with maximum amount then put another amount in to make £5,100 and opened one for daughter in April 2010 with 5.1k, we have touched the money at all. It said at time it would guarantee to pay 3% over base rate. Now I checked online but no interest has yet been paid. I dont have any documents that says this but it definitely said it at the time

I hope we get 3.5% on each account I dont know what to do keep getting best rates, I am new to isas

bloss0m

I just checked online and got annual interest £245 for £8.7k I work it out it should be £304

8700x3.5/100

Same interest on another account my daughter has.

blueberrypie

bloss0m wrote: »

I just checked online and got annual interest £245 for £8.7k I work it out it should be £304

8700x3.5/100

Same interest on another account my daughter has.

You won't get a full year's interest on the extra £5100 that you added, because it wasn't in the account for a full year.

If the interest has been paid before the full year is up (I believe Santander pays interest on or after March 2nd on many ISAs), it won't be a full year's worth of interest. The remaining interest will be added next year or when you transfer the funds out.

bloss0m

Thanks, we paid £3.7 in 2 accounts end of March and topped one of them up beginning of April technically not a full year but it should surely be almost 11 months as the interest seemed to be credit at start of March 2011

If I take the money at start of April then wont be be a full year?

blueberrypie wrote: »

You won't get a full year's interest on the extra £5100 that you added, because it wasn't in the account for a full year.

If the interest has been paid before the full year is up (I believe Santander pays interest on or after March 2nd on many ISAs), it won't be a full year's worth of interest. The remaining interest will be added next year or when you transfer the funds out.

dillydilly

joyceyjo wrote: »

I was under the impression that Santander didn't allow transfers in. How did you manage to get £50k into a 3% Santander rate isa?

Yeah that was my first thought - but then the confirmation letter clearly confirms the full amount was transferred to the issue 3 account in Feb 2010. I think Santander have only recently started this 'no transfers' business - effectively allowing them to advertise what appears a market leading rate, but is effectively a £28 incentive (3.3% less next best rate 2.75% x £5100 = £28).

emeraldbugle

bloss0m wrote: »

Thanks, we paid £3.7 in 2 accounts end of March and topped one of them up beginning of April technically not a full year but it should surely be almost 11 months as the interest seemed to be credit at start of March 2011

If I take the money at start of April then wont be be a full year?

Did you open the account at the same time as putting money in? The 12 months is from account opening, not from the first credit.

What dates did you credit the £3,700 in March and what date did you credit another £5,100 in April?

bloss0m

We did on two account as we did it over the phone, the other one we opened about a week later early April. Then we put that years allocation in two accounts and leaving another with 2010 allocation of money 3.7k

emeraldbugle wrote: »

Did you open the account at the same time as putting money in? The 12 months is from account opening, not from the first credit.

What dates did you credit the £3,700 in March and what date did you credit another £5,100 in April?