Santander ISA's launch on 8th March

A question about : Santander ISA's launch on 8th March

Hi All,

Have just come out of my local branch and been informed that the new Santander ISA's are being launched this Friday 8th March with the words market leading....fingers crossed we get a good deal
Gary.

Best answers:

• Will ask my mate who works there if he knows anything about this. If not, guess we will have to wait a few days! Fingers crossed its something more appealing than what is out there though.
• Hopefully, they need to be good cos I'm poised to shift 30-odd grand elsewhere if not.
• Just in time[maybe],my wifes [issue 9]..3.3% rate finishes on 13th march.I was looking on there website tonight and I thought I couldnt find any ISA plans on there.
• I could really do with knowing too. I've got Ј40K+ to shift, Ј30K of which is in a Halifax Reward ISA that comes off the introductory rate tomorrow.
  I'm holding out until Santander announce because opening the First Direct 3% is potentially a bit of a faff for me and it would be lovely if Santander matched them but I'm not really expecting them to offer as much as Ј3% on transfers-in.
  Fingers crossed some kind Santander employee will read the poster at work tomorrow and put us out of our misery!
• I was waiting to hear what Santander had to offer but decided to go for first direct. Mind you if Santander is good I'll transfer it again!!I can't believe Santander will go to 3% though fixed with transfers in.
• Last years Santander's rates were decent so it should be interesting to see what they do.
• Hi All,
  Santander have delayed their ISA launch to Monday 11th March.This is due to a competitor launch and Santander state they want their launch to be "market leading".
  Not quite sure what will happen if another competitor brings out another "market leader" this week.
  Cheers.Gary
• Yes I spoke to their NI call centre today and was told it would be Mon 11th March too. I was my most charming but couldn't get any hint of what though. FD 3% on Ј40K aside, the next best instant access for transfers-in is 2.5% I think, so my guess is that Santander are weighing up whether to go with 2.75% and clean up.
  Who's the competitor? Barclays perhaps? Although I don't remember them being so good for transfers-in.
  There must be tens/hundreds of thousands coming off that Halifax Rewards ISA too, me being one of them. I spoke to them today as well, although the girl was much less well-informed than Santander (what's new!) and didn't have a clue what they'd be offering, only that it would be second/third week of March, which I could have guessed myself.
  All playing their cards v. tightly to their chests this year.
• How long do such launch rates usually last? I can't fill my current ISA allowance until a couple of weeks time and I wouldn't like to transfer while money is in the middle of being debited.
• Hi Eponym
  Just in case you haven't phoned Halifax yet, they're not redesignating over the phone this year, apparently because it's an online product only. They'll ask you to complete a form online to transfer to whichever ISA you choose:
  https://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/acc...as/ISAoptions/
  Fortunately you start earning interest at the new rate from the day you switch. Your account will update overnight and you can see the new rate online the next day.
  I did this yesterday, switching to the 1.95% one for a few days while I wait for Santander, etc. to launch this year's products. Everything went without a hitch (for once!) and is showing correctly today.
  They've also added the 3% interest for the last year too. Now I just have to reconcile their figures with mine. Needless to say, I was expecting a bit more than they've paid!
• Interesting to see which competitor releases theirs on Friday.
  I've just put into motion moving my funds from Halifax (expiring at 3%) to the Cheshire but you never know what's goign to happen.
• I just did a transfer over the phone with Halifax (redesignated it) and was not required to fill in any transfer form.
• My Santander is also expiring this month which I believe had an easy access interest rate of 3.3%. That seems like it will never be matched given the current low rates due to the government funding for lending scheme but I would be happy if it could reach 3%.
  I can't wait until the base rate starts rising again as the poor deal for savers continues!