FD switch to Santander 123 - problems!

therivierakid

I'm currently in the long drawn out process of trying to switch from FD to Santander 123. With a mortgage from Santander plus plenty of DDs to earn cashback on it seemed worth taking the hit on customer service...

Anyway, I set up the new account with Santander on Sept 18th and got the debit cards and chequebooks through the post. Online access all working fine. Then they came to do the switch... I was rejected by FD on the grounds that the address didn't match up. I checked the addresses that they both held and basically FD included the county name whereas Santander didn't. So, I got the county name removed with FD and tried the switch again. Came back with exactly the same problem. Santander are very unhelpful, just saying that it's all at FD's end. FD have referred it to their switching project team, who have yet to get back to me. I'm completely in the dark... no idea if the switch will ever go through!

Anyone going through anything similar?

innovate

You could have spared yourself a lot of grief if you had just done the switch yourself. It's dead straight forward to change your DDs and SOs, and transferring any remaining money is just one faster payment. May be it's not yet too late to cancel the instruction?

If you do want the switch to be done for you, may be a formal complaint would help. I tend to agree with Santander - if First Direct decline the move, there is nothing Santander can do. Therefore the complaint would have to be filed with First Direct.

Frozen_up_north

I had a similar "problem" using the new 7 day switching service to go from Smile to a Santander 123 account.

Several years ago I had an Abbey Bank mortgage and my full name came up as a former "Santander" customer, unfortunately my name was shown as first name and one initial with Smile, so under the 7 day switching package there was a security issue (which I guess is in the customers interest to be sure it's one and the same person they are dealing with).

I had to take a passport to a Co-Op Bank branch to have them change my name on the Smile account, which took less than a minute.

On a negative point, when I switched the balance on the Smile account was transferred in full to Santander around noon last Friday, leaving a zero balance on the Smile account. Checking on Saturday the balance was £107 overdrawn, yet there had been no further transactions. Smile claim I owe them money and will only close the account when it's paid and Santander say to not pay it as nothing is owing. Marvellous :mad:

I've asked the Payments Council for their take on the matter.

Frozen_up_north

After a long time on hold, I have just been told by Santander's switching team the overdrawn amount on the old account with Smile will be resolved as part of the switch, but they were unable to say how long it takes. They suggested it would be sorted in a day or two and not to worry and that under the 7 day switch guarantee there would be no charges for being overdrawn on the old account as a result of the switch.

---

This afternoon the Smile account was credited by Santander. So all is well, eventually.

dreaming

innovate wrote: »

You could have spared yourself a lot of grief if you had just done the switch yourself. It's dead straight forward to change your DDs and SOs, and transferring any remaining money is just one faster payment.

Could you briefly explain how to change DDs please? I have also just opened Santander 123 account and want my utilities and council tax DDs transferring from Nationwide but do not want N/wide account closed (which I believe happens through the switching process). Is it as simple as notifying the recipient of the new bank account and cancelling the existing one (bearing in mind the timing of payments etc.)?
Thanks

kuepper

sounds like a few of us with similar S123 probs . just posted my update https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4755833

I'm already thinking of switching again once Santander have done their worst

dreaming

kuepper wrote: »

sounds like a few of us with similar S123 probs . just posted my update https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4755833

I'm already thinking of switching again once Santander have done their worst

Thanks - have just caught up on your thread. Seems as if the best way will be to transfer DDs myself. Shouldn't be too much of a problem as the ones I want to change all come out at the same time so should be able to time it ok. Just waiting for my account details etc. then I too can move a large balance to Santander, but still want my pension to be paid into Nationwide as have other accounts there. Will then transfer the £500 manually.

innovate

dreaming wrote: »

Is it as simple as notifying the recipient of the new bank account and cancelling the existing one (bearing in mind the timing of payments etc.)?
Thanks

Basically, yes. Make the change just after a DD has been taken so the payee has plenty of time updating their system.

If you have online accounts with the payee (electricity, credit card etc) you can often make the change online.

Others you just call and ask them that they take your payment from a different account in future.

Very few (councils, normally) ask you for a signed DD form. You can usually download that form from their website.

You should see the new DDs appearing in your new account, and disappearing from the old one at about the same time. If they stay on the old account but are on the new one, just cancel them on the old account.

Sounds a lot more involved than it is in practice. But in most cases, it takes you less time doing that than asking the new bank to make the switch, and handling any problems they might hit and can't resolve without your involvement. Keep notes what you did with each DD, just in case there are any questions later on.

Another approach could be that you cancel all your existing DDs, pay your bills by card / bank xfer next time, and then set up new DDs. Though I don't think you need to go to that length, it is really dead straight forward to change the payment instructions.

You have complete control if you do it yourself - but with full control also comes full responsibility for the move.

TickersPlaysPop

I've been trying to move a direct debit for NPower from a joint account to my 123account. Been trying to do it my self since April, and still no success. So please don't jump to conclusions and blame your bank...

NPower have so far admitted to making 2 mistakes, and I've squeezed £25 compensation. They failed to set a start date for the direct debit once and then over wrote their database with the new bank details rather than starting a new line in the database. So i wasn't surprised when power came 2nd from top in the worst customer service charts! Now NPower's system is saying that the direct debit was successful but the money has not moved!... so NPower have said their systems are over 2 weeks out of date.

I am slowly losing the will......

dreaming

innovate wrote: »

Basically, yes. Make the change just after a DD has been taken so the payee has plenty of time updating their system.

If you have online accounts with the payee (electricity, credit card etc) you can often make the change online.

Others you just call and ask them that they take your payment from a different account in future.

Very few (councils, normally) ask you for a signed DD form. You can usually download that form from their website.

You should see the new DDs appearing in your new account, and disappearing from the old one at about the same time. If they stay on the old account but are on the new one, just cancel them on the old account.

Sounds a lot more involved than it is in practice. But in most cases, it takes you less time doing that than asking the new bank to make the switch, and handling any problems they might hit and can't resolve without your involvement. Keep notes what you did with each DD, just in case there are any questions later on.

Another approach could be that you cancel all your existing DDs, pay your bills by card / bank xfer next time, and then set up new DDs. Though I don't think you need to go to that length, it is really dead straight forward to change the payment instructions.

You have complete control if you do it yourself - but with full control also comes full responsibility for the move.

Thanks Innovate. I had a mooch around the websites of the ones I want to change and all have online facilities to change. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes for each and I can cancel the existing ones myself easily when the others are set up. Just waiting for Santander to send account details now.

brewerdave

I've just completed a partial switch from Natwest to Santander 123 (this was before 7 day switching commenced) - had a few issues with 3 DDs, which took just over a month to resolve -but the problems were all due to the merchants not the banks.
One thing that I did find disturbing - the list of DDs that NatWest supplied Santander included many obsolete/cancelled ones - one hadn't been drawn on for over 6 years!!None of them were listed on online banking.