Santander 123 - should I be wary?

nafe12

Just signed up for the 123 account - want to claim that 3% interest.

I plan only to use this as a savings account - only withdrawals paying bills via direct debit.

But I just saw some pretty scary reviews, mainly around account freezing. Has anyone had a *good* Santander experience?

Need some reassurance I transfer a wad of cash - that I'll actually be able to get my cash out some day!

molerat

Never had any problems with mine. You do need to fund the account with £500 each accounting month to earn both interest and the DD credit.

Organist

I have two 123 current accounts and have not experienced any problems. Also on the odd occasion I have been into our local branch I have found the staff very helpful.

Archi_Bald

nafe12 wrote: »

But I just saw some pretty scary reviews, mainly around account freezing.

Where did you see those?

Lots of people on here seem to have 123s without any problems. I have a few myself and have no complaints.

nafe12

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Where did you see those?

All over the place - trust pilot, consumer action, even yahoo questions.
Google Santander account frozen and loads of results come up.
Seems like they are security paranoid (a good thing), but if they don't verify you they lock you out for ages (e.g. if you don't know the exact day account was open, frozen account).

Got me a little worried given I'd hold most of my savings there for the interest rate!

Thanks for your help

anotheruser

Don't trust Yahoo Questions....

Yahoo as a whole just needs to go away.

I am sure you will be fine like most people. I have one and haven't had any problems.

leespot

I've been with them since they were Alliance & Leicester, coming up to 20 years. Never had any frozen accounts or similar problems. I've got a couple of the 123 accounts and they work a treat for me

F1F93

nafe12 wrote: »

Google Santander account frozen and loads of results come up.

I just googled "MSE Untrustworthy" and got nearly 100,000 hits. Doesn't mean that you shouldn't trust MSE!

Also, people will often go online to rant about something that goes wrong. Car forums are a brilliant example - loads of posts saying "this has gone wrong on my car," or "this doesn't work!" but none saying "my car is fine. That is all."

Similarly, no one will go online and post about how great their 123 account is.

To answer your question, I have one and have had no problems. The staff are also very helpful.

nafe12

F1F93 wrote: »

Similarly, no one will go online and post about how great their 123 account is.

Quite!

Just that usual bank complaints are about fees or slow service or rudeness. Account freezing is the next level - especially when we're talking savings. Though this thread provides reassurance.

Archi_Bald

Worth noting that any bank will freeze/close accounts that are involved, or suspected to be involved, in money laundering or other illegal activities. We see weekly reports of "Natwest closed my account", "HSBC won't let me withdraw my money", "HSBC locked my account" etc. on this forum. Funnily enough, you rarely ever see any report about the conclusion of such disputes.

Haven't seen one of those about the 123 on here.

a&akay

nafe12 wrote: »

Just signed up for the 123 account - want to claim that 3% interest.

I plan only to use this as a savings account - only withdrawals paying bills via direct debit.

But I just saw some pretty scary reviews, mainly around account freezing. Has anyone had a *good* Santander experience?

Need some reassurance I transfer a wad of cash - that I'll actually be able to get my cash out some day!

I had my account frozen on trying to transfer a large amount by internal transfer from one of my 123s to the other. I went through the spannish inquisition to sort it by phone. Other similar glitches have been resolved by logging out and back in again. I surmise their algorithm to root out suspicious transactions isn't or wasn't the best. I wouldn't stop this from getting near 3% on both in the current climate.