Is it worth me applying to Santander?

MrsKrepsly

I currently have an ISA with Lloyds TSB and I've had it for a year. I don't think the interest rate is that great (around 2% maybe) last year I had £2000 in it (although not for the whole year) and the interest at the end of the year calculated at around £36.

I see that Santander have great rates but at the moment I have nothing substantial to put in it, perhaps £5 a week at the moment.

a) is it worth me applying for this kind of savings?
b) any chance they could turn me down and damage my credit rating?
c) if I do get one, should I close down my tsb account or keep them both open?

Lokolo_2

MrsKrepsly wrote: »

I currently have an ISA with Lloyds TSB and I've had it for a year. I don't think the interest rate is that great (around 2% maybe) last year I had £2000 in it (although not for the whole year) and the interest at the end of the year calculated at around £36.

I see that Santander have great rates but at the moment I have nothing substantial to put in it, perhaps £5 a week at the moment.

a) is it worth me applying for this kind of savings?
b) any chance they could turn me down and damage my credit rating?
c) if I do get one, should I close down my tsb account or keep them both open?

a) To which Santander savings do you refer? ISA? Fixed rate? Current account? If you mean ISA, their 3.3% instant access ISA doesn't accept transfers in of previous ISA's, so you could open one and use it for this year's ISA allowance, but you'd need to find another provider such as Halifax (3%) to transfer your poor paying Lloyds ISA to!

b) Possibly, but it depends if they have any reason to turn you down.

c) If you transfer your Lloyds ISA, that will effectively close it and it will be with the new provider instead, if you are talking about current accounts, that depends on if you are satisfied with it?

MrsKrepsly

I think the one I was looking at was a flexible rate ISA (Santander).

Perhaps Halifax would be the better way to go although I now only have £100 to transfer over.

Lokolo_2

MrsKrepsly wrote: »

I think the one I was looking at was a flexible rate ISA (Santander).

Perhaps Halifax would be the better way to go although I now only have £100 to transfer over.

Ahh I see, so in that case, and if you don't see yourself depositing much into the ISA this year, then it might be worth it just to withdraw the £100 and open the Santander flexible ISA and put it into there manually, so that you can take advantage of the better rate of 3.3%

david78

I agree. If you only have £100 in the old account and can't see yourself paying in another £5000 or more this year, just withdraw the money from your old cash ISA and pay it into your new cash ISA this year.

junglejim2

I would also just withdraw the £100 and start with a new isa.

However I would avoid Santander at all costs, they will mess you around, time waste, use excuses about emails being rejected(funny how it's only santander emails that get rejected) and cost you at least a months interest. This is how they offer best buy interest rates.
DO NOT USE THEM GO ELSEWHERE

spikyone

You should probably take junglejim2's comments with a large pinch of salt given that his limited number of posts are all negative comments about Santander. It's a classic case - if you get good service you'll tell one person, if you get bad service you'll tell ten people. Or just post on loads of internet forums.

I haven't had any problems with Santander, although I started out as an A&L customer so haven't had many dealings with them yet. You should be keeping an eye on your money anyway, and that should mean being as aware as your bank are of what interest payments you're due. I guarantee that for every high street bank, you'll find someone on here who's been on the wrong end of their mistakes.

blueberrypie

spikyone wrote: »

You should probably take junglejim2's comments with a large pinch of salt given that his limited number of posts are all negative comments about Santander. It's a classic case - if you get good service you'll tell one person, if you get bad service you'll tell ten people. Or just post on loads of internet forums.

Except that there are many, many other posters who are telling similar tales of woe about Santander. junglejim2 is far from being a lone voice.

It's true that dissatisfied customers are usually more vocal than satisfied ones - but there isn't another financial institution in the country that's generating anything like the number of posts that we're seeing about Santander.

spikyone

blueberrypie wrote: »

Except that there are many, many other posters who are telling similar tales of woe about Santander. junglejim2 is far from being a lone voice.

I didn't suggest that he was a lone voice, only that it would be foolish to take the advice of someone whose small number of posts have all been complaints about Santander.
I just wanted to add a little balance and point out that I've yet to experience any particular problems.

junglejim2

Spikeyone...as you say you haven't many dealings with them. Well I have, and this is the second year they have proved to me they are totally inept.
Also my posts were asking advice about how to proceed as I was up against the April 6th deadline all due to Santanders useless service.
I am not interested if people take my advice with a large pinch of salt or not, but the advice stays the same go elsewhere with your hard earned.

spikyone

junglejim2 wrote: »

Also my posts were asking advice about how to proceed as I was up against the April 6th deadline all due to Santanders useless service

You created a thread asking advice, which was given, and since then all you've posted elsewhere is telling other people not to use Santander - not exactly constructive.

As far as it being "all due to Santander" that you were "up against the April 6th deadline" (April 5th in fact), it seems that you applied in mid-March for last year's allowance. You have 12 months to apply for an ISA. If you apply just before the deadline, this is the busiest time for all providers, and delays can happen. I don't want to be seen as criticising you, but I'd advise anyone applying for an ISA to not leave it until the last minute.