Santander to cut 95 savings accounts

Some savers will see rates plummet by up to 1.85% as Santander simplifies its products.

Santander is to axe over 90 savings accounts in a bid to streamline its savings range.

Currently the bank has over 100 different savings products, many of which are closed to new customers.

Santander plans to downsize 95 accounts from the range to just five core products made up of two cash ISAs, two instant access savings accounts and a children’s savings product.

This is what the core products offer:

Rate changes

Santander has 14 million active customers who will likely have at least one saving product with the bank.

But the bank says the vast majority of customers will see no rate change.

Those that do will either get a rate increase of up to 1.9% or a rate reduction of up to 1.85%.

The biggest increases are likely to be seen on a number of ISA products, which have been languishing on a measly 0.1%. These will be converted into the ISA Saver, which offers tiered rates up to 2% for balances of £25,000 or more.

The biggest drop in rates will hit savers with money in the Alliance & Leicester eSaver account. This account currently pays 2.35% but after the change, savers will receive 0.5% from the Everyday Saver account.

Santander says that the number of customers in line to get a rate increase is double those that will see a rate drop.

Notifying customers

All customers impacted by a rate reduction will be contacted by post to explain the changes.

Santander will give 60 days’ notice and provide details of available accounts that are offering better rates.

Details of the savings products that will be adversely impacted by the move are also available on the Santander website.

Cleaning out the closet

Many of the accounts in the firing line are ‘legacy’ accounts inherited from Santander’s takeovers of Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

Santander says that the move is ‘revenue neutral’ and it won’t be making any money from the exercise.

Instead the overhaul is designed to improve its service by making the administration of accounts easier with less chance of any mistakes or mix-ups.

Navigating old issues

The move will make it easier for customers to quickly find out the return they are getting, and prevent them from having to hunt around for the current rates being paid on old accounts.

Plus from now on, Santander savers will receive an annual statement about their accounts that details how much interest has been earned over the past year and what the current rate is.

Santander is not the only provider to streamline its range of savings products. Barclays, NS&I and Newcastle Building Society have all made moves to simplify their savings range, but most other providers have yet to address the issue.

Complicated savings ranges make it hard for savers to figure out how much interest they're earning on their savings. Often savers are confused by accounts that have many different 'issues' and numbers. For example, Derbyshire Building Society is on the 11th issue of its NetSaver online savings account .

Chasing the best rate

The rates on many savings accounts are temporary. Often accounts are launched with attractive introductory rates that are then cut dramatically after a year or so. So it's a good idea to regularly check any savings accounts you may have, and make sure that you're still being paid a decent rate.

We regularly update the best savings accounts in articles like: the best instant access savings accounts and the top fixed rate savings bonds.

But here is a roundup of the easy access, notice and fixed rate bonds that are top of their class at the moment.

*Anticipated profit rate

More on savings:

The best Cash ISAs

The best notice savings accounts 

The best regular savings accounts

The top fixed rate savings bonds

The best instant access savings accounts

Santander launches 15-month fixed rate bond paying 2%

Why some current accounts are better than savings accounts