Santander Easy Access Limited Edition

harz99

@Hattie627 you could add a third bullet point...Santander have also given savers plenty of notice of the rate reduction.

ToastLady

harz99 said:

@Hattie627 you could add a third bullet point...Santander have also given savers plenty of notice of the rate reduction.

Indeed 2 months notice is very fair. Whilst none of us who have the account, are going to be happy at the decrease, at least we have a 2 months to make other arrangements. I suspect that I am not the only one who has opened other account(s) elsewhere already, albeit they may well go down too, as that's the way things seem to be going.

BooJewels

When I opened the account last September, I really wasn't expecting it to stay at that rate for as long as it has (69% of my term) - a lot of accounts have gone NLA or rates have reduced since then.  The 60 days notice of a reduction was an attractive feature to me and they've actually given 73 days notice from the initial announcement - so it all seems fair enough.

As it happens, I opened this account specifically to house funds to buy a car, as I'm learning to drive.  Having fallen on ice and smashed my leg, that has all been postponed for a while, so the extra time I'll earn any interest on those funds is already beyond my projections, so I'll have a bit more to spend when the time comes anyway.

mebu60

Hattie627 said:

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?
 

As you asked:
- they could have included the salient details in the email, would have zero cost apart from a little thought (as well as the online document);
- they could also have sent out the document followed by the email a little earlier so customers heard the news first from them rather than reading about it in the media.

huw01

I have the account, it's going down, it was bound to. They have given more than ample notice of this and the communication has been clear.

Yes it is going down, come May I will probably move the money elsewhere if better rates on easy access are available dependent on who the provider is. If the rates are only marginally better by then, I may not bother - especially if the interface is clunky e.g Cynergy.

As my current account is with Santander it has been really handy so I will see.

I don't think anyone can complain that the communication has been poor, so what if you read it online before getting the email

2010

I had an email, text message, notification in the app and on top of it all they have given the required two months notice.
Can`t fault Santander but come 6th April, the account will be closed and the money put in ISA`s.
Which was my intention before the notification of the cut.

friolento

huw01 said:

I have the account, it's going down, it was bound to. They have given more than ample notice of this and the communication has been clear.

Yes it is going down, come May I will probably move the money elsewhere if better rates on easy access are available dependent on who the provider is. If the rates are only marginally better by then, I may not bother - especially if the interface is clunky e.g Cynergy.

As my current account is with Santander it has been really handy so I will see.

I don't think anyone can complain that the communication has been poor, so what if you read it online before getting the email

May be Chip is coming back to being useful, if they stick with 4.84%. From a usability point of view, they work nearly as well with a Santander current account as as Santander esaver does.

As you say, we will see.

friolento

IMO, the criticism of Santander from some regarding the announcement of this rate drop is quite unreasonable. Many of us have had much more than the contractual 60 day notice of the drop already, and the remaining account holders really have no complaint unless they don't get their personal notification before March 20. It is quite reasonable to expect that Santander will stagger the notifications, in order not to overload their systems. It is also quite reasonable that they 'force' customers to read the document detailing the rate drop, as this is the only valid proof that we got notified.

jaypers

Weird that I have this account and have not been notified of the change. No text, no email and nothing in my documents. 

BooJewels

It's probably all being staggered @jaypers - I've not yet had an email, but the letter appeared in my documents overnight.  Presumably that's why the initial announcement was a few days ago, that buys them nearly 2 weeks to give everyone the requisite 60 days notice.