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Spanish lender Santander has introduced a tempting new £300 cashback offer to lure people into switching existing accounts.It really is component of a significant push by the High Street large to improve business and rebuild a reputation ravaged by sub-par customer service about the final eighteen months.Alongside the £300 deal, Santander is cashing in on its McLaren Method one sponsorship by making use of the team's world champion drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in a new Tv promoting campaign.The bank has also altered its slogan to ‘Driven to Do Better' from ‘Together. We are Santander'.

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Recruitment generate: Santander is using Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button to promote its new £300 existing account offer you in a bid to attract customers
Rami Aboukhair, head of goods and marketing and advertising at Santander, says the shift demonstrates Santander's intention to grow to be a lot more ‘humble' in light of anger above a botched migration of previous Alliance & Leicester accounts now owned by the bank, and the Isa transfer chaos in the summer of 2010.The new £300 freebie is carefully focused at all around 1.6million present Santander clients. Only those who previously have a home loan with Santander and are ready to deposit £10,000 in a Santander financial savings account (far more specifics on this beneath) qualify for the £300 payout when they swap.Without £10,000 in financial savings, Santander mortgage loan buyers can change and get £200 cashback. If you never have a house loan with it, the lender is ploughing on with its prolonged-operating £100 cashback offer for other buyers switching their primary existing account to Santander. All a few bargains call for clients to pay out in at minimum £1,000 a month to both the Preferred, Reward, or Premium present accounts. The Chosen account has no month-to-month cost the other folks charge upwards of £120 a yr. All three accounts shell out five for each cent on in-credit balances of up to £2,500.

Just take two: The Spanish lender will be hoping the two Formula one stars can stir up a buzz all around its new television adverts
'A new rush will not supply exact same aged problems'Mr Aboukhair batted off ideas that by soliciting a rush of new enterprise Santander is in risk of falling into the same trap that induced its Isa issues very last calendar year.Santander released a greatest purchase three.five per cent quick accessibility Isa in a huge drive for clients in March 2010 but the move backfired because of to overpopularity. Savers queued about the corner at branches and mobile phone lines had been jammed. By its own admission, Santander was bombarded with far more applications that it expected, and in the struggle to cope, some savers' cash was left in limbo for months.Since then, the bank has consistently footed the customer service league tables set together by Which? and JD Energy.In Might, Steve Williams, Santander's head of services good quality, instructed This is Cash that the financial institution was again on monitor. He explained: 'We know we have much more to do, but we are taking crucial methods to enhance, like making one,000 new work in branches and phone centres. Our individual satisfaction survey [which showed eight out of ten ended up pleased] indicates progress is becoming created.' The lender also returned its phone centres to the United kingdom from India amid client frustration.
 



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But in July, it appeared Santander was slipping back into its old methods right after a clean wave of complaints about Isa transfers. Barbara and Allan Orman, for example, almost misplaced their house following a delay to taking out £70,000 held in a Santander account (go through the Ormans' story).Santander bosses know they are taking a danger by launching a main new initiative to enhance buyers quantities even though support concerns linger in the qualifications.Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, banking director at Santander, insists that the present account method, however, with its dedicated switching team, is all set to take the further strain.Don't get fooled by the £300 freebie – it is not for all of usCommentary by Dan Hyde

It can be hard to knock a free £300 gift handed out just for switching present accounts. But be conscious that a pot of gold just isn't waiting for everybody at the stop of the Santander rainbow.For a start off, if you didn't have a Santander mortgage just before 31 August, you don't qualify for anything at all above £100. That is no distinct than the aged offer Santander supplied. I can see a great deal of individuals viewing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button larking about with massive red 'Lego' bricks on Tv, hooked by the £300 guarantee, only to be left disappointed when they pop into a Santander branch.The mortgage prerequisite indicates this complete campaign is targeted at just one.6million active customers, Santander states, not all 45million or so Uk existing account holders. But it will surely wish men and women are caught in up in the buzz. There's far more to view out for. To get the total £300, house loan customers will need to have to have at least £10,000 in a Santander savings account. It does not make any difference when it really is put there - present Santander savers by now qualify - so extended as it is deposited within (and still held) 13 weeks of switching. If you never fancy that, you can even now get £200 as a home loan customer. This is even now a much better cashback offer for switching than at any other financial institution. The only rival supply arrives from First Direct, which pays £100 if you swap and yet another £100 if you do not like the services and make a decision to depart.A further requirement is that you use the Santander account as your primary existing account. That indicates spending in £1,000 a month and switching your direct debits and standing orders. The switching procedure is much improved these days, with Santander promising to full the approach in all around 21 days, but it can be even now one thing of a trouble if you're content with your existing lender. This huge advertising and marketing push by Santander is a small hazardous, also. At this stage, I'd favor to see the bank concentrate on topping the client support polls and truly strengthening its web banking method (which leaves something to be desired). To see eyes centered once again on sumptuous very best purchase deals indicates the lender is in risk of forgetting the anger that nevertheless exists between consumers more than the poor service last calendar year. Bank directors insist this isn't really the case, and inner targets are all about services, but the lender does look a small muddled.Who is aware of what will transpire if the Spanish large gets a rush of new latest account customers many thanks to this glowing new £300 provide. Will its service structures be capable to cope now? Probably Santander need to shake off its poor popularity before placing out this sort of provide - it'll be a extended way back if points go improper again.