Santander ISA's launch on 8th March

Great-Scott

ses6jwg wrote: »

Is your existing ISA maturing or fixed in? If it is matured/ bonus ending you need to ring up and have it upgraded to the 2.5% version before sunday night.

otherwise you need to open a new isa before sunday. it doesnt matter if it isnt funded straight away just needs to be open and activated.

if you wait until monday it will be too late it will be 2%

For 2012/13 I had a 1 Year Fixed Rate at 3.5% so was looking to go with the 2.5% for 2013/14. Would they be working on a Sunday if called them? If I have to set it up online can I do that - create the 2.5% account for 13/14 even though I still have last years active with Santander ( even though it will be more than likely at 0.5% now )? Then eventually merge the two accounts to the 2.5% in a week or so by going into a branch.

OnlyMe_08

savetilibleed wrote: »

You already have your ISA open don't you (?) so that rumoured drop to 2% will be for new applications from then.

As far as I can tell it doesn't matter that you selected 'no new savings'. Your account is open and ready to accept money, which can be by cheque or I expect by electronic transfer from an external account.

Alternatively, as you have not funded the Santander ISA, you could leave it be for now, and instead, open a Coventry Poppy Cash ISA which now pays 2.6%. That is within the rules as you are only allowed to fund one ISA in a tax year. Once you have funded that, you could contact Santander and close that one down, or just leave it dormant.

I was thinking that as an alternative. As I'm new to Coventry, how long would it take to get the account up and running and to fund the account? I note they only guarantee the rate to 5 Apr 2014.

How about Santander? Would the rate be 12 months from when funded, or from when opened (in which case would mean until 5 Apr 2014)?

savetilibleed

Great-Scott wrote: »

I've already got have an ISA with Santander from last year and was planning on going for the 2.5% rate. Although I'm panicking having read about the possible change on Monday!

Can I register for the 2.5% online even though I have another Santander ISA from last year? Then next week go into a branch, explain I've set up an account online and then transfer last years ISA funds along with the £5700 into that? Is it legal as I'm sure I've read you can't have two ISA accounts so I'm a bit worried about it all! Apologises for being such a newbie!

The important thing is you can only fund one ISA in a tax year. If you have opened more than one and, say, transferred in, well that is not funding with new money. Even if you did open two ISAs as long as you fund only one with new money that is fine.

Great-Scott wrote: »

For 2012/13 I had a 1 Year Fixed Rate at 3.5% so was looking to go with the 2.5% for 2013/14. Would they be working on a Sunday if called them? If I have to set it up online can I do that - create the 2.5% account for 13/14 even though I still have last years active with Santander ( even though it will be more than likely at 0.5% now )? Then eventually merge the two accounts to the 2.5% in a week or so by going into a branch.

You can open the 2.5% account online on Sunday (they are closed to phone calls for that purpose on Sunday). You can then do an internal transfer from that expired 3.5% account there's a form http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223431404158&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600 especially for Santander to Santander transfers.

KonkyWonky

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

I was thinking that as an alternative. As I'm new to Coventry, how long would it take to get the account up and running and to fund the account? I note they only guarantee the rate to 5 Apr 2014.

How about Santander? Would the rate be 12 months from when funded, or from when opened (in which case would mean until 5 Apr 2014)?

It shouldn't take Coventry any longer to set up an ISA than any other provider. As far as funding is concerned an electronic transfer would be quickest assuming you cannot visit a branch.

Coventry BS guarantee the rate will be no less than 2.6% until April 5th. The Santander 2.5% ISA has no guarantee, they are quite entitled to drop the rate whenever they want as it is a variable rate product.

savetilibleed

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

I was thinking that as an alternative. As I'm new to Coventry, how long would it take to get the account up and running and to fund the account? I note they only guarantee the rate to 5 Apr 2014.

How about Santander? Would the rate be 12 months from when funded, or from when opened (in which case would mean until 5 Apr 2014)?

It takes a little while to get the online access established for Coventry. Even if you need to send ID they turn this around very quickly. As KonkyWonky you can still make an electronic transfer as soon as you have the account number. You can call them too. You can find their sort code on the site (or it may come up as your application is processed. I only had money to transfer so I'd have chosen Coventry if I could have. Decent organisation.

essexmate

Scarpacci wrote: »

Anybody else have trouble sending this year's ISA money to Santander? I had a 1 year fix with them from March last year and it recently matured, so I phoned up and had it switched to the 2 yr fix earlier this week. The 2 year fix says it accepts deposits for the 13/14 year until May 31. I tried to send the money for this year but it bounced back to my current account. On my ISA page it says available contributions are £5,760 but it's not accepting it. It also doesn't work as an internal transfer from my Santander savings account either.

ses6jwg wrote: »

if you did not fund a santander isa for 12/13 you may have an isa declaration block on your account which prevents contributions.

this is a hmrc requirement and you will need to visit branch to sign a form and have the block removed.

This happened to me last year and I had an ISA Declaration Block put on my account because Santander didn't know the status of my current year contributions. Download and complete this form and take it to your branch or put it in the post and they will remove the block on your account straight away. You'll be able to contribute then. Unfortunately for me last year, after submitting the form to the branch and having the account unblocked, Santander didn't process the form properly and my contributions and interest accrued were returned to me via a cheque in the post 2 months later! I had to complete the form again and have the block removed a second time for them to accept my ISA contribution.

Froglet

savetilibleed wrote: »

It takes a little while to get the online access established for Coventry. Even if you need to send ID they turn this around very quickly. As KonkyWonky you can still make an electronic transfer as soon as you have the account number. You can call them too. You can find their sort code on the site (or it may come up as your application is processed. I only had money to transfer so I'd have chosen Coventry if I could have. Decent organisation.

I second that.Have 2 fixed rates with them already so opening an Isa was quick and easy.They not only have decent rates but give to a very worthwhile charity too.

The fact they guarantee the rate for a year is good.

OnlyMe_08

savetilibleed wrote: »

It takes a little while to get the online access established for Coventry.

How long are we looking at, if say I applied today?

savetilibleed

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

How long are we looking at, if say I applied today?

Umm its some time ago I first got online access. But you'll get a username first, (can't remember at what atage you choose a password. Then they will send you a piece of paper to give other security info (might be then you choose a password not sure now), which you post back. You will also get a grid card. Not sure now long in total as they didn't have grid cards when I registered several years ago. Maybe a week and a half. They do deal with things quickly - one they receive any mail it is dealt with sharpish. You will still be able to make any contributions by electronic transfer, or cheque if you needed to. The cash will be credited - all this once you know the account is open and the number.

OnlyMe_08

Well, it looks like issue 2 is out now with 2.00%.

I've opened the 2.50% on Saturday, but not yet funded and unlikely to be until the end of next week at the earliest. However, I notice that the minimum opening deposit is £2500, or zero balance if transferring in other ISAs. What exactly do they mean by this, as during the application process, there wasn't an option to say pay by debit card etc? Or would they have expected a deposit on the same day of the account opening (when they confirmed account & sort code)?