Saffron BS - anyone here have a savings account or ISA with them? Good or bad?

Section62

Tunstallstoven said:

One reviewer says:

"Dreadful society.

Emailed my details to another customer.

Referred to a phone call they never made

Never answer their phones

Have duplicated my account

Have not bothered to reply to.my urgent email

Took a month to open my account."

Sounds like they were very unfortunate, but with any company you may get these kind of issues.

I'd suggest you open one of Saffron's E-Saver (Issue 22) accounts first and stick in the minimum £10.  That way you'll be able to get your online/app access and everything else set up before committing a larger amount for the ISA.

I don't think it is likely they will, but if they stuff that up, or you have the same experience as the Trustpilot reviewer, then you can just close the E-Saver with minimal financial loss.  The E-Saver Issue 22 is currently paying 4.5% interest, so is a fairly decent easy access account to keep anyway. (and keeping this account open long-term would also give you continuous membership and an account which has been open a long time to benefit from loyalty accounts they occasionally do, leaving you free to close/transfer out the ISA without affecting your 'loyalty' qualification)

One of the good things about Saffron is they will renew accounts, putting you onto a better product but keeping the same account number.  My current regular saver has been rolled over multiple times since I joined in 2017... in all that time I've had no problems with them.

Is it new ISA money you'll be depositing, or a transfer in of old money?

TheWoodler

Saffron: been with them for about 4 years now with continuous membership. 

Their customer service is excellent, I’ve found. The following aspect of customer service may not be relevant to you, but they maintain a number of communications channels in an accessible fashion and are always responsive so I will always praise them for being accessible.

I’m deaf and I find it really annoying when financial institutions won’t deal with account specific issues by webchat (NS&I won’t - but HMRC will!!) or take weeks to answer secure messages or not maintain that facility properly with timeouts so you can’t compose or send a message before getting thrown out. I expect to have my issues, queries or instructions sorted in the same sort of time frame that people who can just ring up do, and Saffron ticks the boxes for me. 

subjecttocontract

I've had the odd account with them on and off for around 10 years but generally most that they offer is not competitive. They are a minor building society who never make the best buy tables. Unless they offered something worthwhile I probably wouldt give them a second look. But that's me, not you and you may think they're great.

JamesRobinson48

TheWoodler said:

Saffron: been with them for about 4 years now with continuous membership. 

Their customer service is excellent, I’ve found. The following aspect of customer service may not be relevant to you, but they maintain a number of communications channels in an accessible fashion and are always responsive so I will always praise them for being accessible.

I’m deaf and I find it really annoying when financial institutions won’t deal with account specific issues by webchat (NS&I won’t - but HMRC will!!) or take weeks to answer secure messages or not maintain that facility properly with timeouts so you can’t compose or send a message before getting thrown out. I expect to have my issues, queries or instructions sorted in the same sort of time frame that people who can just ring up do, and Saffron ticks the boxes for me. 

Just an aside: you might try composing your text message offline in a Word doc (or equivalent), then cut and paste it into the institution's secure messaging system.  That's what I generally do to avoid any timeout issues.

TheWoodler

Saffron’s Members’ Month regular savings accounts over the last couple of years have been very competitive, albeit on small sums: 9% in 23, 8% last year - certainly one of the better loyalty rewards out there, so it’s worth thinking about the longer-term benefits of membership, too. Whether they will offer a similar product this year is anyone’s guess (and if so what the rate will be). 

I think these are worth having as part of a diversified savings portfolio, in which each £ works as hard as it possibly can, nothing wrong with that. It also makes good returns on savings accessible to people who might have less to save, and I like that concept - it might help someone get on the ladder. That’s very MSE. 

I like the smaller building societies because they tend to support local grassroots causes in various ways - they may not have the slickest apps or websites, but they tend to be functional, are covered by the FSCS, and if:

* they are responsive to customers, including their customers who might have access needs (because that’s actually a legal requirement of the Equality Act 2010!);
* you can deposit and withdraw electronically, and;
*they have an ethos you can get on board with (green, community, accessibility, other corporate social responsibility such as financial education or providing access to hub banking services where they are the only man left standing in town after the big boys have shut up shop)

- I’m happy to place some of my money with them. I’m not naïve, much of this is good business practice - opportunities for cross-selling, building customer loyalty, and getting the brand out there in an environment where customers increasingly bring their own values into consideration. 

But it feels like a lot of the smaller BS have thought about their USPs in the market, and as part of a holistic approach as to my savings, they’re one of the organisations who, as I’ve said upthread, tick a lot of boxes I personally want to tick. There’s nothing wrong with having a 360-degree view of your savings that goes beyond top rates. 

35har1old

SonOfPearl said:

Trust Pilot itself is not trustworthy, so its reviews are best ignored. 

To everyone that has been positive on this topic have you ever left a review on trust pilot?
For Myself I have never left a positive or negative review on Trust Pilot

Barkin

Agreed. 

Recently, while one of their branches was closed for a refurb, they provided a free minibus to another branch for anybody that wanted/needed a counter service.

Whilst of no real interest to me, I like their ethos.

Tunstallstoven

Kim_13 said:

They don’t offer electronic transfers....  

Hmm, so would that cause any problems trying to transfer in an existing ISA from another provider?  

Thanks a million to everyone for the helpful and encouraging replies.  I'm glad I asked now   

Barkin

Tunstallstoven said:

Kim_13 said:

They don’t offer electronic transfers....  

Hmm, so would that cause any problems trying to transfer in an existing ISA from another provider?  

Only in that, to initiate the transfer, you'd need to download and fill in a paper form, then post it to them.

Tunstallstoven

OK, great, thanks for explaining an confirming...  I've just found the form.  Ta