Santander

[robbra]

Hi,
I know this has been asked before but I can’t find anything on it with “search” and want some up to date answers.
I ‘phoned LLoyds today to increase my business credit card limit from £1000 to £1250.
They need an interview, about 20 mins over the ‘phone. Sod off I said, got work to do, all over £250 but my personal c/card is £7500. Ive had a personal a/c for 43 years and a business one for 10.
Anyway this got me thinking of “Free Banking” so went into Santander and it sounds good.
No charge on the account for anything and if I do a personal a/c too a rate of 5.1{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} on up to £2500 in that a/c.
No business credit card but I can live with that and will save about £400 pa on charges.
All seems fine but has anyone had any personal experience with them?
Rob

[Martin]

Re: Santander

robbra wrote:All seems fine but has anyone had any personal experience with them?

Why yes indeed Rob and I couldn’t recommend them more TBH. 😀

I’ve been with Alliance & Leicester (Santander) since 2006 and have never looked back. FREE BUSINESS BANKING is 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} and each month they actually pay me interest on the balances of my accounts with them. That ain’t much at the moment granted but at least it’s an income rather than yet another outgoing.

They do all the paperwork and shifting so you sit back and let them deal with your old bank (Lloyds TSB – I hate them robbing barstewards.:evil:) and they give you a start date when the deal is done.

As for a Business Credit Card? They do that too BUT you have to been with them for a few months before they offer that service to you as well. Go for it! 😀

[timdowning]

Re: Santander

Ditto what Martin said.

Never had a problem with them, its still nice thinking of all that money I have saved since moving from Barclays. I think it was 27p per cheque paid in with Barclays.

[admin]

Re: Santander

Been with barclays for over 15 years now.

Business accounts ive never paid for and business manager is great,contactable on weekends also.

Bryan

[Martin]

Re: Santander

r600a wrote:Business accounts ive never paid for

Those heady days are no longer available @ Barclays Bryan. Today it’s only FREE for 2 years (business start-up package) 😉

They dangle the carrot for a while then rein in the charges starting at 15p for an “on-line inter-account transfer” up to £5.50 for your “monthly account fee”.:rolls:

Santander’s the way to go……………………. 😀

[robbra]

Re: Santander

Thanks Martin and Tim,
looks like the best for me to move. It really annoys me when they can’t give a toss as they think you won’t leave so a big “V” sign to them after all these years.
God, I fell better for that. 😆
Ball is in motion.
Rob.

[Martin]

Re: Santander

Cool Dude!!! Bring it on boy!!! Lots of forms to fill in to start with, they will need all the usual ID stuff in triplicate and the usual countersigning from a “professional person”, i.e doctor, lawyer etc and in around 3 weeks time you’re up ‘n runnin’. 8)

[admin]

Re: Santander

Those heady days are no longer available @ Barclays Bryan. Today it’s only FREE for 2 years (business start-up package)

They dangle the carrot for a while then rein in the charges starting at 15p for an “on-line inter-account transfer” up to £5.50 for your “monthly account fee”.

Simple Fact martin… new account was only opened a matter of weeks ago.. Bank managers can choose not to charge if they want to.
My business accounts have been running foc since i started years ago.

Any new account with any bank requires verification of ID to comply with the money laundering regulations.

Bryan

[Martin]

Re: Santander

r600a wrote:Bank managers can choose not to charge if they want to.

Fair play to you then mate and I’m pleased it works for you I truly am.:)

Though I’m not sure your experience would be a generalisation of Barclays current policy on new businesses or indeed account transfers from established businesses wishing to join up? Latterly may also depend on the amount of businesses to be transacted each and every month as to being able to take the same advantage as you have currently. In the case of Santander their only proviso is that any new business must deposit at least £1000 into the account every month. That’s the deal, and if you are up for it, the rest comes absolutely FREE, no strings!

[euro]

Re: Santander

I left Santander over 2 years ago now, someone tried to withdraw money over the phone so they put everything on hold, card, cheques, direct debits the lot and never bothered to tell me. Only found out when things arrived in post saying direct debits could not be taken etc. Phoned then 2 times, was told account was ok, 3rd time i called was told then. They were a total waste of time, they couldnt even get it right first time when they had said account was open again. It was ok when it was Abbey but when they were taken over just a mess

Andy

[robbra]

Re: Santander

Martin, I asked about the minimum each month and she said as long as you don’t go over £3000 it’s ok however much paid in. Not a problem unless on holiday.. Nothing on the website either.
Rob
PS…found it applies to the personal account

[SimonCD]

Re: Santander

i have had an account with barclays for eleven years and since having a good moan at my manager about charges 10 years ago, i have not paid a penny since! As Bryan says, they are very easy to contact as well, so if anyone has a barclays a/c give them a ring and see what they can do. It may be well worth it!

[stratfordgirl]

Re: Santander

I had big problems two years ago with the Abbey arm of Santander when 20 transactions totalling over £3000 were taken fraudulently at variuos locations in India using a cloned debit card. Fortunately, I had already paid suppliers, but there was no money left for salaries. It took them 4 weeks to sort it out and their attitude and communication were appalling. They offered no financial help and I had to borrow money from relatives to tide us over.

I researched customer satisfaction with other banks on the net but found bad stories across the board so decided to stick with them. I’m not sure what plans there are for merging operations with the Alliance & Leicester Arm, but guess there could be teething problems then.

[gandh1]

Re: Santander

we are right next door to santander. 8 months ago people we issued with sanatander debits cards and wouldnt be accepted in their own hole in the wall. yet they worked fine in teh hole in the wall on the otherside where barclays were.

also regulalry get “arrrgh” stories from custoemrs letting off steam as we are their next point of contact after leaving santander. when they get it right i guess theyre fine but they seem to be too many annoying nuances which worry us enough not to move to them.

were with lloyds who are expensive, but never had a problem with the account in 5 years, and they havent even blinked at a supplier cock up that meant we needed to pay 7K of bills in one go maxing out the overdraft in the process.

[Author]

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