Santander 123 accounts

auntie_eneri

Has anyone else heard of this ? We recently went into our local Santander to discuss some ISA's that are finishing shortly. We were making an appointment to talk to someone when the assistant said to my husband that he should NOT have two 123 accounts solely in his name. when we asked why she didn't fully explain except to say he had slipped under the radar and he would have to close one of the accounts or lose his interest on it. We said that he had opened the 2 accounts,, not long after Santander had introduced them, at the main branch and was persuaded to open 2 accounts to gain the most interest by an adviser. That advisor actually sorted out our direct debits and arranged a monthly transfer of £500 from HSBC to Santander and back again every month. Since then we have been in different branches and spoken to at least 5 different assistants and NONE of them have said that he shouldn't have 2 accounts He gets statements every month for these accounts so Santander MUST be aware that he has 2. We know the system has now changed and you can only open a maximum of one account in your name, one in your spouse / partner's name and a joint one. I have a 123 in my name which I opened last year. We did say that surely Santander can't do anything to his accounts without pre-warning him and if they did then they would be in breach of contract. We did think that a previous customer had rattled her cage as her attitude was very off-hand and she didn't seem prepared to listen to what we were saying. We have an appointment with her in a couple of weeks time so hopefully all will become clear then. But has anyone else been told that they will have to close one of their 123 accounts?

bigfreddiel

I don't think there are any new rules, it looks like one of you did slip through the checks, maybe you entered your name differently on each account, Eg Fred Smith and Frederic Smith.

Anyway just open a joint account, problem solved.

Basically the bank is providing a service, you don't have a contract, and they can change their T&Cs at any time.

Cheers fj

DrSyn

I seem to remember when the 123 account first started, an individual could open two of these account in their own name.

When the account became popular they changed the T&C. So that an individual can now only have one 123 account in their name and one in joint names.

If you have the original T&C booklet that came with the account have a look at it and compare it with the latest version.

The assistant may have forgotten this fact. Maybe they had only just joined the bank or was poorly trained.

If your husband was those early persons to open, this would explain why Santander is not asking him to close the other account.

If at the next appointment she still wants to close the account, demand to see the manager, if he agrees with her, say you will take it take it through the banks formal complaints process.

Santander has spent an awful lot of money advertising the 123 account. I do not think that head office would be happy with a branch that damages the 123 account image.

Can you image the damage to customer confidence and the bad publicity which would result from:-
Yes we encouraged you to open two, 123 accounts.
Yes you have kept to the T&C's.
Yes we have been sending you regular statements.
We are now going to close for no valid reason, one of the accounts we persuaded you to open in the first place.

philbostavros

We have 2 x 123 accounts in joint names (new "rules" are only 1 in joint and 1 each in single?).

Talking recently to one of their phone advisors, I mentioned we had 2 joint accounts and she said that she had heard of similar situations. She said to carry on until advised to do otherwise.

Phil

colsten

It seems to be common practice that most banks will allow you to keep the accounts you had before they introduced the limits, and that they will pay you the full interest as long as you meet the deposit and any DD requirements.

This is certainly the case with Halifax, TSB and definitely Santander. So far, AFAIK, only Nationwide have actually limited the full interest payment to just one of their (FlexDirect) accounts, and Lloyds have stopped paying interest on Vantage altogether.

I wouldn't worry about someone in a Branch telling me I have to give up an account / I will stop getting interest. Branch folk are known for not knowing their stuff, sadly. I had some Halifax Branch guys telling me a similar story to the one you got from Santander. When I asked them to show me where in the T&Cs it says that existing customers have to give up accounts / will stop getting fivers, they couldn't, as it is not in the T&Cs. They said I would hear from their Head Office. That's over 2 years ago and I am still waiting to hear ......

Santander T&Cs are the same: there is nothing in them, so far, that says existing multiple accounts will need to be closed or will not get the interest any longer. So I would just keep calm and carry on if I were you. Unless the bank write to you about a change to your existing accounts, there will be no change for you.

I would, however, also most definitely not be asking a bank whether it's ok to keep all the accounts I already have. As the saying goes: don't wake sleeping dogs.

jem16

Many people have 4 of these accounts and even in individual names as that was what was allowed a while back.

I wouldn't worry about what someone says in a Santander branch as they probably don't actually know.

auntie_eneri

Thank you to everyone who replied. The assistant wasn't new to branch as we saw her about 2 years ago. If she still insists about closing an account then the Manager will certainly be involved. It would be no hardship to change one to a joint account, but we're of the opinion we didn't do anything wrong so why should we change.

colsten

Sadly, branch personnel don't have to be new to get it wrong. In my experience, the more senior ones are even more prone to get things wrong than junior ones.

Good luck with your next Branch appointment. BTW, there's not much that you can't do online or over the phone.

If you can post the amounts of your maturing ISAs, together with your plans for the cash in the next 10 or so years as well as your financial commitments, your tax rates and ages, many posters will offer their unbiased opinions on what you could do with it.

castle96

I opened my second sole a/c about a year ago. Don't know if this before or after any new T&C, but it went through online OK

jem16

IanManc wrote: »

When 123 accounts were first available, and for a long time afterwards, you were allowed to open two sole accounts. When the rule changed so that you were only allowed one sole account the people who already had two were allowed to keep them, and still are.

You were allowed more than two when they first started.

bigfreddiel

Would this be true for TSB vantage accounts. I had three then they changed the rules and account had to be upgraded to keep on receiving 5%, and you were only allowed one account. I took a gamble and upgraded two accounts, and left the third.

So as I opened these accounts when three were allowed, maybe the one account only doesn't apply like these old 123 accounts?

I don't like to ask TSB in case I have to close one account.

Cheers fj