Anyone here moving their Santander savings?

MrRee_2

I have no accounts with them as their Customer Service is aknowledged as one of the worst.

Just wondering, and looking down the road of a EU collapse, who would leave their money in a Spanish Bank?

noodle_doodle

Kent County Council aren't - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18075387

Having just moved away from Santander for my mortgage I can vouch for their customer service being equally appalling when you're borrowing their money

MrRee_2

Interesting ..... I was caught out in the Icelandic Banking Crash and would not want to go through that again!!!

My money was guaranteed in Iceland - until the worst happened, then they washed their hands of me!!!

Don't risk it!!

smartn

My understanding is we get the same protection in Santander as any British bank up to £85000. Please correct me if I am wrong.

noodle_doodle

smartn wrote: »

My understanding is we get the same protection in Santander as any British bank up to £85000. Please correct me if I am wrong.

yes, but beware different branded banks/socs that count as the same in FSA terms. I suspect Kent hasd more than £85,000 in there too.
http://www.money.co.uk/article/1001505-which-banks-count-as-one-under-the-fscs.htm

Not something I have to worry about, along with supertax


You have to wonder if one of those mammoths went down the swanny whether the gov could pay out. Well, they could print it of course I suppose, but it'd get increasingly similar to toilet paper the bigger the hit.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

It should be guaranteed by the government (personally, by that nice Mr Osborne!) up to £85k. I'll be moving my ISA shortly when the current rate expires. I've not had any customer service problems with them so far (online saving accounts only).

MrRee_2

My point is that the Icelandic Banks had guarantees too ..... what if the Spanish Banks simply take all the deposits?

Degenerate

If Grupo Santander were to go under, it's shares in the solvent Santander UK plc would be a valuable asset to be sold off in the liquidation. So it would be business as usual for the UK operation, nothing would change but the name.

The reason that the Icelandic crash effected UK customers was that they were not putting their money in UK bank, but a branch of an Icelandic one operating in the UK under the terms of the EEA "passport" scheme. This was beyond the reach of UK banking regulation.

MrRee wrote: »

My point is that the Icelandic Banks had guarantees too ..... what if the Spanish Banks simply take all the deposits?

They can't. They are a seperate legal entity in another country and their only way to take money out of Santander UK is via dividends, which are subject to regulation.

pqrdef

When we were bailing out the S**ttish banks, weren't we told that Spanish banks were fine, nothing bad could happen there as they were so well regulated, and not allowed to take silly risks?

noodle_doodle

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

. I've not had any customer service problems with them so far (online saving accounts only).

Is that as in you've dealt with their customer services and they've been good, or you've never had the need to deal with their customer services?

molerat

I have dealt with their CS once, sorted straight away. Halifax, on to their CS weekly for 4 weeks and more or less sorted. Santander 1, Halifax 0.