Santander Easy Access Limited Edition

silvercue

I have not received an email......I have this account.

harz99

I've just had the email, shall wait and see what other rates are available when the 4.2% kicks in.

InvesterJones

I'm not quite sure than an email that gives no indication of date or what the new rate that applies is counts as them giving the proper notice of a rate change not in your favour according to terms & conditions.

norm_

Why are Santander dropping the rate before the BoE have dropped the base rate?

It's not the first time Santander has screwed their customers over though is it, I remember how quickly they dumped their 1-2-3 accounts also, back when they were offering 3% on balances of 20k.

d63

very disappointing, clearly, but since it was only ever designed to be a 1 year account, with the first 8 months or so @5.2% and the remaining time @4.2% that would still work out to be approx. 4.9% AER if one doesnt find something better come may 20th.

TheBanker

norm_ said:

Why are Santander dropping the rate before the BoE have dropped the base rate?

It's not the first time Santander has screwed their customers over though is it, I remember how quickly they dumped their 1-2-3 accounts also, back when they were offering 3% on balances of 20k.

See my earlier reply - the BoE base rate is not the only consideration when setting savings rates unless the account terms and conditions specifically tie the interest rate to base rate. As you note, the 123 account at various times paid more than the base rate. 

masonic

InvesterJones said:

I'm not quite sure than an email that gives no indication of date or what the new rate that applies is counts as them giving the proper notice of a rate change not in your favour according to terms & conditions.

I can't quite believe what I'm reading here, which seems equivalent to saying that if they had sent a paper letter, it wouldn't have counted because they didn't prominently include all of the essential details printed on the outside of the envelope, or on a postcard, lest the recipient might throw it away unopened.

The email states:

You may need to take action

Please log on to your Mobile Banking app or Online Banking as soon as possible. You have important new documents to read. They relate to your: Interest rate going down...

Frankly, that should be more than enough to make it clear this letter is worth reading, and more than some banks share in their notifications.

Anyone registered for online banking has a responsibility to log in and read messages deposited into their Statements and Documents with the same level of diligence as if they had been put through their letterbox. The electronic document gives all relevant details and itself constitutes due notification whether or not the notification email has been received. Much the same as a correctly addressed and posted letter is deemed as having been received whether or not it makes it to the destination, except in this case the electronic document is still available even if delivery of the email fails. If an individual cannot check their documents section regularly/when prompted, then they should register for paper documents or raise their accessibility issues with Santander.

The FCA requires notification of a reduction in interest rate to be made in a 'durable medium', so email would not make the grade, whereas a downloadable pdf document would. There is therefore a balancing act between making the email clear enough to prompt as many people as possible to act on it (which in my view has been achieved in this case), while at the same time not making the email an ersatz notification itself when it cannot meet all the regulatory requirements, and may deter customers from retrieving the official notification in a durable format. However, the reminder notification providers must send out 14 days ahead of the change can be by a variety of methods guided by customer preferences. Arguably the 14 day notification is the more useful one in practice.

Kim_13

happybagger said:

So we get an email from Santander telling us the rate's going down and to log into the account to read a document to see the new rate and date.

Must be an exercise in seeing how many actually read emails and follow their instruction, as it wouldn't have been hard for them to say 4.2% from 20 May in that email!

And indeed when they increased the rate on a previous issue of the account, they did detail the change in the text of the email.

As it’s a reduction, perhaps issuing it as a document is to create a paper trail, in case anyone notices after the event and complains that they weren't given the requisite notice. But it really wouldn’t have been hard to do both.

masonic

Kim_13 said:

happybagger said:

So we get an email from Santander telling us the rate's going down and to log into the account to read a document to see the new rate and date.

Must be an exercise in seeing how many actually read emails and follow their instruction, as it wouldn't have been hard for them to say 4.2% from 20 May in that email!

And indeed when they increased the rate on a previous issue of the account, they did detail the change in the text of the email.

As it’s a reduction, perhaps issuing it as a document is to create a paper trail, in case anyone notices after the event and complains that they weren't given the requisite notice. But it really wouldn’t have been hard to do both.

There aren't the same FCA restrictions over the method of communication for interest rate increases, only the initial notification of a change to the detriment of the customer must be communicated in a certain way.

Hattie627

Putting aside FCA requirements for intimating a reduction in interest rate and looking at it purely from a practical communication point of view, Santander have given customers

• a clear email indicating (in bold) that action is required by opening the documents section in the app/online banking and also outlining the imminent change
• a clearly written letter in the app/online banking detailing the change and when it takes effect

What more can they realistically do?