Santander switch

Windofchange

Hi all. I’m doing the bank switching lark to get the switch bonuses. Have just done this with Santander and have had a few malls. One of them says it looks like you’re already banking with us and asks me to login to the app to update my details. I suspect that this has come about as I had an abbey national account decades ago - possibly about 30 years and was an account I had as a teenager. To clarify I do not have any form of Santander account such as a credit card, mortgage or anything whatsoever. My question is has anyone experienced this and therefore will it stop me getting the current £240 new customer switch offer in due course? AI seems to think no it won’t, however it seems to hinge on whether the old abbey national account was transferred to a Santander one. If it had done then I might now not qualify which is annoying as I had totally forgotten about it until today and assumed it was closed a long long time ago. Anyone got any experience / knowledge here?

jaybeetoo

Do you have a Cahoot savings account?

grumpy_codger

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6684644/santander-switch

Read the T&Cs apply (PDF - 60 KB) ?

I don't see anything there saying that you don't qualify.

Shadyocuk

The Abbey national account will have become a santander account (years ago) , if it was a current account then you should not qualify. I had a similar problem with an old alliance and leicester account that was also frozen and the only way to close it was to go into a branch of santander in person.

Windofchange

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82149780#Comment_82149780

that’s my problem. It says I won’t qualify if I already have a Santander account. If my abbey national account has been converted into a Santander account when they took over and remained ‘active’ then I seem to have a problem? My thinking is that it will have been dormant and from reading around that means I am probably ok. Wondered if anyone has been through the same.

Windofchange

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82149806#Comment_82149806

This is my worry. I’ll report back when I have an answer for future posters if nobody else has had this issue.

danny13579

If the account became a Santander current account and you held this Santander current account on 1st January 2026, then you do not qualify for this offer.

However, if you close the account this year, so that you do not hold any Santander current account on 1st January 2027, then you should be eligible for a switch offer sometime in the future, possibly next year, when they change the date to 1st January 2027.

This is the first switch offer with the 1st January 2026 date. The previous 3 had 1st January 2025 as the date.

Money_Stitch

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82149755#Comment_82149755

Nothing I saw in the T&Cs about having Cahoot accounts exempting anyone from the switch offer, apart from not using cahoot to switch from and not using direct debits into Cahoot as a qualifier for the x2 DD required. I've just done this switch and won't be impressed if cahoot now makes me ineligible.

@Windofchange The Abbey National account - it's interesting that Santander kept it open so long unused, and the record of it so far back.

Not to alarm, but I'd make sure it is the Abbey National account for peace of mind, rather than there being another account opened somehow. Probably worth closing it as suggested.

Windofchange

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82150477#Comment_82150477

Yup, once I’m all setup sometime this weekend I will login and see what it is they want to know in terms of merging my details. If it isn’t the abbey national then I’m stumped as I’ve had no other Santander accounts certainly that I can remember and there’s nothing showing on my credit report in terms of accounts that don’t relate to me.