I fully understand that Santander are to banking what Ryanair are to flying, but I've been with them since they took over A&L and I always keep a wary eye. I went into the bank on Friday morning and was pounced upon by a young bloke who tried to convince me that their 123 current account was the way to go. The current account also appears to run alongside the 123 credit card account. I should add that I have a natural distrust of bankers bearing gifts and bright ideas!
The calculation made it look quite feasible but, as with everything these days, it isn't absolutely straightforward. I just wonder if anyone on here has any experience of this account and if they find it good/bad/problematic etc.
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Thanks, Zero, the article was published in the spring when the account was introduced - I just wondered if anyone had actually dipped their toe in the water and possibly had it bitten :-)
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I have one. Its fine. The online service is good as it is easy to follow.
For certain direct debits it gives you a percentage back. I think it is 3% for Sky, 2% for gas and electric and 1% for water and council tax. Most DDs are detected automatically but you may need to tell them about some obscure ones.
There are charges for going overdrawn and a £2 per month charge but the DDs that I have give me £7 a month plus interest on the account balance.
They also pay up to 3% interest on current account balances up to £20k and I don't think it is tiered like some others but I think if you go over £20k they may not pay any interest!?
As with all current accounts never go overdrawn as it will cost a lot.
As for them having poor service levels, I have never had a problem with them and all their call centres are now in the British Isles which is better than a lot of other banks.
You dont need a widget for online banking. They send you a text message for each new transfer or payment you make as authentication and you have to type the code in to the website for it to work. This doesn't apply to DDs. Saves forgetting the widget.
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 1 Dec 12 at 20:06
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If you run a permanently in credit current account it might be possible to 'beat the system' and win with 123.
If you need an overdraft and/or lack the time to compare every deal I suspect the basic current account will be a better deal.
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Yeah, as the money saving expert said you need the high spending cashback and mortgage buffer to make it work.
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I escaped from a Santander savings account earlier this year.
Unfortunately I was one of those who got bad service from them, I'm afraid. They were OK until 2011, when they seemed to go to pieces with numerous failures. Their text message system never worked for me either - the online system always timed out before I received the text.
They still pester me about starting a 123 account, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.
Now switched to ING, but I'll have to move again now that the Apartheid Bank has taken their UK savings operation over.
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Yeah, Zero, I'd be a bit wary of the self-appointed 'Money saving Expert' as well - wasn't he the chap who was advising people to fix their mortgages just before the rates came zonking down?
My present current (online) account is the old bog standard one which neither pays any interest nor incurs any charges but does carry the sole benefit of annual European travel insurance. My suspicion is that Santander is trying to rationalise all of its accounts, many of which have resulted from recent takeovers, by tempting customers to go for the 123 account. Once everyone is corralled in, then interest rates will be chopped and the goalposts moved.
I am encouraged by zippy's experience as my main reason for transferring would be to take advantage of the 3% interest on balances up to £20k - the reason being that Santander will shortly be pulling their 3.1% e-saver from under my feet, and I need somewhere to keep 'readies' in case of unforeseen disaster.
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>>
>> You dont need a widget for online banking. They send you a text message for
>> each new transfer or payment you make as authentication and you have to type the
>> code in to the website for it to work.
What if you don't have a mobile phone?
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'Struth - widgets, text messages - I really am confused now!!! All I need for my current current (forgive pun) account is a computer. My mobile phone is a pay as you go old cast-off from the missus - I'd hate to think that access to my millions depended on THAT!
PS - the reason that I have millions (OK, a slight exaggeration) is because I don't blow it on ever-changing phone technology ;-)
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Mine is a standard account with them, after they took over A and L. Been fine so far. But do the sums on the 123. For me it worked out at something under 20 quid a year, and I wasn't going to run the risk of it going wrong transferring from one account to another with their reputation for that feeble amount.
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Any mobile that receives texts should do and you only need it if you set up a new payment, not every time you log on.
I think some of their bad press is from the sheer number of retail as opposed to business customers that they have. It would be useful to see complaints as a percentage of accounts as opposed to just an absolute number.
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 1 Dec 12 at 21:52
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Waited too long to add this in an edit...
Other banks have problems, look at the disaster that RBS / Natwest had earlier this year!
Other banks cash point machines have gone down or payments have been taken twice for many customers.
I had to move accounts anyway so thought about getting paid for it.
There were other accounts that pay a flat monthly fee that may be worth a look, I think Halifax have one that pays £5 per month. I try to take advantage of these things as it means an extra trip out to the cinema or restaurant etc. It is effectively free money!
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Our joint current account is with the HX I went in the other day to see about some other matter ( and chat up Dee, on the enquiry desk ). I happened to mention SWM has a current acc. with Santander and she said they were offering £100 as an incentive to change to HX.
SWM was quite taken by this offer, she only has a few hundred in her current and holds no allegiance to the Degos, so she might change.
In over 20 yrs with the HX, we've not had a single moment for complaint. Most of our HX banking is done on-line now, dead simple and efficient.
Ted
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>>>Degos.
Why the derogatory term?
You may as well say you won't by a Ford from the Merkins or an Audi from the Heinies.
It is just not necessary.
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Spanish advertising makes the Day Go buy.
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I bank with the Co-op going on for ten years now.Put Isas with Satander last summer duration eighteen months for a reasonable return.
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Yes i get that fiver a month from Halifax, who have been good to deal with so far, no complaints at all, online account easy enough for a technophobe.
I started off with one account paying a fiver a month, that one morphed into another account when the first one ended, both current, so long as my salary goes in that fiver goes on every time.
Haven't got a clue what would happen if we went overdrawn though which is where i expect penalties soon make light of a few years £60 freebies.
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I've just moved from HSBC to First Direct. Just fancied a change after 20 odd years and thought I can always move back.
Also figured that the risk of moving was low as they are the same group, but the £100 offer clinched it, along with the 8% saving offer.
Colleague has also just done the same but managed to get £125 going through money supermarket
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>> I've just moved from HSBC to First Direct. Just fancied a change after 20 odd
>> years and thought I can always move back.
>>
I've been with First Direct since about 1990 shortly after they started. Great bank, I've never thought of changing.
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>>I fully understand that Santander are to banking what Ryanair are to flying<<
You mean they provide a cheap and reliable, if basic, service day in, day out?
Sorry to be a niggler but Mr O'Leary's company gets slagged off all the time round here, always by people who queue up to use his service.
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"You mean they provide a cheap and reliable, if basic, service day in, day out?"
No - I mean they provide a cheap and basic service. Reliable doesn't come into it.
At least, when Santander screwed up my current account and drained it of its contents, they sent me a half case of wine voluntarily - I had neither whined nor demanded 'compensation'. When Ryanair dropped my flight and left me stranded in Dublin, I didn't even get an explanation.
Niggle if you like, Mike, I know what I'm talking about.
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>>>they sent me a half case of wine voluntarily
A little known fact that banks have to consider if compensation is payable whenever they receive a complaint. A complaint isn't necessarily someone standing at the counter and wailing about a mistake but a situation where the customer is out of pocket. Staff are trained to spot these and react.
A relative of mine got a nice bunch of flowers and a bottle of champaign for a relatively simple mistake made by Lloyds!
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Had an account with them since the '90s. Receive the text messages in Spain for setting up new payments no problems - seems sensible. Also get commission free Euro withdrawals at local Santander branches. Find A & L Isle of Man very efficient; transfers between UK/IOM/Spain have also speeded-up recently from the old 3 working days to virtually instant.
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"When Ryanair dropped my flight and left me stranded in Dublin, I didn't even get an explanation."
Did they not refund your fare in line with their booking conditions? In my experience they always keep to the terms if their contract but give no more. You have to think of them in the same way as you would a bus or train company. Looked at like that they are good value for money.
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"Did they not refund your fare in line with their booking conditions?"
In the end, I managed to get a later flight. To be honest, it was when I was working and had more pressing things to do than chase Ryanair. I understand that they have made some improvements since those days.
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>> I've been with First Direct since about 1990 shortly after they started. Great bank, I've
>> never thought of changing.
>>
I've been with First Direct since 1997. I've had maybe 3 minor issues in that time, and all were resolved promptly. One needed them to go back and listen to the recording.
I've taken banks in the santander group to the financial ombudsman twice (because they couldn't resolve the issue internally). I won both times. And still faced hassle getting them to act on the ruling.
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I don't know about this particular account, but grouses about Santander appear frequently in the Saturday Daily Telegraph "Ask Jessica" complaints column.
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I suppose that with 25 million accounts in the UK Santander are bound to to have some problems.
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>> I suppose that with 25 million accounts in the UK Santander are bound to to
>> have some problems.
Yes, that would be fair comment, however Santander do seem to have a disproportionate number of complaints
Last edited by: Duncan on Mon 3 Dec 12 at 13:44
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Complaints data is readily available
A quick search shows that Santander received 157,165 banking complaints in the first six months of the year - about 5 complaints per 1000 accounts
By comparison HSBC 58,527 - 2.4 per 1000 accounts
Barclays 156,621 / 3.76 complaints per 1000
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>> Complaints data is readily available
>>
>> A quick search shows that Santander received 157,165 banking complaints in the first six months
>> of the year - about 5 complaints per 1000 accounts
>>
>> By comparison HSBC 58,527 - 2.4 per 1000 accounts
>>
>> Barclays 156,621 / 3.76 complaints per 1000
>>
Or look at it another way
Santander - 0.5% chance of having to complain, HSBC 0.24%, Barclays 0.37%
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but those percentages vary by customer group demographics. And since the demography of the compared clientele varies, and thus so do their accounts, requirements and expectations, I'm not sure that the comparison works.
You need to know the stats for your peer group.
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The number of complaints doesn't tell the whole story. I never formally complained to Santander, I just got fed up with them and left.
In fact. the only formal action that I ever had with Santander was to write a letter of praise for the assistance of a Spanish Lady member of staff who sorted out one of the messes on one occasion!.
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>> You need to know the stats for your peer group.
>>
Not so sure in this case. They all have a large high street presence and probably have accounts from one end of the economic spectrum to the other.
I would be surprised if over the large number of accounts they have if any one of them has significantly more from one sector than the others do.
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>> but those percentages vary by customer group demographics. And since the demography of the compared
>> clientele varies, and thus so do their accounts, requirements and expectations, I'm not sure that
>> the comparison works.
>>
>> You need to know the stats for your peer group.
You are right of course, the more financial services you use at your bank the more chance you have of complaint. Most of the complaints are however PPi miss-selling, but there is a good rule in banking, if you (as a customer) don't change anything - little goes wrong. Most complaints will be with changing things or setting up new things.
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>>>Most complaints will be with changing things or setting up new things.
And seeing that most of their customers are personal and not business I suspect things get changed when they move house or set up a new DD etc. Private customers are likely to have many more PPI type claims I guess.
Also, isn't Santander UK the amalgamation of several smaller banks (Abbey, Bradford and Bingley and the Alliance and Leicester). That is a lot of system data to get right.
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Well I've got accounts with HSBC and Santander and can't say I've noticed any difference in terms of service. Santanders Internet banking /iPad app is better than HSBCs IMO. They both have UK call centres, though I don't know if thats across the board with HSBC or just with certain accounts. Ive banked with HSBC since I was a child, though it was of course the Midland then. It was the 'griffin' sports bag that swung it I think. Who needed little pigs ;-)
I don't have a 123 current account, and am not likely to switch that. I do have a 123 credit card, primarily for the 3% (I think) cash back on fuel and 2% on shopping. IIRC the card costs £24 a year, but as I get £15 ~ £20 cash back a month that seems fine to me :-)
Last edited by: PeterS on Tue 4 Dec 12 at 07:12
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I'm with Santander by default (started with Girobank, late '60s IIRC).
Tried to change the details of a payee online. It wouldn't accept ampersand (&) although my details of payer included it (bank of mum & dad). The field was too small to accept a fuller version.
A frustrating 'phone call followed, where first of all I had to explain what ampersand was to the ditzy, customer services operative!
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Talking of ppi, there seem to be advertisements suggesting that compensation is available it you were mis-sold a product.
I don't think I've ever had any ppi (it's insurance protection on a loan isn't it?) and if I did it wouldn't have been mis-sold as I wouldn't have signed up for something unless I knew what it was in detail, so won't be useful to me.
But out of interest, has anyone here been down that route and claimed?
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I get a nice account statement text message from Santander every couple of weeks. It's not my account - I don't bank with them - but hey, it's free :)
Of course I've tried stopping them, and that was as much fun as you might imagine...
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>> I get a nice account statement text message from Santander every couple of weeks.
>>It's not my account - I don't bank with them - but hey, it's free :)
>>
>> Of course I've tried stopping them, and that was as much fun as you might imagine...
>>
The Data Potection boss man might be interested.
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>> >> I get a nice account statement text message from Santander every couple of weeks.
>>
>> >>It's not my account
>>
>> The Data Potection boss man might be interested.
Had a quick look at the DP website, and I think I'd have to write a letter to Santander first - so far I've only used email and talked on the phone. Assuming that didn't work, would the DP people be interested given that I (and Santander apparently) can't identify the owner of the account?
I like the idea, but I'm not motivated enough yet to try it.
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>>>>> The Data Potection boss man might be interested.
Only if it includes information that relates to an identifiable person.
I suspect someone typed the phone details incorrectly when setting up the account.
>>>The ampersand
I have an issue with some email systems that refuse to accept an underscore which a personal email address has. It seems that some systems refuse to accept them, usually those that use the email address as an account name!
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>> Talking of ppi, there seem to be advertisements suggesting that compensation is available it you
>> were mis-sold a product.
>>
>> I don't think I've ever had any ppi (it's insurance protection on a loan isn't
>> it?) and if I did it wouldn't have been mis-sold as I wouldn't have signed
>> up for something unless I knew what it was in detail, so won't be useful
>> to me.
>>
>> But out of interest, has anyone here been down that route and claimed?
>>
Always though it was a con from the first time I was offered it, so never took it out.
Surprised at how many did fall for it though.
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A lot of it was in the small print, and you had to actually elect to opt out by some means, and some of it was even mandatory. I know someone who took out a credit card where it was mandatory even for the self employed (where it wouldnt pay out).
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>> Surprised at how many did fall for it though.
Pretty much my take. As somebody with decent job security and occupational sick pay I never saw the need. There were better and much cheaper products that would provide 'Armageddon' cover based on my personal circs rather than a flat £20/PCM on a personal loan.
To often cover was sold to people in circs where a successful claim was impossible.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 4 Dec 12 at 20:43
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I ended up getting a small amount back from Halifax which i didn't ask for.
Had a call from them one day, might have been about the credit card that was only used for about 3 months and maybe half a dozen online transactions some 2 years previously.
When i took out the card i fielded a call from one of their sales crew, who offered me some sort of PPi i suppose now i think back, i told him that i have a DD to pay any balance off in full at the end of the month, but he explained how much extra fraud protection i would get by enrolling, it wouldn't cost anything because there would be no outstanding balance so no chrages, ok fine...;)
Well of course he lied and on my bill there were some charges for this service, fair enough card never used again, sat in drawer doing nothing.
Fast forward a few years and explain all this to the later caller, explaining that i would never use the service or their cards again because i had been lied to, i knew about compensation being the current fashion but stressed i wanted nothing cos the amount i was down was probably only a tenner, just wanted to register my objection to being lied to and conned now they were asking...;)
They sent me a cheque for about £45 ISTR and an apology.
How much debt must these people getting thousands back have racked up over the years, frightens me to death, the lenders must have accrued nearly as much lolly as Lud.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Tue 4 Dec 12 at 21:03
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Having been both in the motor trade and motor finance businesses, I can say that PPI was a huge earner, both for the lender and for the introducer.
As a motor dealer I used to offer it, not SELL it, but few folk took it up when they saw the cost. As far as I know, the only customer who had opted for it and subsequently made a claim, was was denied a payout.
In the finance industry we were, in the 1980s, under huge pressure to meet ambitious targets both for PPI and the signing up of customers to unwanted, by them, rolling credit agreements. A colleague even went to the length of slipping such an agreement into the paperwork for a lease deal for an agricultural tractor. He was found out by the customer and the rolling credit was deal cancelled. He received no real opprobrium from higher management!
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The thread has been around the houses a few times (as they do!), but I have done the maths and reached my conclusion - thanks for everyone's input.
As present, neither my current account (Santander, but not available to new accounts), nor my credit card incur any fees. The current account, however, gives us annual European travel insurance (value about £80) and the credit card gives us annual cashback of about £70.
The Santander 123 current and credit accs each incur annual charges of £24, so the benefit to the customer depends entirely on the rates of interest/cash back offered. The rates look good at the moment and I would be best to change but, of course, the rates could be reduced in the future; would Santander do that? .................. do bears defaecate in the woods?
In fairnesss, they do say in the smallprint that 'rates may change'; my bet is that they will after a year or so when enough folks are roped in. So, no, I'm not going to change.
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Sorry to resurrect this thread again after nearly a year, but I wonder if anyone has any further experience of the 123 account and how it works for them.
A couple of months ago, I received notification that our old current account was to be pulled from under us along with the free travel insurance that came with it. As the travel insurance covered our recent Barcelona trip, and we have no more European travel planned in the foreseeable future, we closed the account and have moved to the 123 current account and credit card.
The calculations look favourable though, of course, the interest rates aren't guaranteed.
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Works well for me, as the monthly charge for the account (£2.00) is heavily outweighed by the cashback on my d/d utilities payments (£13.07 for last month). Mind you, I pay council tax, electricity and gas for two properties, phone and internet and water for one property.
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I have a 1-2-3 credit card and put almost everything I spend in a month through that. I have just had an annual statement and I am just over £100 in profit after the £24 fee.
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I guess the main reason that I chose the 123 account was the interest rate, which is better than most instant access accounts at the moment - and the fact that the transfer from one Santander acc to another was a simple re-naming procedure.
I suppose I should have mentioned this at the time, but do the accounts automatically 'recognise' those transactions that pay a cash back, or do I have to nominate them myself? Has that process been reasonably straightforward?
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Santander seem to figure a disproportionate number of times in the complaints section of the financial agony aunts in the weekend broadsheets.
It would appear that when the account is working fine, it's fine. It's when something goes wrong that they don't seem to be able to correct things in any reasonable time scale.
Just a thought.
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>> Santander seem to figure a disproportionate number of times in the complaints section of the
>> financial agony aunts in the weekend broadsheets.
>>
>> It would appear that when the account is working fine, it's fine. It's when something
>> goes wrong that they don't seem to be able to correct things in any reasonable
>> time scale.
>>
>> Just a thought.
>>
Just like TalkTalk then!
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"...do the accounts automatically 'recognise' those transactions that pay a cash back, or do I have to nominate them myself? Has that process been reasonably straightforward?"
Entirely straightforward - as I did not have to nominate anything. It was all automatic and seems accurate.
As for Duncan's point about Santander's reputation with cock-ups, all I can say (touch wood and all that) is that I've had no problems.
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Thanks for that reassurance, FP.
I think Duncan is right about the service being fine when everything is up and running, and that problems seem to arise largely when changes are made. But then, I suspect that's true of all of the banks - it's just a question of who is best able to sort things out.
When I first migrated our current account from Natwest to Alliance & Leicester (pre-Santander) about 10 years ago, there were certainly some teething problems caused by the wrong information given to me re dealing with direct debits and standing orders. At one stage, I refused to continue using my home phone for calling their 'admin centre', and virtually moved into one of their offices! That all settled down, though, after a few months of nonsense.
Then one morning, almost 2-years ago and now Santander, I checked the current account on-line and found that it had been cleared out completely by a bungling telephone assistant during a transfer process. Panic - then then a call directly to the complaints department had the matter sorted. The bloke immediately spotted the problem, transferred the original current account contents back, refunded £5 for the phone-call to the account (not sure it actually cost us anything) and sent us a 6-bottle case of wine for our trouble. We hadn't asked for any form of compensation whatsoever - we were just happy to have the account straightened out.
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Santander have certainly been a mess over the past few years, far too many bungled takeovers and consolidations causing unwilling taken over customers a shed load of grief. Now they have stopped taking over other building societies and banks they are slowly getting stuff in order, tho it has to be said, Santander's IT is still a nasty unstable mess. - Found that out because I am running my mothers santander account at the moment.
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IIRC didn't they come under a very close eye from the FSA and were given a period of time to sort things out so that their complaint levels were more in line with the industry average.
I may have imagined this, but its in the back of my mind somewhere.
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Santander 123 current account..... - Zero
