S@nt@nder 123: To do or not to do?

Thistlewhistle

Hi there,

I'm totally fed up with H@lif@x, who are making it very difficult for me to stay banking with them, by changing my terms and conditions all the time, increasing my OD charges and reducing my OD limit, giving me uncompetitive loan rates and not being helpful in general.

I'm looking for a new Bank account to use as my bill account and think S@nt@nder 123 would be the one to go for as it would make me some money because of the throughput.

Problem:
I've heard really bad things about S@nt@nder, their customer service, their inflexibility, their tendency to "throw their weight around" a bit.

Does anyone have any experience and would you recommend this account?

Don't want to fall out of the frying pan.......

Thanks

Thistle x:D

Archi_Bald

Thistlewhistle wrote: »

I'm totally fed up with H@lif@x, who are making it very difficult for me to stay banking with them, by changing my terms and conditions all the time, increasing my OD charges and reducing my OD limit, giving me uncompetitive loan rates and not being helpful in general.

All banks update their T&Cs from time to time, you shouldn't take it personal. OD charges are also not a personal matter, they apply to all customers. Your OD limit and loan offers are personal, based on the bank's assessment of your credit worthiness.

Thistlewhistle wrote: »

S@nt@nder 123 would be the one to go for as it would make me some money because of the throughput.

You don't get money for "throughput", you get a bit of cashback for certain DDs. Use the cashback calculator to figure out what you could get. Don't forget, the account costs £2/month.

Thistlewhistle wrote: »

Problem:
I've heard really bad things about S@nt@nder, their customer service, their inflexibility, their tendency to "throw their weight around" a bit.

You shouldn't expect to get free range on overdrafts and overdraft charges. Just like any other bank, they will assess your credit worthiness, and you may or may not get the credit that you think you should be getting. What are you expecting in terms of customer service and flexibility? What do you mean by a "tendency to throw their weight around a bit"?

Hazzanet

Who are S@nt@nder and H@lif@x?

kpearsoncj

i just switched to santander within my first month still all went through good so far and just spoke to there customer service team yesterday about contactless cards - they said there starting to send them out with in next 2 weeks - not sure if any of this helps?

Thistlewhistle

Hi Archi Bald

Thanks for your comments.
I've had my my account since 1992 and Hx tell me that I am a model customer, my credit rating with them is high and they bombard me with letters offering me loans etc but the rates are so uncompetitive compared to others. I just don't feel that they value my patronage.

I understand about T&Cs - that doesn't bother me, but as an example, I was quite happy with my Reward Account, earning the £5/month. They moved me to a different product claiming the Reward account was ending. Then they reinstate this Reward account for new customers only.

They changed their interest rate on ODs from a % to a fixed £1 per day claiming it would be easier for me to understand. How patronising. I've worked in finance for 15 years. I know how it works, and I would have been quite happy being ignorant and only paying £1.38p interest per month instead of fully in the know and paying £6

I understand how the 123 account works and that it's just on Certain DDs. When is said throughput I was referring to that. Apologies for not being clear.

I've had a couple of friends who've been with Sr and they've found them to be not so helpful when problems have arisen, just quoting regs but not actually helping to resolve issues and complaints.

Just looking for people who have experience to get a balanced picture

molerat

No problems with the 123 here We are opening another one as a savings account with a couple of throw away DDs and taking the £2 charge as a hit, no interest on £800.

Few of the banks are any good when you are spending their money instead of your own.

Thistlewhistle

molerat wrote: »

No problems with the 123 here We are opening another one as a savings account with a couple of throw away DDs and taking the £2 charge as a hit, no interest on £800.

Few of the banks are any good when you are spending their money instead of your own.

Thanks Molerat.
T:D

bsms1147

Fish for problems, you'll find problems.

Most people get on fine with the 123 and don't have a bad thing to say about it.

~

The Halifax Reward was not withdrawn for old customers, the T&Cs changed meaning you needed some direct debits as well as the minimum funding to stay on it.

And bear in mind that Santander may charge up to £95 a month for going into an overdraft. (T&Cs page 05).

bengal-stripe

Thistlewhistle wrote: »

They changed their interest rate on ODs from a % to a fixed £1 per day claiming it would be easier for me to understand.

In recent years, quite a few banks have changed their overdraft charges to fixed daily fees. So has Santander, who charges £1/day (capped to 20 days per month) for using an agreed overdraft. If you do not want to pay a daily fee, you must find another bank (although that bank might change over to daily fees at some point in the future).

Thistlewhistle wrote: »

I've had a couple of friends who've been with Sr and they've found them to be not so helpful when problems have arisen, just quoting regs but not actually helping to resolve issues and complaints.

I never had any problems with Santander (nor did they ever have had problems with me), so I never had any need for issues/complaints to be resolved. On-line banking works fine, what more do I want?

Archi_Bald

Thistlewhistle, you are taking it all quite personal....if you don't expect to get anything special for having been with the same bank for umpteen years, you might be positively surprised if, very exceptionally, existing customers get something special. Such as Santander customers who get some better ISA rates, or Nationwide customers who can get free european travel insurance and occasionally better interest rates.

Regarding the change from %age to fixed daily fees for overdrafts: you and I can cope with %. An awful lot of people, shockingly, apparently cannot. Just look at the posts on here asking about how much interest they get if they have £1,000 in a 2% ISA. Or the ones that try to make a case as to why the AER for Regular Savers is twice the rate you actually get. It's the mathematically illiterate that daily charges are aimed at because there is a chance they will be able to understand what it means.

If you can't have a bank that charges fixed amounts for overdrafts, don't go to Santander, because they do too!

Anyway, I will stop rambling and just say I have been a Santander 123 customer for as long as the account has been available. I think it is a fantastic account because it pays me cashback and interest, it's got a decent online banking and a good mobile app, my branch folks go out of their way and have even given me their direct phone number, and I got my contactless card with up the £750 daily withdrawal because they have made me a "Select" customer a while ago. I don't go overdrawn and I don't need loans, so have no practical experience with debts but I am very happy with my 123 accounts.

leespot

I've banked with them for 17 years, never had anything to complain about. The 123 account is good - just checked and in the last 31 days it earned me £25.53, since I opened the account £288.58.

I only have a £100 overdraft with them, but never used it in all the time I've been with them so no idea about charges for that. It really is just a buffer that I've thankfully never needed.