Working for Santander?

Mishomeister

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an9i77

I don't know how they treat their staff, but if they treat their customers as badly as they do it does not bode well!

ses6jwg

Mishomeister wrote: »

I am employed as a Mortgage advisor by one of th major High street banks. As the area where I work is extremely overstaffed and as a result of this no one is able to achieve their targets and earn any bonus I am considering changing banks. As Santander is actively recruiting at the moment I am considering them as my possible future employer. Whilst I do realize they are bad in customer service it might be different on the other side and they might be brilliant with their staff. So I was wondering if there are any Mortgage or Financial advisors on this forum, that could say what is it like to work for Santander in these roles. The thing that I am specially interested about is what is the balance between the appointments generated for you via branch and the ones, that you generate yourself, as I don't want to become a cold caller and I do not believe I could succeed in this kind of role.

I am not an MPA but I am a PBA so I handle cash savings, bank accounts, credit cards, and referrals to MPA/ FPA.

What is Santander like to work for?

It depends totally on the region, line manager, branch, and your in-branch colleagues.

I work in a very small branch with 4 members of staff and really enjoy the job because we are a very close knit team, we have a loyal and friendly customer base and the job itself is very convenient for me.

I enjoy working for Santander specifically because they do offer a decent benefits package, and unlike some other High Street banks the product range is quite competitive and therefore much easier to sell! I think if I were working for HSBC flogging ISAs at 2% it would be more difficult.

Targets are quite big, but are achievable with the right frame of mind. It is broadly similar across most banks now, so don't expect an easy ride.

In terms of referrals, again it will depend on the branch and the staff. For example our branch is lucky to write 3 mortgages per quarter, but our target reflects this.

A larger branch would expect to write at least 3 mortgages per week.

Appointments will be generated from the counter by CSAs and from apppointments by PBAs, so will need to coach them and work closely to make sure they are spotting opportunites.

MPAs in Santander are targeted on:
1) New lending (FTB, remortgage, porting)
2) Home improvement loans (these are weighted heavily)
3) Home insurance
4) Protection (life cover)
5) Bank accounts (switching people from other banks to secure a better mortgage deal)

In the current climate, you will be expected to self generate, a list of opportunities are sent to the branch every month for you to contact. It is lukewarm calling as opposed to cold calling - because all the leads that are sent down are for customers in the locality and who are existing customers and users of the branch.

In terms of the bonus scheme, whether MPAs are targeted on sales alone I am not sure, but for the rest of the staff it is split into sales and service, so you can get a bonus for service even if you don't hit sales and vice versa. Your bonus is then altered based on your risk score (i.e. quality of advice given, cancellation rates, complaints, banking quality, etc).

There is a decent benefits package, share save schemes, car purchase schemes, staff specific products and discounts, discounts on holidays and trips, incentives to win trips to the F1 and Madrid etc. I think the pension is one of the better ones as well as they top mine up by 8% of my gross pay.

Mishomeister

ses6jwg wrote: »

I am not an MPA but I am a PBA so I handle cash savings, bank accounts, credit cards, and referrals to MPA/ FPA.

What is Santander like to work for?

It depends totally on the region, line manager, branch, and your in-branch colleagues.

I work in a very small branch with 4 members of staff and really enjoy the job because we are a very close knit team, we have a loyal and friendly customer base and the job itself is very convenient for me.

I enjoy working for Santander specifically because they do offer a decent benefits package, and unlike some other High Street banks the product range is quite competitive and therefore much easier to sell! I think if I were working for HSBC flogging ISAs at 2% it would be more difficult.

Targets are quite big, but are achievable with the right frame of mind. It is broadly similar across most banks now, so don't expect an easy ride.

In terms of referrals, again it will depend on the branch and the staff. For example our branch is lucky to write 3 mortgages per quarter, but our target reflects this.

A larger branch would expect to write at least 3 mortgages per week.

Appointments will be generated from the counter by CSAs and from apppointments by PBAs, so will need to coach them and work closely to make sure they are spotting opportunites.

MPAs in Santander are targeted on:
1) New lending (FTB, remortgage, porting)
2) Home improvement loans (these are weighted heavily)
3) Home insurance
4) Protection (life cover)
5) Bank accounts (switching people from other banks to secure a better mortgage deal)

In the current climate, you will be expected to self generate, a list of opportunities are sent to the branch every month for you to contact. It is lukewarm calling as opposed to cold calling - because all the leads that are sent down are for customers in the locality and who are existing customers and users of the branch.

In terms of the bonus scheme, whether MPAs are targeted on sales alone I am not sure, but for the rest of the staff it is split into sales and service, so you can get a bonus for service even if you don't hit sales and vice versa. Your bonus is then altered based on your risk score (i.e. quality of advice given, cancellation rates, complaints, banking quality, etc).

There is a decent benefits package, share save schemes, car purchase schemes, staff specific products and discounts, discounts on holidays and trips, incentives to win trips to the F1 and Madrid etc. I think the pension is one of the better ones as well as they top mine up by 8% of my gross pay.

Thanks a lot for your thorough response. The majority of the things sounded very similar(if not the same) which probably suggests that the banks are probably quite similar on their reward package. What I am however interested to find out is what is the split between self generated appointments and the ones booked by a branch. At my current bank it is 2 appointments a day have to be booked by a branch and one by a Mortgage adviser which I find being quiet fair split. I am just trying to avoid an employer where I would have to book more then a third of appointments myself on the telephone

ses6jwg

Mishomeister wrote: »

Thanks a lot for your thorough response. The majority of the things sounded very similar(if not the same) which probably suggests that the banks are probably quite similar on their reward package. What I am however interested to find out is what is the split between self generated appointments and the ones booked by a branch. At my current bank it is 2 appointments a day have to be booked by a branch and one by a Mortgage adviser which I find being quiet fair split. I am just trying to avoid an employer where I would have to book more then a third of appointments myself on the telephone

If it helps, a PBA is targeted for 3 referrals a week.

A CSA will be roughly the same.

The average branch will have 1 or 2 PBAs, and 2 or 3 CSAs.

So if we assume 1 PBA and 2 CSAs then the expectation is that they book you 9 appointments as a minimum. The Branch Manager would also pitch in.

For an MPA, you would probably be expected to have 4 slots per day.

That is 20 slots per week. They would not expect you to fill all the slots to allow for "walk in" business.

It will vary week to week and branch to branch.

Some branches will be located in areas where the population is mostly elderly like where I am - great for savings and investments, not so great for mortgages and lending.

Other areas you will get people walking in asking to see a mortgage adviser.

In Santander, MPAs and FPAs will generally cover 2 or possibly 3 branches.

Mishomeister

ses6jwg wrote: »

If it helps, a PBA is targeted for 3 referrals a week.

A CSA will be roughly the same.

The average branch will have 1 or 2 PBAs, and 2 or 3 CSAs.

So if we assume 1 PBA and 2 CSAs then the expectation is that they book you 9 appointments as a minimum. The Branch Manager would also pitch in.

For an MPA, you would probably be expected to have 4 slots per day.

That is 20 slots per week. They would not expect you to fill all the slots to allow for "walk in" business.

It will vary week to week and branch to branch.

Some branches will be located in areas where the population is mostly elderly like where I am - great for savings and investments, not so great for mortgages and lending.

Other areas you will get people walking in asking to see a mortgage adviser.

In Santander, MPAs and FPAs will generally cover 2 or possibly 3 branches.

Thank you one more time. Do you know if all Mortgage advisors around UK have the same targets? As in my bank for example regardless whether you are in a middle of nowhere village or in a busy branch in London City center - you get exactly the same targets.