Santander 123 to slash interest to 1.5% – should you ditch it?
Options
Comments
-
Everything appears to be in flux at the moment on the savings front so that anything said today could be out of date by tomorrow.liverbearofdeal wrote: »I have just over 20K of savings and still want easy access. I currently have a Halifax current account and want to keep that. I don't have a Santander account but was considering opening one to put the savings in before the news that they were slashing interest rates. Will it still be the best deal for me even after the rate cut?
I knocked up another rough-and-ready table to give an idea of the return on the Santader123 from 01 November 2016.[FONT=Courier New] Annual Annual Annual Effective Bal Int Fee Proceeds Rate £ £ £ £ % --------------------------------------------- 20k 298 60 238 1.19% 19k 285 60 225 1.18% 18k 270 60 210 1.17% 17k 255 60 195 1.15% 16k 240 60 180 1.13% 15k 225 60 165 1.10% 14k 210 60 150 1.07% 13k 195 60 135 1.04% 12k 180 60 120 1.00% 11k 165 60 105 0.95% 10k 150 60 90 0.90% 9k 135 60 75 0.83% 8k 120 60 60 0.75% 7k 105 60 45 0.64% 6k 90 60 30 0.50% 5k 75 60 15 0.30% 4k 60 60 0 0.00% 3k 45 60 -15 -0.50% 2k 30 60 -30 -1.50% 1k 15 60 -45 -4.50%[/FONT]
The table is pretty rudimentary so you will need to adjust the proceeds for tax and cashback then re-calculate the rate if you want to compare with alternative savings options.
Edit
The table may look a little less squiffy when logged-in. Ok. Think I may have fixed that now.
Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
0 -
I am very upset to learn that Santander is going to halve the 3% interest rate on my 123 account. Bank rate was only reduced by 0.25% so this does not justify your reducing this by 1 1/2%. At the very least, if you are halving the interest rate you should also halve the £5 monthly charge to £2.50.'
The bank rate was also reduced by 50% as 0.25% is half of 0.5%, while 1.5% is half of 3%.
You'd have had more justification for complaining the previous monthly fee increase from £2 to £5 was well above inflation.0 -
I wondered about that too.I get interest and cashback (and get charged the monthly fee) on the 10th of the month. If I were to close the account on the 11th November would I get charged the monthly fee for November to December?
From their Ts&Cs :-
So, my understanding is that if you close your account on the 10th, you shouldn't have to pay any fees for the period from the 11th. If you close it on the 11th then you may have to pay, pro-rata, for 1 day.18.4 If you, or we, close your account, then:
a) where you are in credit, we will help you switch to a different account, or give you back your money plus any interest you have earned, less any pending fees and interest you owe and less any payments you have requested before the account was closed; or
b) where you are overdrawn, you must pay off the overdraft, all fees and interest.
c) These Conditions continue until any cheques issued and any money you owe us has been paid, and all cards and chequebooks have been returned to us.
d) Where you pay a regular fee for your account, we will refund you a proportion of the fee that relates to:
(i) payment/withdrawal services on your account; and
(ii) any period after the date of closure which your last regular payment covered.Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
0 -
if it hasn't already been done, i wonder if someone here with more brains than me has worked out/could work out how much interest rate really is, when adding in the £60 per year fee? i'm guessing but that must make the 1.5% interest drop to close to 1% in real terms, wont it? if it is around that figure, is it still worth keeping money there if you have less than the maximum £20k, £15k, £10k? i know cash is paid back on certain bills but that is low in relation to the true interest and the alternatives for that side of things are just about non-existing. just a couple of thoughts that i hoped someone might answer
many TIA0 -
-
to Consumerist
and that comment means what, exactly?0 -
Only that I thought the table in post #12 might answer your question.to Consumerist
and that comment means what, exactly?
The table estimates the effective interest rate at various balances taking into account the £60 annual fees.
Have I misunderstood your question?Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
0 -
not you Consumerist, me not seeing. the comment actually turned out to be correct. perhaps my sight is diminishing!
but Santander is definitely now taking the pee! it knows full well why people swapped to it and, as in true 'i CAN do this, so i WILL, regardless of what i have done and how i've used the customers. there is, as usual, no competing bank/building society for people to move to, so just suck it up!!'
after all the harm these a***holes caused and how they are totally reliant on customers using a service offered because it gives back a little bit, even though it is a fraction of what they charge when lending OUR MONEY to others, we are fast getting back to how it was 10 years ago! and every flipping government is letting it happen because of what they get out of it!0 -
Well, maybe there is.. . . there is, as usual, no competing bank/building society for people to move to, . . .
If you've a good credit report you might want to consider the Co-operative Bank switching offer: £150 to switch plus £4 per month cashback if you pay out 4 DDs in the calendar month. Then there's another up to £1.50 per month for using their debit card.
Hope this helps.Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
0 -
many tnx for the suggestions. shame none of the 'institutions' can actually make life nice and simple and just give an interest rate worthy of what they are getting off us in the first place, without charging for this, giving rate x for this bit, rate y for that bit, but have it all go to nothing after a year when the process of trying to get something back starts again!0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.1K Life & Family
- 248K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards