Paying cash into Santander

Agapanthus

I've been helping to run a local event and was left with a large amount of cash to pay in - most of it in notes and complete bags of coin, but with some incomplete bags.

I went to pay it into my Santander account. My local branch firstly told me that I could only pay in five bags of cash a day - but they'd accept the rest "this time". However, they refused to accept the part bags at all, saying they'd "never get rid of them". (The concept of combining two part bags to make a whole one obviously hadn't occurred to them.)

I was gobsmacked! I've never heard of a bank that wouldn't let you pay in money! I may not be keeping that account much longer.

innovate

It's quite normal that banks don't like, or even can't, take cash, because their safe facilities are limited.

If you search the forum, you will find other threads about the subject, as well as some hints about cash machines e.g. at HSBC branches.

System

Pretty standard limit except on childrens & charity accounts.
Even more so for the ex-building societies like Santander.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect you to bag coins.

Coin machines are located within of one of the established banks and metro bank for loose coin.

Agapanthus wrote: »

I've been helping to run a local event and was left with a large amount of cash to pay in - most of it in notes and complete bags of coin, but with some incomplete bags.

I went to pay it into my Santander account. My local branch firstly told me that I could only pay in five bags of cash a day - but they'd accept the rest "this time". However, they refused to accept the part bags at all, saying they'd "never get rid of them". (The concept of combining two part bags to make a whole one obviously hadn't occurred to them.)

I was gobsmacked! I've never heard of a bank that wouldn't let you pay in money! I may not be keeping that account much longer.

pmduk

Agapanthus wrote: »

I may not be keeping that account much longer.

You'll be cutting off your nose to spite your face then as most banks have similar restrictions. They're a business not a charity. Your transaction will cost them far more time than it's worth to them.

Agapanthus

I've never had this problem with Lloyds TSB, which I've used regularly for this sort of thing.

And almost all the coins were bagged, it was just that I couldn't make up whole bags with all of the balance at the end.

innovate

Best to use Lloyds then.

pmduk

Santander branches are almost always ex building-society branches, smaller with less storage space.

molerat

I remember going into my local Santander with about 8 bags and the cashier, obviously in a bad mood, barked "only x allowed". So I paid in the x and gave the remainder to my wife who promptly got out her card for a different account ................ I could feel the laser eyes burning into me

Agapanthus

On this occasion, it wasn't possible to use Lloyds for various reasons.

Call me old-fashioned, but I thought that the point of banks was that you could pay money into them (and subsequently take it out again). I could, I suppose, just keep the cash under the mattress, but those coin bags would make it a bit lumpy ;-)

I think this points up, as others have said, that there's a world of difference between a good old-fashioned high street bank and one of the new "banks" that were once building societies. 'Nuff said.

pmduk

even the "traditional" banks can be awkward about part-bags, particularly when they're busy.

Agapanthus

Not my local branch - but then we're rural. That's probably what made the Santander experience such a shock.