Direct debit to qualify for Santander 123 Current Account INTEREST?

OPENSPACES

Dear Yorkshire Boy
Thank you for having the courtesy to try and explain things to me. Obviously many of you have banking experience and seem dismissive of my issues. The facts remains though that as a customer it is my money and I am perfectly entitled to ask questions. I have brought up in a culture of Total Quality Management which dictates that every decision we make has a customer be they internal or exterior All quality companies do their best to ensure that their customers specifications within that decision are agreed before the decision is made. If you follow that philosophy you have far less expensive complaints. Having said that I hear a lot of take or leave it rhetoric on this thread which is perhaps indicative of how bankers see their customers and hence how they are perceived. I am not stupid I have asked them the right questions and often they give me the answer to another question. For example I ask them does any DD qualify for a 123 account and they replied referring me to the list of DDs which generate cash back. I have also been told DDs have to be paid every month. The lack of knowledge within the helplines is staggering

OPENSPACES

As regards the other comments which state that the criteria could have been overcome if I had just visited this board. To that I reply that a customer of a service I should not need to have to go around the houses to seek the answer to simple questions. Having said that I get the drift that Santander doesn't really want me a customer as I have no debt nor do I want any. I suppose therefore I must be eternally grateful to them for paying me so well whereas they seem less than grateful that we the tax payer bailed them out of bankruptcy

YorkshireBoy

OPENSPACES wrote: »

As regards the other comments which state that the criteria could have been overcome if I had just visited this board.

Or used your loaf. You can pay lots of things by DD. You possibly do already?

To that I reply that a customer of a service I should not need to have to go around the houses to seek the answer to simple questions.

I agree. I'm all in favour of Santander call centre staff answering your (and my) queries with the reply "that's answered in the product T&Cs sir. I suggest you read them". And I'm also all in favour of this website (MSE) saying, on the main site, "this new account from TSB is a belter! Go to their website and take a look", rather than, as is often the case, creating more problems than it solves...simply because anything more than a brief synopsis discourages people from reading the T&Cs.

...they seem less than grateful that we the tax payer bailed them out of bankruptcy

I'm aware that I own (both directly as a shareholder, and indirectly as a tax payer) part of Lloyds Banking Group and RBS, but I don't think, as a tax payer, I own any Santander shares. Could you tell me how much the tax payer spent on bailing Santander out?

Back to your key issue though, the DD and funding requirements are clearly laid out in the account T&Cs...and you can't get away from that.

Archi_Bald

OPENSPACES wrote: »

I have asked them the right questions and often they give me the answer to another question. For example I ask them does any DD qualify for a 123 account and they replied referring me to the list of DDs which generate cash back.

If you did indeed ask "does any DD qualify for a 123 account ", your question was ambiguous (bit of an oops! for a self-proclaimed TQM expert) as there are clearly two different areas for DDs - cashback and interest. This is very obvious from their website and from their T&Cs.

You did, however, report yesterday that:

OPENSPACES wrote: »

I hit the roof gave them both barrels and they came back saying categorically that any old DD qualifies.

So did they give you a list of qualifying DDs, or did they tell you any old DD will qualify? Perhaps you didn't hear how they qualified what each answer applies to? Perhaps you intimidated the poor person the other end by hitting the roof and giving them both barrels? Is this a recently added TQM method, btw?

For somebody who has been brought up in a TQM culture it is pretty much inconceivable that they should be unable to read and comprehend simple T&Cs and marketing literature.

OPENSPACES wrote: »

I have also been told DDs have to be paid every month.

This is clearly not the case, as you seem to know.

Archi_Bald

OPENSPACES wrote: »

whereas they seem less than grateful that we the tax payer bailed them out of bankruptcy

You are misinformed there. Santander UK never needed a bailout and never received a penny from the UK taxpayer.

eskbanker

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You can pay lots of things by DD. You possibly do already?

He's already admitted to having 10 DDs on one 123 account but seems displeased at the prospect of having to distribute them across three accounts - to a certain extent I can understand some frustration with what might seem like a pointless exercise, but arguing about it with Santander, or seeking a justification, seems at least as pointless, as does moaning to the FOS!

OPENSPACES

Terms of business is 43 pages long and Terms and Conditions is 20 pages long. What reasonable investor is going to read through them. I expect the nut and bolts to be in the headline message which enables me to make a quick decision. That's what selling is about. But I get it now that Santander is not after customers like me and if people are not savvy enough to read beyond the less than precise headline message then that's tough titty. What I am saying is that many people do get misled (perhaps too strong a word) by less than clear "advertising" but as the man said a fool and his money are soon parted

YorkshireBoy

OPENSPACES wrote: »

I expect the nut and bolts to be in the headline message which enables me to make a quick decision.

Something like this perhaps?...


Go to website
Click current accounts
Click 1-2-3 current account
Read the "at a glance" information...

Useful Rewarding Innovative
The current account that pays you cashback on your household bills and interest on your balance for £2 a month.
What you get

• Monthly cashback on selected household bills.
• Monthly interest of 3% AER (variable) on balances between £3,000 and £20,000.

Calculate how much cashback and interest you could earn.
To get cashback on your household bills and interest on your balance, just follow these steps:

• Pay a monthly account fee of £2.
• Fund the account with £500 a month (excludes internal transfers). A minimum balance of £1,000 is needed to receive interest.
• Set up at least 2 Direct Debits. You’ll get monthly cashback on selected household bills you pay by Direct Debit

Please read full product details and terms & conditions before applying.


http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/123-current-account/

Their bold, not mine.


Can it be made any more clear?

...a fool and his money are soon parted

Proved time and again on these boards!

ceredigion

OPENSPACES wrote: »

Terms of business is 43 pages long and Terms and Conditions is 20 pages long. What reasonable investor is going to read through them. I expect the nut and bolts to be in the headline message which enables me to make a quick decision. That's what selling is about. But I get it now that Santander is not after customers like me and if people are not savvy enough to read beyond the less than precise headline message then that's tough titty. What I am saying is that many people do get misled (perhaps too strong a word) by less than clear "advertising" but as the man said a fool and his money are soon parted

I will probably get completely lambasted on here for admitting it but I`ve never read the entire document that contains the T`s and C`s for santanders 123 account. However I do have 3 accounts and they all meet the criteria and interest is paid. Now I'm certainly no academic , so it cant be that difficult and the information must be readily available and easy to find.

YorkshireBoy

ceredigion wrote: »

I`ve never read the entire document that contains the T`s and C`s for santanders 123 account.

Nor have I (from front to back anyway), but I always read the...


KFI for mortgages
Summary box for credit cards
And of course the "at a glance" section for 1-2-3 accounts.


You owe it to yourself, and especially when you're managing funds which are generating the thick end of £100/month interest...don't you? Now I would have thought £1,200 a year was a welcome addition to any retirement income?...so worth reading, and understanding, at least some of the information presented to you.