Santander 1 2 3 account

molerat · 31 October 2012 at 7:00PM

Mary_Hartnell

If you switch via the link in on line banking nothing will change except the name of the account and the statement date, it is that simple. I did mine a few months back with few DD's and similarly small throughput and am about £1.50 per month up (lose about 50p interest but gain £4 bonus - £2 fee). You probably had the "premier direct travel" so will lose the travel insurance and only get interest on balances of £1K+ instead of £0+ so no great loss. You only need to fund with £500 per month.

http://www.santander-products.co.uk/banking/implications.html

innovate · 31 October 2012 at 8:31PM

Keep what you already have.
Open a new 123 via Quidco, for the £45 cashback.
Then move your relevant (or all) DDs to the 123
You can move money online between the 2 accounts

I'd also open a current account at another bank, so that if you want to make a quick exit at some stage, you can do so easily.

richardmk · 1 November 2012 at 4:17PM

Santander 123!.. It might look good right now, but look at the the turnover of banking products. The Current 5%, and Current Zero seemed good and they are no longer marketed. Once they have you hooked the charge will be increased from £2, or a cap on cashback introduced!
If you open a Santander account everything is fine until the day something goes wrong, their reputation for being bad is second to none! Is it really worth the risk that could result in denial of access to your money, or incorrect information flowing to the credit rating agencies which will risk access to competitive credit cards and loans etc from other banking providers. Santander are truly terrible!! :-) (santander truly terrible fills the page on google)

JimmyTheWig · 1 November 2012 at 4:30PM

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

So what it boils down to "Should I swap to paying £2 a month for an account with a monthly turnover of about £1,000"? The current rate of cash back plus the interest payable on my cash balance suggests that I should; but how long will this deal last?

Who knows. But it's not an introductory offer so no reason that it won't stick around for some time. Yes they might increase the fee or decrease the cashback but they'd be doing that for existing and new customers and so be less likely to have people switching to them. The last change they made was to (significantly) increase the cashback for people who have a mortgage with them. (For me that was the carrot needed to switch.)

Will my on-line banking access change in any way - it is a nightmare each time the access system changes.

Mine didn't at all.

innovate wrote: »

Keep what you already have.
Open a new 123 via Quidco, for the £45 cashback.

Do existing customers get cashback, though?

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

I must have missed something if they are looking to give cash back which is far in excess of the monthly fee.

I've heard the train of thought that the plan is to get people used to the idea of paying a monthly fee for a current account. Once people are used to it it will become more widespread and they can then reduce the perks, increase the fees and we'll all be paying them more than they pay us.
Whether that's true or not, I don't know. Whether it is true or not doesn't stop you from signing up and benefitting from it.

POPPYOSCAR · 1 November 2012 at 4:34PM

We have both opened an account each and think it is great.

We originally opened for the savings rate of 3% instant access and the cashback is a bonus!

drillmoney · 1 November 2012 at 4:51PM

be careful of the overdraft facility. even if you're within your arranged overdraft there's a £1 per day fee (capped at 20 days) if you use it. it gets tricker if you go into unarranged overdraft (think its £5 per day uncapped!

JimmyTheWig · 1 November 2012 at 5:17PM

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

We have both opened an account each and think it is great.

Is it worth paying two sets of fees?

hansi · 1 November 2012 at 5:25PM

raeveth wrote: »

it really is great. and i don't know where people get the idea that their customer service is rubbish, because i have always had a very helpful and friendly service. been with them for many years as was A&L previously. to be honest, natwest were the worst i ever dealt with and Lloyds have been very very friendly and helpful

You obviously haven't seen or heard of the problems that people are having with this bank. They have more complaints about customer service than any other bank.

innovate · 1 November 2012 at 5:31PM

richardmk wrote: »

Santander 123!.. It might look good right now, but look at the the turnover of banking products. The Current 5%, and Current Zero seemed good and they are no longer marketed. Once they have you hooked the charge will be increased from £2, or a cap on cashback introduced!
If you open a Santander account everything is fine until the day something goes wrong, their reputation for being bad is second to none! Is it really worth the risk that could result in denial of access to your money, or incorrect information flowing to the credit rating agencies which will risk access to competitive credit cards and loans etc from other banking providers. Santander are truly terrible!! :-)

It wouldn't be a Santander thread if not one from the Santander-bashing brigade turns up with pretty ridiculous arguments as to why anything to do with Santander is bad.

I am delighted they introduce new products all the while and aren't stuck in a timewarp. It's usually called 'progress' when a firm introduces new products.

And so what if they increased the charge, or introduced a cashback cap? If it still works in my favour, I stay. If it doesn't, I go. Moving a current account is a doddle.

I have had accounts with Santander for over 3 years now, and I have accounts at basically every other UK bank too. The 123 account is a brilliant little earner for me. The 123 credit card is also brilliant for anyone who uses a lot of petrol. I don't, so I haven't got one of these.

In my experience, the banks are all much of a muchness when it comes to making mistakes and correcting them. None of them can be described as "truly terrible" by any well-informed person.

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Do existing customers get cashback, though?

Apparently - - there is nothing in the cashback T&Cs (on this Quidco page) that excludes existing customers, and there have been quite a few reports from people who did get the cashback.

happycamel_2 · 1 November 2012 at 5:32PM

I've just switched, we'll get £10 a month back just on our mortgage because it's with them too. Santander are a Spanish bank , they are desperate to meet the Basel regulations on capital ratios so they need to attract deposits. It is a generous deal but for them it's cheaper than borrowing on the open market. Sterling deposits are valuable to them and we have FSA protection up to £80k.

Santander 1 2 3 account

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