Santander should i stay or go..........

NotRichAtAll

So am 64 drive a coach for national express and have a few bank accounts, santander been 1 of them. Today while driving into London i thought to myself am going to switch away from them no real reason or thought process behind the initial thought.

I have accounts with
santander, halifax, chase, kroo, 1st direct, natwest, marcus, lloyds and rbs

santander is my everyday direct debit bill account a few k in it
halifax is my wages in account and not much else few k in that
halifax regular saver
kroo is just a savings account few k in it 
1st direct is just a rinse and repeat 7% savings account
natwest is used its like my goto slush fund account few k in it
natwest digital saver (just opened last month)
lloyds and rbs are really not used less than £100 in each
chase i am really not sure weather to use or not less than £300 in it
marcus is my main savings account more than a few k in it

So what has santander done to me to think about moving away from them, actually nothing i have my debits and standing orders set up everything works, the app is ok as apps go. Maybe i have a subconscious grudge about them taking £2 from me each month for the pleasure of banking with them

Now if i were to move away who should i move too or should i forget the idea of moving from them? i was thinking metro bank, there is a branch near to me.
If i were to move/switch i take it  my direct debits and standing orders will all be just moved over aswell?

many thanks to anyone who may reply.

CliveOfIndia

A lot of it is down to personal preference and convenience.  I've been with Santander for donkey's years - since the days they were Abbey National.  I can't be bothered with the hassle of moving banks for no reason.  Yes, I know there are loads of bribes these days to get you to switch, but I'm of the opinion "better the devil you know".  I've never had any issues with them, they do what you expect a bank to do, and they do actually have a physical branch near to me, which is handy on the odd occasion I need to use it.

I'm not for one minute saying they're "brilliant" or "the best out there" - they just do what I need without any issues.

I'd question why you're paying for the account though - is it a business account?  Unless you're actually getting some benefit that's of value to you personally (breakdown cover, travel insurance, whatever), then there's no reason to be paying for a personal current account - that may be one incentive to switch.

NotRichAtAll said:

If i were to move/switch i take it  my direct debits and standing orders will all be just moved over aswell?

Yes, if you did decide you'd like to switch, the switching service will take care of all that for you.  And you might earn a nice little bribe on top, depending on who you switch to.

NotRichAtAll

CliveOfIndia said:

A lot of it is down to personal preference and convenience.  I've been with Santander for donkey's years - since the days they were Abbey National.  I can't be bothered with the hassle of moving banks for no reason.  Yes, I know there are loads of bribes these days to get you to switch, but I'm of the opinion "better the devil you know".  I've never had any issues with them, they do what you expect a bank to do, and they do actually have a physical branch near to me, which is handy on the odd occasion I need to use it.

I'm not for one minute saying they're "brilliant" or "the best out there" - they just do what I need without any issues.

I'd question why you're paying for the account though - is it a business account?  Unless you're actually getting some benefit that's of value to you personally (breakdown cover, travel insurance, whatever), then there's no reason to be paying for a personal current account - that may be one incentive to switch.

NotRichAtAll said:

If i were to move/switch i take it  my direct debits and standing orders will all be just moved over aswell?

Yes, if you did decide you'd like to switch, the switching service will take care of all that for you.  And you might earn a nice little bribe on top, depending on who you switch to.

So i too have been with them for years now maybe 25+ i was paying £5 a mth for the then 321 account i down graded that to £2 a mth i thought at the time that was the lowest option (edge account) but your response prompted to me to look on their site and there is a free one now. I do get some cash back each month but its not worth holding my breath for, maybe Starlin would be another option they pay interest on balances and charge no fees

my account is called 123 lite current account

Lightning360

Personally really happy with them. Never had an issue with them. I use the Edge account with some cashback, but with the Saver, I get a nice amount of money from it each month. As long as they are essentially giving me money to use them, I'm happy to stay put.

Although if you do decide to move, it is so straightforward. The switch service does everything for you.

Middle_of_the_Road

NotRichAtAll said:

So am 64 drive a coach for national express and have a few bank accounts, santander been 1 of them. Today while driving into London i thought to myself am going to switch away from them no real reason or thought process behind the initial thought.

I have accounts with
santander, halifax, chase, kroo, 1st direct, natwest, marcus, lloyds and rbs

santander is my everyday direct debit bill account a few k in it
halifax is my wages in account and not much else few k in that
halifax regular saver
kroo is just a savings account few k in it 
1st direct is just a rinse and repeat 7% savings account
natwest is used its like my goto slush fund account few k in it
natwest digital saver (just opened last month)
lloyds and rbs are really not used less than £100 in each
chase i am really not sure weather to use or not less than £300 in it
marcus is my main savings account more than a few k in it

So what has santander done to me to think about moving away from them, actually nothing i have my debits and standing orders set up everything works, the app is ok as apps go. Maybe i have a subconscious grudge about them taking £2 from me each month for the pleasure of banking with them

Now if i were to move away who should i move too or should i forget the idea of moving from them? i was thinking metro bank, there is a branch near to me.
If i were to move/switch i take it  my direct debits and standing orders will all be just moved over aswell?

many thanks to anyone who may reply.

Seems a pointless exercise, unless you want to go for one of the switch incentives.

Depending on how the Santander account cashback benefits you, you could change to the Edge account which pays 6% (up to 4k) on the linked Edge saver. 

I would never leave thousands in any current account paying no interest.

You could apply for the RBS regular saver, same as the NatWest. 

If yo do decide to go for one of the switch offers, Lloyds and Nationwide have good regular savers, also Nationwide pay 5% interest on the first £1.5k on their Flex direct account.

northwalesd

NotRichAtAll said:

maybe Starlin would be another option they pay interest on balances and charge no fees

Starling no longer pay interest on current account balances.

Rob5342

My recommendation is always Monzo or Starling as they have the best apps by far and put the other banks to shame (especially Nationwide eho are stuck in the stone age) . Opening and switching accounts is a trivial task these days so just give different banks a try, switch if you like then and try somewhere else if you don't. 

Stargunner

Do you get cashback from Santander on various bills to offset the £2 fee? If not, you could switch it to their free account.
You say you have  several thousands sitting in various current accounts. This is probably earning you nil or very little interest. 

In addition you  could also open a Santander edge current acc and if you dont meet the conditions to earn the cashback, they don’t charge you the monthly fee, This will allow you to put £4k into an edge  saver account which pays 6% interest.

TheBanker

If you're paying £2 per month, it will be a 123 Lite account.

If your cashback is more than £2 you might as well keep it, although the 'profit' is likely to be negligible.

If you are earning less than £2 a month you could change it to an Everyday Account which is free, but doesn't offer the cashback. 

Why don't you use Kroo as your slush fund instead of Natwest? That way you'd earn interest on the balance, and you could use the Kroo debit card for your spending. 

NotRichAtAll

TheBanker said:

If you're paying £2 per month, it will be a 123 Lite account.

If your cashback is more than £2 you might as well keep it, although the 'profit' is likely to be negligible.

If you are earning less than £2 a month you could change it to an Everyday Account which is free, but doesn't offer the cashback. 

Why don't you use Kroo as your slush fund instead of Natwest? That way you'd earn interest on the balance, and you could use the Kroo debit card for your spending. 

yeah thats what the account was a 123 lite that was rebranded in 2022 my cash back as you say is negligible am probably in pocket by 66p

You kind of lost me by suggesting using kroo as the slush fund, do you mean put the natwest funds that are not earning any interest into the kroo account, got to say i never even thought of that.

NorwichMan

Also maybe consider that average age of accounts is apparently a factor that credit providers consider when assessing applications for new products. If Santander is your oldest or one of your oldest bank accounts (and you say 25 years+) then it might be worth keeping it open just for this reason.