MSE News: Santander launches cashback current account

Horizon81

Hi all, whilst I think this is a great account, is there anything in the small print about the £2 a month fee? Am I right in thinking Santander could increase this whenever they want and to whatever fee they want?

It all just sounds a bit too tempting, especially as it's still a pretty new account. What's to stop them putting it up to £3 a month next year, then £4 etc etc?

JimmyTheWig

Horizon81 wrote: »

It all just sounds a bit too tempting, especially as it's still a pretty new account. What's to stop them putting it up to £3 a month next year, then £4 etc etc?

The only thing stopping them making the account worse is (a) existing customers changing to a different bank and (b) new customers not being interested.

Horizon81

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

The only thing stopping them making the account worse is (a) existing customers changing to a different bank and (b) new customers not being interested.

So as far as you know, it's a variable fee? Are you tied in at all for so long at the £2 rate? I'm surprised more people aren't asking about this, seeing as banks tend to change their other rates (e.g. overdraft fees) at their whim.

ponbeam

No contract so you can move away anytime. No mention of the charge going up at all as I think it would attract far too much negative press !

pfpf

hopefully someone can advise from personal experience and not take offence at the fact the questions may have been asked before.

i realise i am late to the 123 party with talk of changes afoot in February but anyway...

my account has been opened as of today (08/12) and i already have online access due to already having accounts, TCB tracked too.

at this stage i am only looking at it for the 3% savings element rather than changing all my DD's etc only to see changes in February.

heres the question/s:
do i still need 2 DD's as i only want the savings interest?
if i fund it with 20k and assuming as above i do need 2 DD's and do get them setup will i get 3% interest straight away? ( ie. 1st month, around 08/01).

i dont want to fund with 20k before i know interest will start earning interest.

thank you.

rb10

pfpf wrote: »

do i still need 2 DD's as i only want the savings interest?

This question is answered in part A4c of the T&Cs.

Not sure about your other question.

Edit: Not sure where you have seen that changes are coming in February, but there was a misunderstanding on another post (see here). A poster who works for Santander confirmed that nothing has been announced yet, so it seems likely that the 123 account will continue as it is now.

pfpf

ahh yes, i see that has now resolved itself (february issue).

if anyone can confirm my question regarding the start date of the account earning interest that would be great.

thank you.

ses6jwg

in my experience you should get the first month interest if you put 20k in there without any dds being set up

but going forward you need to ensure that the account sees 500 a month and there are 2 dd on there.

the favourites that people set up are sky and home/ mobile phone as you get 3% on these

its just a case of calling them and changing the dd to your 123 account.

pfpf

awesome.
i have managed to change 2 DD's online - energy & phone - and i have funded initially with £500.00. (oops! need to go and do that from an external source.)

i'll wait till the 2 DD's appear for now before more funding.

thanks for your help.

innovate

Don't forget you get cashback for some DDs. I have moved all my qualifying DDs to the 123 - more than balances out the £2 monthly fee.

If you want the interest on the full £20K, you'd just need to ensure you top up by the appropriate amount each month. But the £500 you must pay in to receive interest will probably be more than enough for that purpose?

And not to forget: skim off anything above £20K each month.