The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

RosieRooBear

Santander 8% R/S

Opened on 23rd June, accidentally paid in an additional £200 on 1st July, I realised my mistake early evening on the same day and withdrew it. I did briefly think about leaving it in there and see what would happen, but with an 8% R/S I’d rather stick to the t&c’s then chance it.

clairec666

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058081#Comment_82058081

I agree. It's possibly a bit like Principality, where it took human intervention to identify accounts which were in breach of the T&Cs, you could get away with it for a while but when you did get caught you could hardly argue with them.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058235#Comment_82058235

Similarly, I wouldn't risk it on an 8% account.

intalex

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058203#Comment_82058203

It could be argued that by allowing you to earn 8% for longer, rather than downgrading the account immediately you are in breach, Santander would be doing you a favour.

That's assuming they won't downgrade retroactively from day 1… anyway, I'll keep doing what I set out to do and will report on here what happens…

Chaykin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058206#Comment_82058206

For a minute I thought maybe Santander's RS works similarly to HSBC's RS where you can put money in earlier in the month than the "monthiversary" but it will not gain the advertised percentage interest until the "monthiversary".

But if you say interest was as expected then I'm willing to "risk it for a biscuit". I just transferred another £200 to my Santander RS after opening it and funding it with the first £200 on 24/06/2026. Going forward will fund it on the 1st of each month. Will also report here of any developments.

fabsaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057634#Comment_82057634

I wouldn't be so keen to accept their decision. Yes they have the right to delay payments and make the checks they feel are necessary to prevent fraud. However in your case they stated they were "certain this is a scam".

This was clearly the wrong conclusion and you could argue that they failed to do the most basic of checks before arriving at this conclusion. Their poorly trained fraud team demonstrated a lack of understanding of how savings accounts work.

It's not hard to verify that it is a genuine building society, authorised and regulated by the FCA.

The sort code and account number you were using appears in several places in the FAQ on the Buckinghamshire website. https://www.bucksbs.co.uk/faqs/

Kim_13

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058157#Comment_82058157

You can't undo it, but you can avoid making it a repeated and persistent breaching of the terms. It would be unreasonable to punish after one mistake, but arguably not if it becomes a pattern (although some/all Loughborough and Furness accounts will downgrade an account for a single missed payment.)

With that said, while you would have to accept them downgrading the account if that is what they do - it's not like you can force them to reinstate it - it would be your perogative to file a complaint about that fact on the basis that choosing only to enforce the terms after a prolonged period is unreasonable. Or to reopen the account if still available and follow the terms to the letter, since you wouldn't have a Regular Saver at that point (though there is a small chance Santander could block you from opening further accounts or decide that they will no longer offer you banking services.)

Hattie627

Still looking for anyone who has actually suffered the downgrading of a Santander RS as a result of (accidental or deliberate) mis-timed funding (whether a one-off or repeated over a part/the whole of the life of the account)? Did you get forewarning of the downgrade? Did you appeal and what was the outcome of the appeal? Were you able to open a new Santander RS after the downgrade or were you barred for a period/indefinitely?

janusd

does anyone know if deposits to Dudley BS on a Saturday should appear same day or will it be Monday before it appears ?

I made a deposit to their Loyalty RS this morning - still not matching CoP, but unusually for me, I went ahead anyway (£50 to test)… sadly, Dudley's site has been flaky today and i'm often getting 504 Timeouts when asking for the OTP to be sent… just managed to login, but still not showing.

ironically, their letter arrived in the post this afternoon - it says the payee name is my Initial plus Surname, though I used the normal First / Surname when depositing - all other details are correct.

also, the letter states that the minimum opening deposit is both £50 and £500 - not very helpful!

Kim_13

Dudley Suspect it was a typo saying the minimum was both £50 (standard Dudley opening amount as it was that for the Festive RS too) and £500. £500 was the maximum for the previous issue of the Loyalty Regular Saver. Teachers were an anomaly in that the opening minimum was a full monthly deposit.

Santander I do wonder if they might be more likely to choose to enforce their terms for an 8% account than a 5% one, especially if rates start dropping. Then they don't have to give 30 days notice or whatever it is.

intalex

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058467#Comment_82058467

Indeed, I am only violating it the 1 time in the first "month" per their definition, with 2 payments in that month, but otherwise I am sticking to only 1 payment per "month" per their definition 😉