MSE News: Santander launches cashback current account

pfpf

pfpf wrote: »

my account has been opened as of today (08/12) and i already have online access due to already having accounts, TCB tracked too.

already a month gone :eek:

today my new 123 account has been credited with 2% of my energy DD value which is the only DD that has actually been requested so far.

when does the £2 fee get debited and more importantly when is credit interest added?

i had assumed everything would be itemised on the 8th of every month!?

thank you.

innovate

my cashback/interest credits and £2 fee all happened on the same day so far. Next lot due for me on the 14th.

JimmyTheWig

pfpf wrote: »

when does the £2 fee get debited and more importantly when is credit interest added?

I get cashback and credit interest on the same day, the anniversary of converting the account to 123 (11th of the month - or 12th when the 11th was a Sunday) and the £2 fee is debited on the 5th of the month.
I presume that the fee is debited in arrears, as it didn't come out the first month.

pfpf

updated now.
DD refund yesterday, account fee and interest today.
thank you.

royal23

i've had this account for a couple of months now, and applied for it through TopCashBackUK and received £55 from them. sweet!
it just became payable after about 8 weeks or so.

as for the 123 cashbacks etc:
my account fee is charged on the 1st of the month each month
interest and cashback was paid on 31st Dec, first time, so i presume it'll always be last day of the month.

seems like everyone's accounts are different

gromituk

I apologise if these have been said before, but I waded through several pages of this discussion as well as looking at the MSE news and bank account articles, and didn't see a mention of:

1) If you transfer your current account from another Santander account they won't do the transfer service for you, i.e. you have to do re-do all the direct debits, etc, yourself. This they don't tell you;

2) I've had an idea why they thought up this account - because you pay a monthly fee you can't just let it go dormant if a better account comes along - you actively have to close it. This, I believe, will discourage people from jumping ship as they lose the safety net of their existing account - it would certainly have that effect on me.

As for very recent Santander customer service, well I think they should work for the circus:

1) I asked them a question via their secure online messaging service

2) The reply was mostly boilerplate text and a complete misunderstanding of my question

3) I replied, asking them to answer it again

4) I got a text message saying my "complaint" had been registered, and to call them on their premium-rate number (0845 = premium rate from mobiles) if I wanted to know more

5) Three days later, I got another text message saying my complaint had been closed. No secure online messages

6) I sent a secure online message asking them what this was about and informing them I was not going to waste money calling them

7) I got an email from them saying they had written me a letter about it!

:huh:

Edit: have just logged on and seen I've received an "ex-gratia payment" of £10. Presumably it is related to this. Well, normally I'd expect to pay, not be paid, to go and see a comedy show!

innovate

By the sounds of it, you chose to take a different approach to your relationship with Santander to me, gromituk.

You collated a history of your communication with them and £10.

I collated cashback and interest from them since last April. Don't want to brag so I am not saying how much - suffice to say it is a lot more than £10.

I can't say there have been no problems at all in my dealings with Santander - - but they have all been caused, and resolved, by human beings (those things that do make mistakes. Heck, sometimes I make mistakes myself......don't you?).

royal23

@gromituk;
are you sure they don't do the transfer for you? i'm pretty sure if you have a current account, regardless of who you bank with, they can do a transfer for you and will autmate it all.

i persoanlly chose to have the 123 in ADDITION, as a separate account, in order to get the referral-reward (cashback) from topcashbackuk. at the time it was £55.

that was worth having to do things manually, i.e. changing direct debits etc.

as for their customer service, i seem to be the exception, but they always treat me well.
examples: once they failed to take credit card payment via direct debit (their mistake), and i complained, and got £50 in compensation
example 2: on my 123 account, in the beginning i accidentally didn't have enough money to cover a utility bill direct debit. normally they'd charge me £10 admin fee for this failed direct debit, but i simply sent them an e-message, and they said "happy to waive this for you, as a goodwill gesture; but this will be the first and only one, no more will be given to you". i think that's both great, and fair.

innovate

royal23 wrote: »

@gromituk;
are you sure they don't do the transfer for you? i'm pretty sure if you have a current account, regardless of who you bank with, they can do a transfer for you and will autmate it all..

yes, you are right, gromituk must have got that wrong, because Santander even tell you on their website how they can switch your bank accounts. http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1237851829604&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateW2

I know of no bank that doesn't do this sort of thing now.

However, having tried some switcher services (FD, Nationwide), I must say I don't miss it if no bank offers a switcher service.

Bottom line is, you cannot just sit back and expect the Switcher Service of the new bank to do it all. And you may not want them to close your old account, which they all seem to want to do.

You have to actively monitor each and every DD and SO transfer, as well as any external payment. Might as well arrange it all yourself. At least that way you actually know exactly where you are in the transfer process at any one point in time.

Whichever way you switch, you have to have the money for the Direct Debits and SOs in the right place at the right time. Because the payments will be taken from wherever the Direct Debit collector wants to take them - your old or you new account. If you make the switch yourself, you can control what money gets taken from where when.

Having said all this, it is actually a doddle to switch a direct debit. You just ask the DD recipient to confirm, in writing, that you told them to take the money from your new account. Then you monitor you got their receipt, and ensure you have the right amount of money in the new account at the agreed time.

It's even easier with SOs, because you are in control of the required actions at both banks. Stop it at old bank, start it a new.

ses6jwg

gromituk wrote: »

I apologise if these have been said before, but I waded through several pages of this discussion as well as looking at the MSE news and bank account articles, and didn't see a mention of:

1) If you transfer your current account from another Santander account they won't do the transfer service for you, i.e. you have to do re-do all the direct debits, etc, yourself. This they don't tell you;

2) I've had an idea why they thought up this account - because you pay a monthly fee you can't just let it go dormant if a better account comes along - you actively have to close it. This, I believe, will discourage people from jumping ship as they lose the safety net of their existing account - it would certainly have that effect on me.

As for very recent Santander customer service, well I think they should work for the circus:

1) I asked them a question via their secure online messaging service

2) The reply was mostly boilerplate text and a complete misunderstanding of my question

3) I replied, asking them to answer it again

4) I got a text message saying my "complaint" had been registered, and to call them on their premium-rate number (0845 = premium rate from mobiles) if I wanted to know more

5) Three days later, I got another text message saying my complaint had been closed. No secure online messages

6) I sent a secure online message asking them what this was about and informing them I was not going to waste money calling them

7) I got an email from them saying they had written me a letter about it!

:huh:

Edit: have just logged on and seen I've received an "ex-gratia payment" of £10. Presumably it is related to this. Well, normally I'd expect to pay, not be paid, to go and see a comedy show!

I'm sorry but you're wrong on the first point.

1) If you upgrade your existing Santander current account to the 123 account you retain your existing sort code, account number, card, PIN. You don't need to re-arrange any direct debits or credits to the account.

Of course, if you open a new 123 account and all your mandates are on an existing Santander bank account then yes, you do have to move all the direct debits yourself. This is because Santander gain absolutely no benefit as a company to carrying out a costly and admin heavy switcher process from one San UK current account to another. Besides, there are only two instances that one would open a new account anyway rather than simply upgrade:

- To get the quidco cashback (in which case expecting Santander to do the switcher for you is having your cake and eating it)
- OR Having certain benefits on your existing San UK bank account that you would lose by upgrading to the 123 current account. If this is the case, most branch advisers would be happy to help you switch the direct debits themselves. If you do it online then you are on your own in that respect.

2) With regard to your second point again it's completely wrong. You are free to downgrade to an "everyday account" with no fee or funding requirement at any stage and this process takes about 30 seconds.

I'm afraid without seeing your secure message it's hard to comment but for them to register a complaint you must have used some words indicating a dis-satisfaction in which case they are obliged by the FSA to log it as a complaint. Asking questions via secure message is generally a slow and inefficient method compared to calling the 0800 new account number or asking a member of staff at your local branch.