Savings accounts deposits by Direct Debit?

AlwaysLearnin

Has anyone got a link to the Santander eSaver direct debit form? It looks to have moved and I can't find anything. Thanks

Archi_Bald

It seems the DD form has vanished - but have you tried setting up a "Pull money in from" online?

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&cid=1237873435645&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateA2#How do I pay money into my eSaver?

How do I pay money into my eSaver?

There are a number of ways you can pay money into your eSaver:

Online: If you're registered for Online Banking you can easily and securely transfer money in from another linked Santander account using the 'Standing Order' or 'Transfer money between my accounts' functions.

You can also 'Pull money in' from up to three other bank/building society accounts. This works by taking money from another account by Direct Debit.

If you haven't already done so, these are easy to set up in Online Banking via the 'Payments & Transfers' tab. To up a new payment you'll be sent a One Time Passcode to your nominated mobile.

AlwaysLearnin

I was so busy looking for the form I didn't even see that! I'll give it a go. Thanks

AlwaysLearnin

Just to update, I got a message on my account that "It is not possible to pull money into the selected Santander account because you currently have no linked accounts set up. To link an external account to your Santander account, please call us on the number shown above."

Call them and after numerous minutes pressing 1,2,1,1,2 etc then listening to the awful hold music, the man said that to set up a linked account they would need to send out a funding mandate form, and if the payments were made in this way they would take 3 working days and a further 4 to clear, and that they would not show up as Direct Debits..! After a bit of to'ing and fro'ing (him suggested SO's, me pointing out the wording on their site etc), I finally asked him to confirm that, despite what it says on their website, you effectively can not set up Direct Debits from other current accounts to the eSaver. He said Yes. I don't think I believe it; probably just a ruse to stop people like us using the account just to satisfy DD requirements, but I was bored with the exchange and so just stated that the account was therefore not fit for my purpose and I'll be closing it.

In short, for others who may be considering it, the Santander eSaver may not be as useful an option as it once was.

Now off to try an alternative!

rb10

AlwaysLearnin wrote: »

Just to update, I got a message on my account that "It is not possible to pull money into the selected Santander account because you currently have no linked accounts set up. To link an external account to your Santander account, please call us on the number shown above."

Call them and after numerous minutes pressing 1,2,1,1,2 etc then listening to the awful hold music, the man said that to set up a linked account they would need to send out a funding mandate form, and if the payments were made in this way they would take 3 working days and a further 4 to clear, and that they would not show up as Direct Debits..! After a bit of to'ing and fro'ing (him suggested SO's, me pointing out the wording on their site etc), I finally asked him to confirm that, despite what it says on their website, you effectively can not set up Direct Debits from other current accounts to the eSaver. He said Yes. I don't think I believe it; probably just a ruse to stop people like us using the account just to satisfy DD requirements, but I was bored with the exchange and so just stated that the account was therefore not fit for my purpose and I'll be closing it.

In short, for others who may be considering it, the Santander eSaver may not be as useful an option as it once was.

Now off to try an alternative!

I expect it'll still work, you just need the form.

Very few people have a DD set up on these accounts, so the person you spoke to probably hasn't seen it before. To get it set up you do need to be persistent!

Archi_Bald

rb10 wrote: »

I expect it'll still work, you just need the form.

Agree, but the form has vanished.

Vortigern

AlwaysLearnin wrote: »

..the man said that to set up a linked account they would need to send out a funding mandate form

That is exactly the thing you need. Santander won't call it a DD, it won't show as a DD on Santander's online banking, but your other account (Halifax?) will see it as a DD.

In short, for others who may be considering it, the Santander eSaver may not be as useful an option as it once was.

Still works for me

AlwaysLearnin

Vortigern wrote: »

...but your other account (Halifax?)...

How'd you guess

I'm sure it can still be done, but I only need one to replace one I'm stopping and there are other alternatives that don't need as much effort.

Vortigern

Vortigern wrote: »

That is exactly the thing you need. Santander won't call it a DD, it won't show as a DD on Santander's online banking, but your other account (Halifax?) will see it as a DD.

Contradicting myself slightly:
I've just found a copy of Santander's "funding mandate form" on my PC. It's headed "eSaver Direct Debit form" and has the direct debit guarantee and logo. How can a Santander employee say it's not a DD?

AlwaysLearnin

Yes, and per the link Archi Bald posted above it states:

"You can also 'Pull money in' from up to three other bank/building society accounts.! This works by taking money from another account by Direct Debit."

and

"By post: Download, complete and return the attached Direct Debit form here" (but the link no longer works).

Went through all this with him, but he was insistant. I think what he was trying to say was that, although it will use the same facility as DD, between personal current accounts it isn't actually a DD. As said above, I'm not sure that actually matters for the purposes we're talking, as they appear to do the job of satisfying the DD requirement, whether it technically is or not. However, as the form is no longer online they now send out a copy via post (which takes up to 10 days) - certainly a backwards step, making the process even more unnecessarily manual, and another reason why I think they're trying to avoid usage.

This all came about as they apparently didn't receive the first form I sent 4-5 weeks ago. I need the DD to be in place in Oct to not miss a month hence, with little likelihood it will be in place in time with the eSaver, their 'tactics' have worked with me as I'll go elsewhere.

I've no doubt it can still work, but it's a rather painful process, and one which they appear to be trying to avoid