Regular Savings Accounts: The Best Currently Available List!

grumbler

Special_Saver2 said:

Santander Regular eSaver

Interest rate: 2.5% gross p.a. fixed
Monthly payment: £1-£200 (the month is calculated by the date that you open your Regular eSaver, e.g. you open the Regular eSaver on the 16th of a month, your month will run from 16th of one month to the 15th of the next month and standing orders are only processed Monday to Friday; if your standing order falls on a weekend or bank holiday your payment will be made on the next working day, and if this is the last day of the month your payment won’t reach this account until the following month)
Miss any payments: Yes, as many as you want but any missed payments cannot be made up at a later date
Penalty-free withdrawals: Yes, as many as you like
Age of applicant: Age 16 years old or older
How to open account: Branch or online
Special conditions: You must have a Santander 123 current account or be part of Santander Select or Private Banking, you must fund the account with a standing order from a Santander current account and you must be signed up for online or mobile banking.

• At the end of 12 months, Santander will automatically renew your Regular eSaver for another 12 months at the interest rate and on the Terms and Conditions applicable at that time

and transfer the final balance at the end of the term (including interest earned) to your Santander current account from which the standing order was paid, including if your current account is in joint names.

This question is likely to be answered already, but the thread is too long to find the answer.

I just discovered that my "MONTHLY SAVER" is paying me pathetic 0.5% interest, not 2.5%.

The good news is that it was renewed recently. The bad news is that it seems to be the same 0.5% the previous 12 months and, possibly even deeper in the past.

Not a huge loss, bun how could this happen?!

And, to add insult to injury, they don't allow me to open a new "Regular eSaver" because I allegedly already have one. And to close it I have to call them because I cannot do it online and their robotic chat cannot close it either despite apparently being able to close other types of accounts.

PRAISETHESUN

grumbler said:

Special_Saver2 said:

Santander Regular eSaver

Interest rate: 2.5% gross p.a. fixed
Monthly payment: £1-£200 (the month is calculated by the date that you open your Regular eSaver, e.g. you open the Regular eSaver on the 16th of a month, your month will run from 16th of one month to the 15th of the next month and standing orders are only processed Monday to Friday; if your standing order falls on a weekend or bank holiday your payment will be made on the next working day, and if this is the last day of the month your payment won’t reach this account until the following month)
Miss any payments: Yes, as many as you want but any missed payments cannot be made up at a later date
Penalty-free withdrawals: Yes, as many as you like
Age of applicant: Age 16 years old or older
How to open account: Branch or online
Special conditions: You must have a Santander 123 current account or be part of Santander Select or Private Banking, you must fund the account with a standing order from a Santander current account and you must be signed up for online or mobile banking.

• At the end of 12 months, Santander will automatically renew your Regular eSaver for another 12 months at the interest rate and on the Terms and Conditions applicable at that time

and transfer the final balance at the end of the term (including interest earned) to your Santander current account from which the standing order was paid, including if your current account is in joint names.

This question is likely to be answered already, but the thread is too long to find the answer.

I just discovered that my "MONTHLY SAVER" is paying me pathetic 0.5% interest, not 2.5%.

The good news is that it was renewed recently. The bad news is that it seems to be the same 0.5% the previous 12 months and, possibly even deeper in the past.

Not a huge loss, bun how could this happen?!

And, to add insult to injury, they don't allow me to open a new "Regular eSaver" because I allegedly already have one. And to close it I have to call them because I cannot do it online and their robotic chat cannot close it either despite apparently being able to close other types of accounts.

The Santander RS renews at the end of the 12 month period at the interest rate prevailing at the time of renewal. The rate only increased to 2.5% fairly recently so odds are yours renewed just before the rate increase.

You can close your existing RS by calling them or getting through to an agent on live chat (you have to get past the robot first, but that's fairly easy to do). Once it's closed (which might take a few days) you can then open a new one at the current rate.

kaMelo

grumbler said:

Not a huge loss, bun how could this happen?!

And, to add insult to injury, they don't allow me to open a new "Regular eSaver" because I allegedly already have one. And to close it I have to call them because I cannot do it online and their robotic chat cannot close it either despite apparently being able to close other types of accounts.

Because it renewed prior to the 2.5% account being on offer, the previous offer being 0.5% at the time of your renewal hence why that's what you've got. Because you can't hold more than one account you cannot now open the 2.5% monthly saver.

The account can be closed but as you state it does require you to call. Once closed a new 2.5% version can be opened.

RG2015

@grumbler,

You ask how could this happen. The simple answer is that banks get you to agree to their terms and conditions.

In my opinion is it despicable behaviour, but the terms are very clearly stated in their summary box. It is a salient lesson for us all.

I have to admit to not reading terms and conditions in full, only the summary boxes. But I was fully aware of this Santander issue because it was very clear.

kaMelo

I don't think the fact that people can't be arsed to read terms equals despicable behaviour by banks. If they've given you all the information in summary form and detailed terms and conditions what else is it that they can do to not be despicable?

grumbler

Thank you all for the replies. I was a little busy last year to be on top of everything, but even last year I'd expect a little more than 0.5% from a regular savings account. And even with recent rise in the rates this 2%(!) hike doesn't look right. They sort of admit that 0.5% was pathetic.

RG2015

kaMelo said:

I don't think the fact that people can't be arsed to read terms equals despicable behaviour by banks. If they've given you all the information in summary form and detailed terms and conditions what else is it that they can do to not be despicable?

You misunderstand.

It is automatically renewing at a much lower rate that in my opinion is despicable behaviour.

I went out of my way to say that Santander did more than enough to tell prospective customers what would happen. They did not hide it in the Ts&Cs. It was very clearly stated in the summary box.

Santander did nothing wrong with regard to informing the customer. 

RG2015

grumbler said:

Thank you all for the replies. I was a little busy last year to be on top of everything, but even last year I'd expect a little more than 0.5% from a regular savings account. And even with recent rise in the rates this 2%(!) hike doesn't look right. They sort of admit that 0.5% was pathetic.

Absolutely agree.

It is also possible that they were trying to catch people out, although as @kaMelo says they did everything possible to keep the customer informed.

Daliah

grumbler said:

Thank you all for the replies. I was a little busy last year to be on top of everything, but even last year I'd expect a little more than 0.5% from a regular savings account. And even with recent rise in the rates this 2%(!) hike doesn't look right. They sort of admit that 0.5% was pathetic.

Last year, you could easily have got 3% for some of your money. @Special_Saver2 puts in a considerable effort to make it easy for us to pick the most appropriate offers. The Santander RS dropped from the top 10 in March 2018. 2.5%, OTH, is now in joint 2nd for adult Regular Savers. 

RG2015

Daliah said:

grumbler said:

Thank you all for the replies. I was a little busy last year to be on top of everything, but even last year I'd expect a little more than 0.5% from a regular savings account. And even with recent rise in the rates this 2%(!) hike doesn't look right. They sort of admit that 0.5% was pathetic.

Last year, you could easily have got 3% for some of your money. @Special_Saver2 puts in a considerable effort to make it easy for us to pick the most appropriate offers. The Santander RS dropped from the top 10 in March 2018. 2.5%, OTH, is now in joint 2nd for adult Regular Savers. 

"OTH" ?

I always get caught out by acronyms but even Google had no answer for this.