Santander Easy Access Saver - What to do with it?

Sea_Shell

What are peoples plans once the rate drops on this account on 20th May.

Move the money out, obviously 

But what of the account itself, especially if you opted for annual interest (Like i did)

Will you leave a £ in and then just wait for the interest to be credited, at the anniversary (Sept for me), in the (vain) hope that the rate may increase again in the future.

All in same tax year, so no consideration needed on that score.

Or ask for it to be closed, so interest is credited to date, and take a chance on any new products in the future?

This way you can keep the compounding going, at whatever better rate you find elsewhere.  

Thoughts?      Closure seems to be the best option, but have I missed anything?

ColdIron

I shall close mine, I see little point in keeping it

soulsaver

It will still pay 4.20% after may 20th, so interest is compounding but at a lower rate than you can get elsewhere, at least for the moment.

Note the account itself is NLA, so the 4.20 is only available to existing holders - so you can't close to get the interest and then reopen. 

I used it to fund my Sant savings hub - so funds have been going in and out - but my spreadsheet records my estimated interest accrued at £1100 to date.

So 3.3 months to 'maturity' at start of Sept from May 20th at 1% below the top EA rate ATM ... a potential 'loss' of
c.£3.00 to leave it open to 'maturity'. 

sausage_time

I plan to close and move the balance plus interest to Chase Saver (at 5.1% with the 1% bonus I was opportunely able to obtain). 

subjecttocontract

I'll move the balance to my YBS esaver at 5.1%.
Santander will be taking a hard hit from the 2 of us over the next few weeks:
* Close easy access saver.
* Transfer fixed rate isa x3.
* End 5% regular saver x2.

Bridlington1

I opted for monthly interest, which is next due to be paid before the rate reduction comes into effect and will have the account completely empty by Wednesday due to regular savers anyway so will just skim the final interest payment off when its paid and then pretty much ignore it from then on.

I'll keep mine as Santander's cheque deposit limits in the app go by per account per day rather than just per day so keeping it gives me the option to deposit an extra £1k of cheques in the app per day if needed. The account won't have anything in it and I won't be losing out on any interest by keeping it sat there empty so I see little point in closing it.

Sea_Shell

I'd read on another thread, that their new app doesn't support cheque pay in!!

I haven't been moved to it yet, so don't know for sure.

Wheres_My_Cashback

Sea_Shell said:

I'd read on another thread, that their new app doesn't support cheque pay in!!

I haven't been moved to it yet, so don't know for sure.

At the moment it doesn't which is a step backwards as the old version did.

My android has been updated, whereas iOS hasn't.

It states 'We're planning to have the cheque scanning feature available in the next few weeks'

happybagger

Close & transfer to Coventry triple access at 5.2% (NLA). I've also got a HTB 5.15% (NLA).
I prefer to close so the interest will compound rather than wait until the end of September

dealyboy

In addition to my Santander Easy Access Saver Issue 3's reduction in interest rate on May 20, my Easy Access Saver Issue 1 is changing to an Everyday Saver Issue 2 on June 12th with the interest rate 1.20%.

I am more concerned about my EA Saver Issue 1, whereas it only has a residual balance of 2p and has had that since my credit interest was received in October 23, it is used as my distribution hub whereby all my other accounts are maintained. I hope that my payees will be retained when my account converts.

Regarding the EA Saver Issue 3, I will move funds to the Chase Saver at 5.1%, bar 3p. I hope I can move funds from Chase to the Everyday Saver Issue 2, hopefully retaining its original account number.

poseidon1

I will be keeping it open with around a nominal £100 to ensure I can easily access the year end tax certificate for 2023/24 for self assessment  tax return purposes.  

I always retain small balances for this purpose, since it can be a real inconvenience trying to recreate all the monthly interest receipts for my tax return from the different saving institutions I utilise each year ( 9 such accounts last tax year all paying monthly!).