Santander 123 ISA's

cosh25

Hi

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but just FYI for all of us 123 and 123 Lite customers. Santander have any easy access E-ISA which pays 1.50% for 12 months. It allows transfer in's and can pay your £20k subscription. Its a good easy access option and they do also have a 2 year at 1.90% fixed rate.

Hydro1

Thanks cosh25. I had actually just checked the Santander website over the weekend to see if any new products were available, and might not have checked again any time soon. I have now upgraded mine.

Newly_retired

Just checked the t & C of the 2 year Santander ISA and although it is called 2 year, it is actually up to 26 months. It matures in June 2021, even if you open it now.
Not too happy about this, as I would prefer it to mature before the end of the ISA year, so I can transfer to the latest new deal before the next tax year. So I am undecided whether to go for this or not.

gt94sss2

Unfortunately, it's not a flexible ISA so that rules it out for me..

Shyanne

I'm having a LOAD of trouble with Santander at the moment. I tried to transfer money from my Santander 123 personal account last Tuesday. It was a large(ish) amount because I wanted to top up an ISA with the Coventry Building Soc. Their website allowed me to go through all the various Security questions, they sent me an OTP, (one time password) and I clicked merrily away. Bearing in mind it recognised the Coventry's sort code AND it was being made payable into an account IN MY OWN NAME, Santander BLOCKED the payment! I didn't find out until I checked the following day, (online) that the Coventry had received it.... they hadn't. I rang the Cov and they said it was a problem with the issuer, so they couldn't help. I immediately tried to log on to my accounts with Santander and only then did I find out that they had blocked me from accessing ALL 3 accounts I hold with them! I've lost count of how many phone calls I've made to Santander. Nobody can help. I am 68 and not in the best of health. This fiasco nearly gave me a stroke! I must admit I panicked and came over all hot and sweaty! I phoned my branch, which is a 35 mile round trip (I live in mid Wales). They suggested I sent a cheque to the Cov. Unfortunately, because I relied on being able to have access online, (silly me!) I chose NOT to receive a cheque book. Another phone call to HO of Santander to request a cheque book (which can take up to 10 working days to sort out), during which I was told that IF I sent a cheque for this amount …. THAT wouldn't be honoured either! The only way of getting round this is me making that journey to the branch, in pain and discomfort, so that they can check my passport and report back to the fraud squad at HQ. Even if I was on my deathbed they would be immovable in this regard! So, fellow forumites, bear all I have said in mind. I will now miss the opportunity to top up my ISA with the Coventry as there is only a 14 day window to do so. I am now on day 7 and no nearer to solving this problem with Santander. I even rang my branch again yesterday, to let them know that their suggestion to send a cheque was a useless one. The person I needed to speak to was involved with a customer so I was promised I'd get a call back.... guess what? I didn't and still haven't. ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY, THEY TREAT YOU AS A CRIMINAL WHEN YOU TRY TO TRANSFER IT TO ANOTHER FINANCIAL ESTABLISHMENT! I feel a report to the Ombudsman is necessary now. Who agrees?

Their "Security Policy" is much too restrictive to us oldies who can't just drop everything and hop, skip and jump at their command. They are behaving like little Hitlers. Prohibiting me from using MY MONEY!!

webjaved

I've never had any problems with transferring money out from Santander to another bank account that was not Santander. I've always had to request the OTP, every transaction has gone through smoothly. I hope you end up getting the problem resolved.

I saw the Cash ISA offer when I logged into my Online Banking this morning. I've already closed my ISA account. The interest rate on it was 0.60%.

I'm completely moving away from them to Nationwide due to better interest rates.

Alexland

While I am sympathetic to Shyanne's issue - our experience with Santander as our main long term joint account has been entirely positive and we have done frequent external transfers.

Thanks cosh25 as I had pretty much written off Santander as being competitive on Cash ISAs. Next tax year I cannot make much use of my personal savings allowance as I will be drawing more income (less into pension) to take advantage of the increased £50k higher rate tax band while still trying to keep my total earnings below £50k for the child benefit clawback. If they can keep up the attractive rates there's a good chance that Santander might get the business.

Alex

xylophone

I'm having a LOAD of trouble with Santander at the moment.

This must be both stressful and frustrating.

Given that the bank has a duty of care to ensure that a large and unusual transfer is not fraudulent, Santander do seem to be acting in an over zealous manner on this occasion - but more than this, the advice to obtain a chequebook, then to be told that the cheque would not be honoured, then to be promised a call back and not get one strikes me as extraordinarily unhelpful.

Have you also explained that you are in poor health which makes travel difficult?

I think that you should make a formal complaint about the unsatisfactory customer service.

I wonder would Santander accept verification of your passport by a local solicitor (certified copy)?

This could then be posted.

webjaved

A certified copy of the passport should be accepted. If you don't hear back from the bank, I would ring up and demand to speak to the manager and log a complaint. Maybe that is the kick up the backside they need in order to resolve the problem for you.

Paul_DNAP

Seems an interesting rate, I hope it hangs about a while - I'm not considering my cash ISA until then end of April when I have a fixed rate one mature. Or maybe end of May when another matures. I am thinking of transferring them both and adding to it to tidy it all to one account rather than a continually growing number of things to remember.