Money juggling between accounts

Snatch84

There seem to be a few tempting deals about at the moment with current accounts (Santander £100 and Halifax £50 plus £5 a month).

My existing setup is two current accounts - the first one my salary goes into and then money for bills is transferred by standing order into my second current account, leaving me with spending money in my first account.

To take advantage of the Santander and Halifax's offers I was wondering if it's possible to do this:

Get paid into a Santander account, transfer the salary a day later into a halifax account, transfer the salary a day later into my exisintg account and then transfer into my bills account.

Then after three months when I have the £100 (not sure what the minimum is with Santander?) close the santander account and continue with the halifax account (to collect £5 a month) and my existing accounts.

Has anyone tried this or no if it's possible?

blueberrypie

Snatch84 wrote: »

To take advantage of the Santander and Halifax's offers I was wondering if it's possible to do this:

Get paid into a Santander account, transfer the salary a day later into a halifax account, transfer the salary a day later into my exisintg account and then transfer into my bills account.

Then after three months when I have the £100 (not sure what the minimum is with Santander?) close the santander account and continue with the halifax account (to collect £5 a month) and my existing accounts.

Has anyone tried this or no if it's possible?

There are a couple of problems you're likely to encounter. First, Santander's implementation of Faster Payments is very poor - the maximum is £300, and even amounts under that often don't go by FP. So you would need to either make one payment of £1k, allowing time for it to transfer by BACS, or make several payments under £300, over several days, and assume that at least one of those would probably go by BACS anyway.

And as BACS is a working-day-only method, you would also need to build in time for weekends and holidays - which could add an extra four days onto the three days that BACS takes. In other words, if your wages go into Santander on the 1st of the month, it could easily be 11th of each month before Halifax had been funded with £1k.

Halifax's FP systems are a great deal better than Santander's, but it's still not guaranteed, and so you would have to build in time for payments from Halifax to go via BACS too, just in case - again, three days for a BACS payment and another four to take into account weekends and bank holidays.

The other major problem is that you'd be opening an account with Santander. People don't seem to have too many problems opening accounts there, but running these accounts and closing these accounts is often fraught with problems (hence the many, many complaints on this forum).

DavidHayton

Snatch84 wrote: »

There seem to be a few tempting deals about at the moment with current accounts (Santander £100 and Halifax £50 plus £5 a month).

My existing setup is two current accounts - the first one my salary goes into and then money for bills is transferred by standing order into my second current account, leaving me with spending money in my first account.

To take advantage of the Santander and Halifax's offers I was wondering if it's possible to do this:

Get paid into a Santander account, transfer the salary a day later into a halifax account, transfer the salary a day later into my exisintg account and then transfer into my bills account.

Then after three months when I have the £100 (not sure what the minimum is with Santander?) close the santander account and continue with the halifax account (to collect £5 a month) and my existing accounts.

Has anyone tried this or no if it's possible?

Yes I do this - money is transferred from one account to another via the Halifax. The only problem is that the faster payments system is not foolproof (yet) and you have to factor in enough time for the money to go via BACS.

I also opened (and closed) a Santander account picking up all the inducements. But there was no reason for me to keep it once I had picked up all the cash. My experience of Santander is pretty much like most other people's. Enough said!

David

Cranny44

Hi i have both Halifax and Santander (due to local Halifax branch closing and DH getting paid by cheque) and i can transfer almost instantly with Halifax - if i transfer then login to santander its usually there by then but says may take up to 2 hours. But the other way is hopeless, Santader to Halifax takes on average 3 - 4 days so forget it if you need it quickly.

jennifernil

I opened an A+L account...now Santander... for the free cash and the 6% interest for a year. I closed it last week by phoning them and it went surprisingly smoorhly. I got a cheque sent out for the balance within a few days.

Snatch84

Thanks for all the replies!

I don't want to create a headache for myself so I've just opened a halifax reward account and will transfer £1k back and forth between a savings account.

Am I right in thinking that as soon as the £1k shows in the halifax account I can transfer it straight back out (i.e I don't have to keep it in for any length of time or keep the account above £0.00)?

Loughton_Monkey

Snatch84 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies!

I don't want to create a headache for myself so I've just opened a halifax reward account and will transfer £1k back and forth between a savings account.

Am I right in thinking that as soon as the £1k shows in the halifax account I can transfer it straight back out (i.e I don't have to keep it in for any length of time or keep the account above £0.00)?

That's right. My money is in there about 1 minute 40 seconds.

Just a note on Santander's 5% current account. The £1,000 funding requirement per month is per 'interest month'. In other words, if they pay interest into the account on the 13th, then putting £1,000 in on, say 15th February, and then another one on 3rd March would mean both payments came in the same 'month'. So best to do it on the same day each month - some days away from their normal interest date (which changes a bit some months).

Siouxsie32

Sorry to hijack but I wish this thread was around on Friday. I didn't know about the £300 rule re transferring from Santander. My friend put £420 into my Santander account as part payment for a trip we're taking. My half of the money was in my Halifax account so I transferred his money to Halifax thinking I could make the payment for the hotel using my Halifax debit card. STILL WAITING for the funds to appear in Halifax and the price of the hotel has gone up! I know there's nothing I can do but sit on my hands another day or two but needed to vent!

Also, thanks for the info about the interest month. I have to fund the Santander account with £500 per month and thought it was per calander month!

Rant over.....

Snatch84

Just had a thought. I really don't want the hassle of changing all my direct debits over from my existing account (which I'm happy with) to get the Santander £100.

However, could I put in the details of my new Halifax account which has no direct debits set up on it?

Bloomberg

Snatch84 wrote: »

There seem to be a few tempting deals about at the moment with current accounts (Santander £100 and Halifax £50 plus £5 a month).

My existing setup is two current accounts - the first one my salary goes into and then money for bills is transferred by standing order into my second current account, leaving me with spending money in my first account.

To take advantage of the Santander and Halifax's offers I was wondering if it's possible to do this:

Get paid into a Santander account, transfer the salary a day later into a halifax account, transfer the salary a day later into my exisintg account and then transfer into my bills account.

Then after three months when I have the £100 (not sure what the minimum is with Santander?) close the santander account and continue with the halifax account (to collect £5 a month) and my existing accounts.

Has anyone tried this or no if it's possible?

When deciding which bank to choose the incentives should not even come into the equation. Look at the service that particular branch provides and whether or not what they offer matches your needs. Admittedly £100 landing on your lap is nice but it is small recompense for endless frustration and bad service. Even if only half the posts on here about Santander are to be believed then they should not even be in the running. Good luck