Santander - Preferred Current Account

Frank121

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to share my positive experience of opening a Santander Preferred Current Account using their switching service. (Yes, you read correctly! Positive lol) I had read a lot of negative views on using Santander but the £150 incentive (£100 from Santander and £50 from quidco) gave me the will to give it a try.

Firstly I don't plan to actually use this as my main current account, as the service provided by First Direct is second to none. I moved two "easy" direct debits from my main First Direct account to one of my Lloyds Vantage accounts. When I say easy, I mean I could move them in a matter of minutes online. I chose Sky and T-Mobile since both allow you to change the direct debits by logging onto their online portals.

I then applied for a Santander preferred account using the Lloyds Vantage as the account to be switched from. The account was opened in a couple of days and the direct debits both moved within a couple of weeks.

I was already an existing Santander customer (e-saver) but I got a brand new set of log on details in the post. Dreading the thought of speaking to a Santander rep, I still gave it go. I had to wait at least 5 or 10 mins before I could speak to anyone but alas the UK rep who answered the phone promptly resolved the issue. Not surprisingly the issue was very silly, a space in my postcode didn't match my existing details since my e-saver account was set up without a space! What a bad system. Nevertheless he corrected it swiftly, and within 24hours the current account popped up under my existing log in details.

I will call them again soon to make sure the £100 cashback has been correctly processed on my account. If all goes well, I will get the cash in 3 months as per their t&c's. I will switch the DD's back to FD after they have paid been paid out twice although their t&c's say it only needs to be paid out once. (just to be safe)

So this is my experience, if you want some easy cash (£150) plus 5% on £2500 for 12 months I suggest you give this a go. I wouldn't advise to go through the stress of actually moving your real account but set up a dummy one like I did.

That's about all. Fingers crossed my efforts will be rewarded and so will yours. )

I am no way connected with Santander and if asked which current account offers the best service, I would say First Direct. Calling FD is great, phones answered in seconds by a UK call centre, no silly automated menus and most issues can be resolved by the first person that you speak to day or night. Yes I am happy customer and this is just my humble opinion which I would like to share.


Cheers.
Frank

curlygirl1971

Did your Quidco Cashback track okay?

I've just applied (yesterday) and uncharacteristically the CB didn't track within a few hours so am now thinking I will have to submit a claim in a couple of weeks

steven77

I have just closed my Santander account. It was a little fiddly to find out how to do it by post (as they want you to call them so they can try and talk you out of it of course) but to be fair the letter and cheques turned up within a couple of weeks. I've also moved to First Direct for the service, so far I can't fault them.

Frank121

curlygirl1971 wrote: »

Did your Quidco Cashback track okay?

I've just applied (yesterday) and uncharacteristically the CB didn't track within a few hours so am now thinking I will have to submit a claim in a couple of weeks

Hi Curlygirl1971

Yes mine didn't track automatically too. I emailed quidco after a few days and they added it to my tracking page. It's still too early to know if it will go through ok, I guess it will need some chasing

I suggest you email quidco with the OLA number as soon as the Santander account is opened.

Cheers.
Frank

curlygirl1971

Thanks Frank

On the Quidco follow-up thread, it seems that the advice is that it can take upto 3 days to track - so I'll wait and log the claim after that. But on that thread it mentions that Santander recently rejected a batch of claims and Quidco have sent them back for investigation. I know cashback isn't guaranteed but it's hard not to count those pennies before you get them!

Frank121

Hello All,

Just an update on this:

I am still waiting for cashback from Quidco, gosh they really are bad on the timescales.

I have been strictly chasing them every 1-2 months and to be fair they always reply to my emails but I really wondered if it would ever be paid.

To my surprise, my cashback finally got approved last week and I should get the £50 on the next payment run.

Haha, £50 is still worth a year to wait for.

Did anyone else experience this with Quidco and Santander cash back offer?

Thanks,
Frank

Vortigern

Frank121 wrote: »

Did anyone else experience this with Quidco and Santander cash back offer?

Nothing to do with Santander, but I once waited 2 years and 9 months for Quidco cashback on RAC membership. Quidco always replied to emails saying they were still chasing it, but after a year I gave up chasing them. Very much later, to my great surprise, the cashback appeared.