Santander Current Account new T&C's

notbritishgas

Santander are trying hard to get existing "old" current account holders to transfer to the 123 account.
With todays statement download was notification of new T&C's for a lot (perhaps all?) of existing non 123 accounts from Jan.

Any credit interest paid at the moment will be reduced to zero %.

Arranged overdraft charged at £1 per day, max £20 per month.

Unarranged overdraft £5 per day max £100 per month.

Paid item fee £25

Unpaid item fee £25.

Overall charge limit £150 per month.

Underfunding fee £0.

I had to check what the Paid item fee was, it is when you buy something or DD when there is not enough £ in the account to cover it and Santander make up the difference and charge you £25. The unpaid item is when they do not cover it but still charge £25.

The letter makes it very clear that one of the options if you do not agree with the new terms is to transfer to a 123 account.

Gromitt

I would have thought that if they were trying hard to get people to move, they would be increasing the underfunding fee, not abolishing it.

It does sound like they are pushing people in the direction of paying for their current account. Ie, "You are on the no-frills account, but you can get so much more for just £2/month".

Got to admit, at the moment, its probably one of the better fee-paying accounts.

SnowTiger

notbritishgas wrote: »

Santander are trying hard to get existing "old" current account holders to transfer to the 123 account.
With todays statement download was notification of new T&C's for a lot (perhaps all?) of existing non 123 accounts from Jan.

Any credit interest paid at the moment will be reduced to zero %.

Arranged overdraft charged at £1 per day, max £20 per month.

Unarranged overdraft £5 per day max £100 per month.

Paid item fee £25

Unpaid item fee £25.

Overall charge limit £150 per month.

Underfunding fee £0.

I had to check what the Paid item fee was, it is when you buy something or DD when there is not enough £ in the account to cover it and Santander make up the difference and charge you £25. The unpaid item is when they do not cover it but still charge £25.

The letter makes it very clear that one of the options if you do not agree with the new terms is to transfer to a 123 account.

Depends which old Santander account you have. These are more-or-less the fees already charged on Everyday Current Accounts according to their Interest Rates and Fees Information leaflet I have from February 2012.

I have a Preferred Current Account, paying 5% interest on £2,500 until February next year.

These changes will probably affect customers who have certain accounts and constantly live in their overdraft and bounce transactions I suppose.

The only changes that appear to affect me are that they won't pay 1% interest on my in-credit balance (when my 5% deal come to an end next year) and I won't have to pay a £2 fee if I don't deposit £1,000 in a particular month.

I've already opened a Santander 123 account and intended to close my Preferred account next year. As they're dropping the underfunding fee I have no incentive to close it now. :rotfl:

innovate

SnowTiger wrote: »

...... I won't have to pay a £2 fee if I don't deposit £1,000 in a particular month.

I think you got that wrong, but please let me know if I missed a T&C update. I understand:

You have to pay £2/mth for a 123 account, regardless.

If you want cashback and/or interest, you have to

1. deposit at least £500/mth
2. have at least 2 direct debits

Full T&Cs here (except it doesn't say it's £500/mth, and I can't find atm where it specifies the amount but cannot recall ever having seen anything about £1K on the 123): http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223428042432&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

ses6jwg

You pay £2 regardless of how much it's funded with.

If you don't fund with £500 you won't get the interest and/ or cashback for that month and each subsequent month the account is not funded.

fleetwoodguy

innovate wrote: »

I think you got that wrong, but please let me know if I missed a T&C update. I understand:

You have to pay £2/mth for a 123 account, regardless.

If you want cashback and/or interest, you have to

1. deposit at least £500/mth
2. have at least 2 direct debits

Full T&Cs here (except it doesn't say it's £500/mth, and I can't find atm where it specifies the amount but cannot recall ever having seen anything about £1K on the 123): http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223428042432&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

i think SnowTiger was talking about his preferred current account and abolishing the underfunding fee...

SnowTiger

innovate wrote: »

I think you got that wrong, but please let me know if I missed a T&C update. I understand:

You have to pay £2/mth for a 123 account, regardless.

If you want cashback and/or interest, you have to

1. deposit at least £500/mth
2. have at least 2 direct debits

Full T&Cs here (except it doesn't say it's £500/mth, and I can't find atm where it specifies the amount but cannot recall ever having seen anything about £1K on the 123): http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223428042432&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

I was referring to the £2/month charge for underfunding my Preferred Current Account being dropped. I had planned to close it next year when they stop paying me 5% interest on my in-credit balance to avoid the charge. I don't have much of an incentive to do that now. Having said that, there won't be an incentive to keep it open either. :rotfl:

opinions4u

Santander are trying hard to get existing "old" current account holders to transfer to the 123 account

Not really.

They're relying on customer inertia and using their old back book current account products to subsidise the expensive to run (but good at attracting new customers) 123 account.

By mentioning it the letter they can tell the regulator how nice they are knowing full well that 95% of customers will ignore it.

Lith

so it begins ? the end of 'free banking' blah isn't the 123 account paid account by £2? these people won't move from a free account to a paid one it's their choice.

innovate

Lith wrote: »

so it begins ? the end of 'free banking' blah isn't the 123 account paid account by £2? these people won't move from a free account to a paid one it's their choice.

The astute account holder doesn't pay anything, they will get paid to have a 123. Their income from cashback alone will be a lot higher than £2 a month. Many people will also be able to get additional income from interest.

The 123 account a fantastic deal, and costs people a lot less than the so-called 'free' banking, for which millions of people have quite willingly been foregoing any interest for decades. With the introduction of the cashback feature by Santander, those millions of people are willingly foregoing even more each month.

But each to their own - it's a personal choice whether anyone can or wants to see beyond the £2/mth charge.

Gromitt

Lith wrote: »

so it begins ? the end of 'free banking' blah isn't the 123 account paid account by £2? these people won't move from a free account to a paid one it's their choice.

It's not the beginning at all - First Direct have had a £10 banking charge since 2007, see here: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1604351/First-Direct-to-end-free-banking.html

I think of it more like: "Use us as your main account for paying your bills and we'll pay you to have the account, otherwise you'll need to keep at least £2000 in your account to prevent banking charges being applied".