Santander 123 - Too much hassle or not that bad really?
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I applied online on a Tuesday, had online bank details delivered by post on Friday, and bank card a few days later. Very easy to set up. Moved 2 direct debits online, and 1 had to phone up, it was all very simple. Will probably set up SO for the £500 funding requirement, and move the balance of my 20k over this week.0
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Depending on your circumstances it my well be worth your while moving all of your cashback-eligible direct debits to Santander, as suggested by others.
I would also point out that the 'retailer offers' are worth a look. They don't seem to advertise them but they're in the 'my offers' part of the website. I think that you have to opt in (it's free). These give cashback on certain retailers. It can be months between seeing ones that I use but I have managed a few pence over £100 cashback in a couple of years so it's recouped my monthly fee on its own (it was obviously £3 for most of that time).I hate verisimilitude.0 -
..(it was obviously £3 for most of that time).
You meant it was £2, I wonder if they've suffered a lot of account closures as a result though. I closed my 123 and moved to smaller amounts in several 3% accounts just before the fee hike kicked in.'We don't need to be smarter than the rest; we need to be more disciplined than the rest.' - WB0 -
I seem to be the only one who can't get a 123 Santander account although I have had all my DDs with them since before it took over from Abbey.
The problem is my monthly income, from my state pension, is £475 - just £25 short. I have an e-Saver into which the pension is currently paid but will be paid into my everyday bank account from this month. I also have dividends paid into the e-saver and can transfer £10-15,000 from elsewhere, to get the 3% interest from external accounts. The best interest I currently get from external accounts is 1.6%, soon to drop. Even my e-saver earns 0.7%, dropping to 0.25% next month. I don't want to fix for even a year as I may need access.
At first I was told it was not possible, as my monthly income is under the limit; but as I was about to leave, I was told I could draw the balance required in cash and pay it in when I opened the 123 account (after the pension is paid in this month).
It occurred to me after the visit, that the cash would obviously be drawn from my e-saver, so why is that possible when transfers from other Santander accounts are not? And it would mean monthly visits or transfers from external accounts, which would mean opening new accounts.
I wonder if this is worth all my trouble!0 -
sevenonine wrote: »I seem to be the only one who can't get a 123 Santander account although I have had all my DDs with them since before it took over from Abbey.
The problem is my monthly income, from my state pension, is £475 - just £25 short.
You don't have to have new income - just move the required minimum from another account into the 123. You can move the same money back and forth from the 123 and another account each month to comply with the T&Cs.0 -
I wonder if this is worth all my trouble!
All you need is one other account, it couldn't be simpler.'We don't need to be smarter than the rest; we need to be more disciplined than the rest.' - WB0 -
MrsM opened one with a declared annual income of £2.5K no problem.sevenonine wrote: »I seem to be the only one who can't get a 123 Santander account although I have had all my DDs with them since before it took over from Abbey.
The problem is my monthly income, from my state pension, is £475 - just £25 short. I have an e-Saver into which the pension is currently paid but will be paid into my everyday bank account from this month. I also have dividends paid into the e-saver and can transfer £10-15,000 from elsewhere, to get the 3% interest from external accounts. The best interest I currently get from external accounts is 1.6%, soon to drop. Even my e-saver earns 0.7%, dropping to 0.25% next month. I don't want to fix for even a year as I may need access.
At first I was told it was not possible, as my monthly income is under the limit; but as I was about to leave, I was told I could draw the balance required in cash and pay it in when I opened the 123 account (after the pension is paid in this month).
It occurred to me after the visit, that the cash would obviously be drawn from my e-saver, so why is that possible when transfers from other Santander accounts are not? And it would mean monthly visits or transfers from external accounts, which would mean opening new accounts.
I wonder if this is worth all my trouble!
Every month we move £1K from San (kept at £19950) to BOS3 mopping up the interest to BOS2 to BOS1 to TSB and back to Santander then all the mopped up interest goes into the joint "current account" 123. Then do the same for me.
If you withdraw cash from one account and pay it into another then that is "new" cash as it is not transferred. You could even withdraw cash from the 123 and pay it straight back in.0 -
MrsM opened one with a declared annual income of £2.5K no problem.
Every month we move £1K from San (kept at £19950) to BOS3 mopping up the interest to BOS2 to BOS1 to TSB and back to Santander then all the mopped up interest goes into the joint "current account" 123. Then do the same for me.
If you withdraw cash from one account and pay it into another then that is "new" cash as it is not transferred. You could even withdraw cash from the 123 and pay it straight back in.
Yep, all you need is £500 somewhere you can move into the account. You can then move it back again to wherever it came from. The requirement is "£500 in", not "£500 in and staying in"0 -
If you withdraw cash from one account and pay it into another then that is "new" cash as it is not transferred. You could even withdraw cash from the 123 and pay it straight back in.
So I'd have to withdraw cash from my e-saver account and pay it into the new 123 account - at a branch - and this would have to be done physically every month? - this is not feasible, involving time and travel.
Or the alternative is to use one of my other external accounts to pay by standing order £25? I'd have to open a new, external account, paying poor returns, just to pay by this means.
I can't understand how you could withdraw say £500 from an external account to pay into the Santander account, then withdraw it from the 123 account to pay it back to the external account - if that is what seems to be discussed in this forum! Surely the money has to sit in one account to earn interest?
Or perhaps I'm being dense!0 -
You're being dense.
The money earns interest wherever it is, how much depends on the account in question.
You're not moving money around to earn interest though are you? you're moving money around to fulfil the funding requirement stated in the terms and conditions of the account that money is being moved through (in and then straight out).
Why are you not looking to open a Halifax reward account (with 2 DD), TSB classic plus account, Lloyds club account (with 2 DD) and a Tesco current account (or two). It's not at all difficult and if you've got £15K to play with as you imply that's a lot of monthly interest going begging for a little bit of time setting them up.
If the best you're getting is 1.6% soon to fall it's got to be worth making a bit of an effort surely?'We don't need to be smarter than the rest; we need to be more disciplined than the rest.' - WB0
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