Santander ISA's launch on 8th March

SephirothX

I'd be happy with 2.5% if I can manage it online. Was always put off by those you have to manage over the phone or by post. Not sure I'd want to open a current account with Santander as it's a bit of a hassle changing stuff over.

The 2 year fix is quite decent but no use for me as I simply won't have the cash to put the money in at the start of April. I would only be able to put my £16.5k transfer in and have to open another ISA for the next tax year so I can add whenever...

innovate

Ellierose1 wrote: »

Where's Lewis Hamilton gone?

He probably doesn't need Santander's money any longer, after having lived in a tax exile for years and recently landing a lucrat$$$ve contract with a german race team.

innovate

SephirothX wrote: »

I'd be happy with 2.5% if I can manage it online. .

You can see it online, you can pay into it online/by faster payment, but I don't think you can withdraw from it online. Not an issue for me, but if it is for you, better check out what "manage" means.

innovate

SephirothX wrote: »

Not sure I'd want to open a current account with Santander as it's a bit of a hassle changing stuff over..

You are right, it is a bit of a hassle - - no more than that.

You could open a 123 via Quidco, and if you do it right, bag £55 in the process. You could ask Santander to do the switching for you - - -- I personally would switch my DDs and SOs myself but - - - - apparently they do a really good job with their switcher service.

I love my 123, which I have had for almost a year now. I forgot signing up via Quidco (doh!!!!!), changed all my qualifying DDs over, and then found I only had 2 non-qualifying ones, so I switched them over, too. I get at least £10 net cashback every month now, and it gets credited like clockwork. That's £120 a year in my pocket, not some bank. Plus I do manage to leave more than £3K in my 123 and therefore get interest as well.

You could even keep your existing account and just pay the £2/mth - - with the Quidco cashback, you have 2 years funded already.

Carpi09

innovate wrote: »

2.8% ad on telly now. I didn't see anything about the special 3% rate for 123 account holders, but may be it was mentioned - - I just caught the back end of it.

I'd love to know how much they could pay us if they didn't have to go on telly and pay Jenson, Jessica and Rory a small fortune. There's easily a few million sunk into this.

marathonic wrote: »

Yeah, why bother advertising when the mere fact that you are top of the best buys should bring in enough new business..

That's been my thoughts for years but then I forget about the power of advertising.

I still don't understand why they use famous people, surely advertising the rate is more important than who is in an advert.

GreenBitterfly

Ellierose1 wrote: »

Where's Lewis Hamilton gone?

He's moved to Mercedes, hence just Jenson being there.

myth123

Tempted by this, although I don't need anywhere to put my 13/14 ISA money until the end of October as I have the Nationwide Flexclusive which I can pay into until then.

I was just thinking I could transfer some from the Flexclusive into this until to open the account and then transfer the rest in come the end of October. It's just weighing up whether this will be the best buy come October... (which it possibly will be - who knows!).

I would also have to open a 123 account up, which as innovate mentioned is a bit of a hassle, but not a large enough one to deter me (plus the cashback incentive helps from Quidco!).

SephirothX

innovate wrote: »

You can see it online, you can pay into it online/by faster payment, but I don't think you can withdraw from it online. Not an issue for me, but if it is for you, better check out what "manage" means.

That is really strange. Why have a pay in online but not a pay out online? Why must they make you jump through hoops to get access to your money? That said I can't think of any reason I'd need to withdraw from my ISA without knowing in advance that I need to do it so I could probably live with that. Seeing it and adding to it are the main things I like having online. But then I'm used to those old fashioned ISAs where you could manage the whole thing online.

innovate wrote: »

You are right, it is a bit of a hassle - - no more than that.

You could open a 123 via Quidco, and if you do it right, bag £55 in the process. You could ask Santander to do the switching for you - - -- I personally would switch my DDs and SOs myself but - - - - apparently they do a really good job with their switcher service.

I love my 123, which I have had for almost a year now. I forgot signing up via Quidco (doh!!!!!), changed all my qualifying DDs over, and then found I only had 2 non-qualifying ones, so I switched them over, too. I get at least £10 net cashback every month now, and it gets credited like clockwork. That's £120 a year in my pocket, not some bank. Plus I do manage to leave more than £3K in my 123 and therefore get interest as well.

You could even keep your existing account and just pay the £2/mth - - with the Quidco cashback, you have 2 years funded already.

I guess it depends what qualifies. As I live in my parents' house all of the bills come out of their bank account. I'll look into it more during the week when all the facts are known.

innovate

myth123 wrote: »

I was just thinking I could transfer some from the Flexclusive into this until to open the account and then transfer the rest in come the end of October. It's just weighing up whether this will be the best buy come October... (which it possibly will be - who knows!).

You must use the instant access one for this plan to work, not the fixed rate one, because you won't be able to add anything to the fixed rate one come end of April (or some such date in the near future).

If you can, get them to transfer just £1, then you are keeping all your options open. You are not committed to transfer the rest, so if there's anything better in October, use that. If not, you have your fall-back.
And if anything better comes along between now and October (unlikely IMO), get them to transfer £1 again. to reserve your place.

Only spoiler in this brilliant plan is that these instant access ones often have min £2.5K or so opening deposit....................

It's the sort of thing I will be looking at doing with my Flexclusive ISA. Only thing I know for certain right now is that I will definitely put £5,760 into it on April 6.

innovate

SephirothX wrote: »

That is really strange. Why have a pay in online but not a pay out online? Why must they make you jump through hoops to get access to your money?

That was my initial reaction, too. But then I heard their rationale, which is that they are protecting people from unwittingly withdrawing money from their ISAs, without realising that there is a finite amount they can deposit each year. Santander seem to be arguing that if they have a chance to explain the consequences to people at the time of withdrawal, it's overall better for people.

Now neither you nor I need this sort of handholding - a huge big warning on a withdrawal screen, that has to be actively acknowledged, would be more than enough for us. However, given the kind and number of questions I have seen here about cash ISAs over the last year, I have sympathy for the Santander nanny-approach.