Is Santander's new Upfront Interest Bond a good idea?

In theory it's a good idea as it's giving you the money earlier but personally I'm not sure I'd opt for it, I don't really like the idea of the money being sat in Santander's account for that time after having already had the reward.

It's basically like a reverse personal loan, where they add the interest first, then take equal monthly payments over 3 years.

It's a great idea for Santander - if Spanish banks get squeezed and if people start to move their money elsewhere, they'll have a bit more cash locked in than they otherwise would.

It would be a brilliant idea for people who didn't need to touch their savings for 3 years, but the rate is tight, compared to say the Post Office.

Hopefully these types of innovation will prompt others to give even better deals.

It depends on the market as 3.36% isn't fantastic and you would be locking your money away for three year's and the interest on the Bond could go up and you have it tied up. You will probably have spent that interest so you have nothing extra at the end. I know you can't have it all ways. I did that with my Isa which is fixed rate until next year but if I hadn't I could be getting more now but at the time it was the best rate going.

I'm not that keen on this. As i think if i had spare £10,000 and i know i won't need it for three years perhaps i would be inclined to go for it but then you recieve the interest upfront which you wouldn't need as you had the £10,000 spare... I personally would like a bit more interest or incentive.

I favour your last option fruity, It sounds a tad gimmicky and going nowhere.
I too wouldn't like to know that Santander was sitting on my money for that amount of time and giving me nothing back in the long run.
Thus I would expect more back from the initial 12 grand than just a paltry £1,000.
What do you think?

santander took over Abbey, who I was once with but never again, nearly every month money used to disappear from our account but they never did anything about it, we switched banks quick

Your last sentence sums it up admirably fruitcake.

It is a good guide for one's discipline to saving consistently for 3 years.

I was with A&E for number of years and I must admit they were excellent. Since Santander took over I've not been happy with Spain owning something else that used to British but just left my money stagnating because there is no alternative as I don't want to lock my money away for 3 year periods. What is the best deal out there at the moment?

A terrible idea because;
It is relatively tricky for the ordinary man in the street to weigh up whether this is a better or worse investment than another straight forward product. Any product which as a result of its designed features makes true comparisons difficult is obviously going to benefit the provider more than the customer. (Remember why APR was brought in). I would be deeply suspicious of the provider because I have never heard of any customer driven requests for "interest upfront".In the circumstances this is IMHO a very clever ruse by the provider to garner funds on a 3y term at less than the market rate. Good for them and their profits, terrible for the customer.I actually think this is so bad it should be outlawed and the regulator should tell them to pull it. Santander is already on my BLACKLIST but if it wasn't it would be added just for this. Far too sneaky and devious in my opinion. In general be VERY suspicious of anything new, different, innovative because 99 / 100 I reckon it will not be good for the customers.
PS It would be very interesting to know how the FSCS do the calulation if Santander go bust halfway through the 3y term.
Shall we ask them. Anyone like to bet they havn't even thought about it yet ?