Santander ISA Confusion

okydoky

pqrdef wrote: »

My guess is, you'll get a letter this week to say your ISA's interest rate is about to plummet, and would you like to transfer it to a Major ISA.

I have already received the letter confiming rate to plummet to 0.5% - and guess what, no offer of any other options?

They call it "inertia marketing"; rely on their customers doing nothing and they get the use of our cash virtually free!

Call me a cynic!:mad:

innovate

okydoky wrote: »

I have already received the letter confiming rate to plummet to 0.5% - and guess what, no offer of any other options?

They call it "inertia marketing"; rely on their customers doing nothing and they get the use of our cash virtually free!

Call me a cynic!:mad:

Yep - - they just fulfill their minimum obligations (sending a letter telling you the rate is about to plummet) and hope you are too busy / lethargic / daft to do anything about it.

All banks are the same on this, I know of none who write to you, or call you, to suggest you should be moving your money to an account with a better interest rate.

BUT - even if they did tell you about better rates, they'd only ever tell you about their own better rates - which is of limited value to you as the consumer. The only way to get the best deal for yourself is if you do your own research. So you may as well be grateful they don't suggest something which might not be your best bet, anyway!

Doing business with banks is no different, btw, in principle, to buying a sofa, or a pair of shoes, or a sirloin steak etc etc - - - you won't find any shop that tells you to go and spend your money in another shop. It's down to yourself to find what you consider best value, and you have to be constantly on your toes because what was best value last week might not be best value this week.

Chrisesa

okydoky wrote: »

Seems I will need to transfer proceeds to another provider who will happily take the money as a transfer in - am I missing something, or are Santander??
Thoughts anyone?

Can't see anything obvious on their site, only thing I can think of its a "only one per customer" offer - which I agree is self-defeating especially with an existing and loyal customer! So yes it seems to me it's Santander that's missing something.

ses6jwg

you can have as many 2 year 4% isas as you want

however you cannot transfer the one that you have maturing into the one that you have already taken out

you can simply upgrade the maturing one to the 2 year fixed rate.

however it will still be a seperate isa with a seperate sort code and account number

kapeesh?

molerat

ses6jwg wrote: »

you can have as many 2 year 4% isas as you want

however you cannot transfer the one that you have maturing into the one that you have already taken out

you can simply upgrade the maturing one to the 2 year fixed rate.

however it will still be a seperate isa with a seperate sort code and account number

kapeesh?

Well we all seem to agree, now someone has to convince Santander to allow the op to open the account. I had a similar problem and it was like banging my head against a wall.

philbostavros

Hi OP

We had Santander fixed rate (1 year) postal ISAs, which reverted to a low rate on 1st June. We also had their "Loyalty" ISAs which were also dropping rates.

The poasta ISAs revert to a "normal" ISA on maturity so you can move them about either online or in branch.

We booked a review in branch and ended up seeing the manager who was very helpful. We ended up with 2 fixed rate (2 year) Major ISAs each - suggested so that in the event that we needed to withdraw funds, we wouldn't loose interest on all of our investment. As these are fixed rate products, you cannot add further funds once opened.

Hope this helps.

innovate

ses6jwg wrote: »

kapeesh?

we all kapeesh - - it's Santander staff that doesn't.

fiesta04

innovate wrote: »

we all kapeesh - - it's Santander staff that doesn't.

But he is Santander staff and he understands it :j

innovate

fiesta04 wrote: »

But he is Santander staff and he understands it :j

I know, lol.....

Just a shame that none of his workmates do

okydoky

Just a quick update on this one - Santander eventually saw sense and allowed me to set-up another 2 year Major ISA, only after I explained to them that they could!!:j